"Our country needs women to have babies, our companies need women's brainpower and time," she said. "Those two things going together really demand that companies wake up to this new culture." <br> <p>"Our country needs women to have babies, our companies need women's brainpower and time," she said. "Those two things going together really demand that companies wake up to this new culture."</p>
<p>Are those the words of some sexist male asserting that women are mere factories, waiting and in need of being exploited for all they have? Absolutely not. They are the words of <i><a href="http://www.workingmother.com">Working Mother</a></i> magazine's CEO, Carol Evans on the importance of women in the workforce as she announced the magazine's 21st annual list of <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Working-Mother.html">100 best companies for mothers</a>.</p>
<p>The number of women entering and staying in the workforce is increasing. Working mothers is the <a href="http://www.aap.org/pubed/ZZZWLZUNYDC.htm ">rule, not the exception</a>. Creating a woman- and mother-friendly environment, therefore, is very important if avoidance of workforce shortage is the goal. Factors that will create that culture, according to a <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/employment/2006-09-02-women-work_x.htm?csp=15">recent Institute for Women's Policy Research study</a>, are policies that help women balance work and family such as child care assistance, flextime, compressed work weeks, job sharing and reduced work schedules for women returning from maternity leave. Interestingly, these are principally the criteria used for determining the <i>Working Mother</i> 100 best companies (flexibility, leave time for new parents, child care, elder care and the number of women occupying top job).</p>
<p>Also of note is the <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/employment/2006-09-02-women-work_x.htm?csp=15">conclusion of Vicky Lovell</a> of the Institute for the Washington-based Institute for Women's Policy Research that women have been the workers who fuel economic growth. This seems to be saying that women tend to be the employers and that their activities are viral in that women tend to hire more women than men workers, all other things being equal.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB5032/index1.html">2000 Rand study</a> found that the difference in turnover rate for the same job among mothers compared with non-mothers over an 18-month period was a scant 8 percent. College graduates who were working full time before pregnancy were more likely to return to work at least part time after giving birth. Which means giving birth does not spell the end of the career, just a little time away. As Evans pointed out, the brain power continues. And it's the brain power that's important, not the subservience of several decades ago when women were viewed as the functionaries of the work environment.</p>
<p>While some of the matters discussed here are relatively obvious, there are some additional concepts that beg recognition. In addition to needing women's brain power and time to drive our economy, we also need companies that recognize the importance of proper training for their interns and entry-level workers. But not only proper training, proper challenges so that those employees want to stay and be the best they can be. That's one of the things that keeps the keepers - encouragement and reward of good performance in return for good and excellent performance.</p>
<p>Enough preaching. Let's take a look at that <a href="http://www.workingmother.com/web?service=vpage/77">list of 100 best companies</a>. Of those, there are two that have consistently placed on this distinguished ranking for all 21 years. Those two companies are IBM and Johnson & Johnson, two leading diversity friendly companies. The top ten are: Abbott Laboratories; Bon Secours Richmond Health System; Ernst & Young LLP; HSBC USA Inc.; IBM Corp.; JPMorgan Chase & Co.; Patagonia Inc.; PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP; Principal Financial Group, and S.C. Johnson & Son Inc.</p>
<p>Some of these 100 companies offer as much as 144 weeks of maternity leave, another offers paternity leave for between one to six weeks. Mentoring and inclusiveness during leave are also essentials to make leaving and easing back into one's position before leave a positive experience. But the important point is there are women (and men and managers) out there who want to know which companies are the most parent friendly. It sort of begs the question of why they want to know. Solutions! Managing two very important demands: their work lives and their parenting/family lives.</p>
<p><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/retention+strategies" rel="tag">retention strategies</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/recruiting" rel="tag">recruiting</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/working+mothers" rel="tag">working mothers</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/100+best+companies" rel="tag">100 best companies</a><br>
<a href="http://www.employment911.com/asp/index.asp?B=4&A=74">Employment911.com</a></p>
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