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In the war to attract and keep good people,
many U.S. companies have begun to realize the importance of good
benefits and family-friendly policies. In 1993, Robert Levering
and Milton Moskowitz compiled a list of the “The 100 Best Companies
to Work for in America.”
Here are some of the best of the best –
innovators in family-friendly policies and purveyors of extra perks
that make juggling work and family a little bit easier. Whether
they provide on-site childcare, personal counseling or flexible
work arrangements, the common thread is the belief that what’s
good for their employees is also good for the bottom line. Their
practices offer some good examples for the rest of us:
Baptist Hospital of Miami
Treating its patients as guests and its employees as valuable individuals,
Baptist Hospital of Miami strives to be both “the Ritz Carlton”
of health care and one of the nation’s leaders in work-life-friendly
policies. In an industry fraught with high stress and high turnover,
BHM has implemented a Stress Task Force, a yearly Less Stress Contest
and a 24-hour Less Stress Hot Line, as well as a Holiday Bonus Option
whereby employees can cash in sick days. It also provides a 24-hour
fitness center, free parking, a car wash, dry-cleaning service,
50 percent discounts at local movie houses and one of the country’s
oldest employer-sponsored childcare centers.
BE&K
BE&K was the first construction company to offer child care
at a construction site. Their childcare facility cared for 65 children
between the ages of six months and ten years, and cost employees
just $51 a week. The company also sponsors women-only site-meetings
where female workers can confidently voice their work concerns.
Male and female employees alike benefit from BE&K’s free,
on-site job training program.
Beth Israel Hospital in Boston
Beth Israel’s patient-centered care ethic gives health care
professionals the freedom to work well, while its earned time program,
which entitles each employee up to 34 days off per year, allows
them ample opportunity to renew their caregiving resources. Strong
benefits, excellent training programs, on-site daycare (115 slots
with admission by lottery) and a renowned in-house bakery help employees
balance career goals and personal needs.
Dayton Hudson
Dayton Hudson, the nation’s fourth largest general merchandise
retailer, operates Target, Mervyn’s, Dayton’s, Hudson’s,
and Marshall Field stores in 33 states, and employs 168,000 workers.
Despite its large workforce, Dayton Hudson cultivates a corporate
culture of employee autonomy. Thanks to its flexible work schedules
and commitment to self-management among lower-level positions, workers
report a “hassle-free environment where individuality is respected.”
Employees receive excellent benefits; even part-time workers in
its Target stores are eligible for medical insurance, savings and
stock-purchase plans – benefits virtually unheard of among
most part-time and retail employees. New mothers also get a 24-week
leave with job-back guarantee.
Fel-Pro
Fel-Pro, one of the world’s largest makers of gaskets for automobiles
and industrial uses, offers one of the most extensive programs of
care for employees’ children. Perks start on the day a child
is born or is adopted, when Fel-Pro sends flowers to the mother,
gives a pair of inscribed leather baby shoes to the baby, and enters
a $1,000 savings bond in the baby’s name. Children are later
eligible for daycare at the professionally staffed, on-site Fel-Pro
child care center, in-home caregiving if they are ill (at a cost
to employee of only $16 a day), Fel-Pro summer day camp, held at
the company’s own 220-acre Triple R recreation area, tutoring,
college counseling, $3,000 a year toward college tuition, and summer
jobs at the Fel-Pro plant.
Fel-Pro also offers a variety of family-friendly
benefits to employees without children, including a $200 check in
case of a death in the family, a $100 wedding check, a $1,000 check
on retirement, free income tax preparation, elder care consulting
and referral, a free annual eye exam and pair of eyeglasses, two
free changes of work clothes each year, a fully equipped and professionally
staffed physical fitness center in the factory; and special holiday
gifts, ranging from a pound of Fannie May chocolates on Valentine’s
Day to a Christmas turkey.
Hallmark
Hallmark, the world’s largest greeting card company with 13,200
employees, seeks to foster a friendly, family-like work atmosphere
and supports its employees’ immediate families with unpaid
six-month maternity or paternity leave, reimbursement of up to $5,000
for the cost of adoption, a referral program for childcare and eldercare
and trainings for caregivers. The corporation also sponsors several
employee support programs, including seminars on subjects dealing
with eldercare and young dependents, a partnership with Kansas City
hospitals that provides childcare for employees’ sick children,
and on-site activities to keep kids busy during school holidays
when their parents are at work.
IBM
IBM’s three-year job-protected family leave, during which company-paid
benefits remain intact, allows its workers a unique measure of flexibility.
Employees are also eligible for a variety of flexible work schedules,
including a plan in which they may work 20 to 30 hours a week for
six months, or a policy that allows up for a two-hour meal break
during the workday to tend to personal business. IBM has also set
aside $25 million to invest in the expansion and improvement of
childcare and elder care facilities in its employees’ communities.
Johnson and Johnson
Johnson and Johnson has amended its corporate “Credo”
to include the company’s commitment to “help our employees
fulfill their family responsibilities.” The company backs this
up with one-year parental leave, financial help for employees adopting
children (up to $2,000 a year), on-site child care, a child care
and elder care referral service, an on-site fitness center, a week’s
paid vacation for newlyweds, and flexible work schedules.
Northwestern Mutual Life
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company may be the last place
where a free lunch truly is free – and has been so since 1915.
Employee loyalty, job security and a no-layoff policy foster a family-like
work environment where continuous retraining and education, tuition
reimbursement and an on-site fitness center encourage people to
attend to both their professional and personal interests.
SAS
SAS has built a reputation as the 10th largest independent computer
software company – and for its family-friendly programs. SAS’s
free, on-site child care center, staffed almost entirely by Montessori-trained
or -certified teachers, is the centerpiece of an employee-friendly
work campus that includes a health care center and fitness and recreation
center. SAS also offers employees free health care, with low-cost
coverage for family members, and a gourmet, low-cost restaurant
where employees can sign up to take home free leftovers at the end
of the day.
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