Working Mother this week released its annual list of the "100 Best Companies" for working mothers, and six hospitals and health systems made the list as well as several other organizations in the health care industry.

Get 1-page cheat sheets on how "best places to work" organizations are chosen

Methodology

To qualify for the 34th annual list, companies had to answer over 400 questions on topics including:

• Advancement programs;
• Benefits;
• Childcare;
• Flexibility policies;
• Leave policies; and
• Workforce representation.

The magazine used those responses to create its top 100 list, and recognized the top 10 companies, but the magazine did not individually rank the companies that made the list.

The list

Six hospitals and health systems made the list, including:

• Baptist Health South Florida (Miami);
• Bon Secours Richmond Health System (Richmond, Virginia);
• Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (Atlanta);
• NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (New York);
• NYU Langone Health (New York); and
• WellStar Health System (Atlanta).

All six are Advisory Board members.

The list also recognized several other organizations in the health care industry, including pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, and diagnostic companies. Of those honorees, 20 are Advisory Board members, including:

• Abbot (Lake Bluff, Illinois);
• AbbVie (Chicago);
• Astellas Pharma (Washington, D.C.);
• Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts (Boston);
• Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Durham, North Carolina);
• Boehringer Ingelheim (Ridgefield, Connecticut);
• Boston Scientific (Marlborough, Massachusetts);
• Bristol-Myers Squibb (New York);
• Eli Lilly & Co. (Indianapolis);
• Grant Thornton (London);
• Herman Miller (Holland, Michigan);
• Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of NJ (Newark, New Jersey);
• Johnson & Johnson (New Brunswick, New Jersey);
• JPMorgan Chase & Co. (New York);
• Microsoft (Redmond, Washington);
• Moss Adams (Seattle);
• Novo Nordisk Inc. (Plainsboro, New Jersey);
• Publicis Sapient (Boston);
• Sanofi US (Bridgewater, New Jersey); and
• Verizon (Basking Ridge, New Jersey).

About the honorees

The average number of fully-paid weeks of maternity leave offered by the 100 Best Companies was 11 weeks, compared to an average of four weeks nationwide, according to Working Mother.  Of the companies on this year's list, 57% offered the same number of weeks for maternity and paternity leave.

In addition, Working Mother reports that almost all of the companies on this year's list offered parental support benefits beyond maternity leave.

Working Mother also found that 94% of its honorees offered backup/emergency childcare, and 75% offered sick-child care.

Meredith Bodgas, editor-in-chief of Working Mother, said, "By implementing family-friendly policies such as flexible schedules, paid parental leave, post-leave phase-back periods and mentoring programs, our 100 Best Companies are taking the needs of their employees into consideration in order to create a supportive, inclusive and productive environment."

Subha Barry, president of Working Mother Media, said the companies on the list are doing "everything it takes to put employees first." She added, "Unless the government steps up to do something about fully paid maternity leave, the companies are always going to be leading and the best companies are always going to be doing much more" (Working Mother release, 9/24; Delmore, "Know Your Value," NBC News, 9/24; "100 Best Companies" methodology, accessed 9/26; "100 Best Companies" list, accessed 9/26).