New health care costs for small firms
Top firms help workers juggle family life; most others fall far short.
Businesses with 51 to 100 employees could see some expensive changes Jan. 1.
For a small, lucky set of parents, the work-family juggle is relatively easy. Their employers give them paid leave; nannies to accompany them on business trips; flexible hours; child and elder care; and even on-site haircuts and nap rooms.
For the rest of American workers, life tends to be much more difficult.
Working Mother magazine has released its 30th annual list of the top 100 companies based on support for employees with young children or elderly relatives to care for; women’s advancement; and flexible work options. The list of benefits is enough to make someone working anywhere else sigh.
Take IBM, the only company besides Johnson & Johnson on the list all 30 years. All employees have flex time, new parents get paid leave and the company pays for fertility treatments, backup child care and shipments of breast milk home from business trips.
IBM is typical of the companies on the list, and one of a group of elite companies that have been part of an arms race to expand family-friendly ben- efits. The list also highlights how far removed these companies are from most employers.
All the companies on the Working Mother list offer paid maternity leave, compared with 21 percent of companies overall, according to the Society for Human Resource Management. Ninety percent of the top companies give paid paternity leave, compared with 17 percent of the rest.
Each of the top companies offers telecommuting, versus 60 percent of companies overall. Ninety-nine percent of the top companies offer referral services for elder care, versus 6 percent of all companies. And of the top companies, 48 percent offer prepared takehome meals, 38 percent offer nap rooms, and 23 percent offer haircuts — compared with 1 or 2 percent of the rest.
“It can be disheartening,” said Jennifer Owens, editorial director of Working Mother Media. “We have a workplace structure based on the perfect model employee who has no other demands on their time. Meanwhile, we’re all working and we’re all dealing with family issues.”