ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, September 18, 1996 TAG: 9609180113
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: Associated Press
A MAGAZINE devoted to issues related to moms in the work force says Merrill Lynch and Bankers Trust have demonstrated a genuine concern for their female employees.
The bulls and bears are starting to welcome the kids.
For the first time, two Wall Street firms - Merrill Lynch and Bankers Trust - made the Working Mother list of the best 100 companies.
The 11th annual survey by Working Mother magazine also found greater use of flexible work schedules, a wider recognition of the child-care needs of employees working at branch offices, and expanded leave benefits for new fathers and adoptive parents.
``We're pleased to report that work-family issues are finally receiving the recognition and support they deserve from all types of companies,'' said Judsen Culbreth, the editor in chief of Working Mother.
Working Mother chooses its best companies based on pay, advancement opportunities for women, child care, flexible hours and family-friendly benefits such as adoption aid and elder care resources.
The list doesn't rank the companies, but notes the 10 best. They included the banking companies of Barnett Banks Inc. of Jacksonville, Fla., MBNA America Bank of Wilmington, Del., and NationsBank Corp., of Charlotte, N.C., and the computer companies of Hewlett-Packard Co., of Palo Alto, Calif., and IBM, of Armonk, N.Y.
The Top 10 also included the pharmaceutical companies Eli Lilly and Co., of Indianapolis, and Merck & Co., of New York; Johnson & Johnson, a New Brunswick, N.J.-based consumer product firm, the Patagonia clothing company, headquartered in Ventura, Calif., and the document processing company of Xerox Corp,. of Stamford, Conn.
Of the 100 best companies, 17 made the list for the first time, including Merrill Lynch and Bankers Trust.
Although many companies fail to offer women any paid maternity leave, the New York-based Merrill Lynch & Co., offers a whopping 13 weeks off at full pay, the most generous on the list. New dads get five days paid leave, and the primary care giver who adopts a child gets five weeks paid leave.
The financial services company, which has 39,830 employees - 42 percent female - last year instructed managers on how to make alternative schedules work. One division, which provides system support for private clients, expects to have 10 percent of its 1,500 employees working from home by the end of the year.
The programs have grown out of the firm's diversity initiative, which began in 1992.
``We firmly believe that our work-life strategy is good for business because it's good for our employees and it's good for Merrill Lynch,'' said Patricia Crowley, head of organizational change and wellness. She said the programs help the company recruit and retain superior employees, and allow workers to be more productive on the job.
Another financial services firm, Bankers Trust New York Corp., was one of the first Wall Street firms to offer employees alternative work arrangements, including job sharing, flexible hours, compressed workweeks and staggered schedules, in which an employee might work four days one week and six days the next.
The firm, at which 45 percent of the 7,685 employees are female, also offers emergency child care at three locations in the New York area.
Best companies for working mothers
Here are companies with operations in Western Virginia from the list of Working Mother magazine's 100 best companies for working mothers.
Allstate Insurance Co., Northbrook, Ill.
Corning Inc., Corning, N.Y.
DuPont Co., Wilmington, Del.
Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, N.Y.
Eddie Bauer Inc., Redmond, Wash.
First Union Corp., Charlotte, N.C.
Hoechst Celanese Corp., Somerville, N.J.
IBM, Armonk, N.Y.
Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., New York (n)
NationsBank Corp., Charlotte, N.C.
Sara Lee Corp., Chicago
Source: Working Mother
LENGTH: Medium: 85 linesby CNB