Companies were run as paternalistic enterprises, permitting women to come in the door but preventing them from rising to the top. The glass ceiling was both invisible and impassable. But things have slowly changed for the better, and the current job market is forcing employers to step up progress. Work-life initiatives have become vital recruiting and retention tools on the business scene. Besides improving the lives of employees, telecommuting, on-site childcare, and alternative training programs all improve the company's bottom line.
Production inevitably goes up and attrition drops.
Significant benefits are often reserved for those at the top of the corporate ladder. Novant, a healthcare group that made the top 100 for the first time, offers numbers to back this theory up. For every dollar spent on its own childcare center, the company saves five or six dollars by reducing absenteeism and stress-related ailments. The statistical decrease in absenteeism at Prudential, another top-100 company, is close to 20 percent. Based on the magazine's findings, financial service companies are the most progressive.