Best in Class: Parental Leave
Best in Class: Parental Leave
These winning companies support working parents with generous leave policies.
Best in Class: Parental Leave
When a child enters a family, it's a big adjustment for everyone in the household. Progressive companies know that this is just the moment when working parents need the most support to help with work-life balance. Five of our Working Mother 100 Best Companies have become leaders in leaves, offering parents the weeks they want and the support they need to make it work for both sides. These Best in Class companies—AstraZeneca, Credit Suisse, Discovery Communications, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer—scored highest on our annual application not only for their commitment to working parents but for their innovative policies as well.
First up, there’s the time offered: At the Wilmington, DE–based pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, mothers can take up to 26 weeks off, job guaranteed. Health-care company Johnson & Johnson, base in New Brunswick, NJ, offers paid paternity and adoption leave to regular part-time and full-time employees, and all new moms and dads can request to transition back to work after childbirth on a part-time basis before eventually returning to their full-time job.
But just as important as what time off is offered is what’s used: At the New York City–based financial firm Credit Suisse, for example, adoptive parents took an average of 20 weeks of leave after the child’s arrival.
Then there’s the support: The New York City–based pharmaceutical company Pfizer, for example, recognizes the many physical and emotional preparations that lead up to the child’s arrival. Birthmothers are eligible for at least three weeks of paid leave, part of the short-term-disability program, before giving birth—and that’s on top of a 32-week leave following the happy arrival.
And how about the transition back to work? The Silver Spring, MD–based media company Discovery Communications, best known for its Discovery Channel, lets new parents who have taken leave transition back on a part-time schedule before returning to a full-time role.
