Washington, D.C., July 16, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Seramount, a strategic professional services and research firm, revealed its annual list of the 2024 100 Best Companies for working parents today. This year’s winners continue to set the standard by providing inclusive benefits for families, including paid gender-neutral parental leave, subsidized childcare, bereavement leave after miscarriage, reimbursement for fertility expenses, menopause benefits, and increased mental health benefits for employees. Johnson & Johnson earned this year’s top spot.
“Our 100 Best Companies have been setting the standard on what is considered an inclusive workplace for parents and caregivers for over 40 years,” says Subha V. Barry, President of Seramount. “Thanks to their dedication, benefits that were considered progressive are now considered the norm, like offering bereavement leave after a miscarriage. The mental welfare of employees continues to be a priority and we are thrilled to see almost 100% of companies offering support in this area.”
The top 10 companies for 2024 (in alphabetical order) are as follows: AbbVie, Bank of America, Ernst & Young LLP, Johnson & Johnson, KPMG LLP, Merck, PwC, RSM US LLP, S&P Global, Inc., and Takeda.
Key findings from the 2024 100 Best Companies:
- The 100 Best Companies offer an average of 12 weeks of fully paid gender-neutral parental leave for full-time employees, up from 11 weeks in 2023
- Ninety-seven percent of the 100 Best Companies allow women to use bereavement leave after a miscarriage, up from 91 percent in 2023. An average of 11 days of bereavement leave is offered to women for miscarriages, up from nine days in 2023. And 93 percent allow men to use bereavement leave for a partner’s miscarriage with an average of nine days of bereavement leave, up from 90 percent and eight days in 2023.
- Eighty-nine percent of the 100 Best Companies offer caregiving leave, up from 85 percent in 2023. Sixty-seven percent of those companies offer fully paid caregiving leave, up from 61 percent in 2023. Caregiving leave allows an employee to care for a sick family member over an extended period of time.
- The 100 Best Companies cover an average of 83 percent of an employee’s personal health insurance and 79 percent of an employee’s family health insurance, up from 80 percent and 78 percent in 2023, respectively.
- Resources for new mothers have improved: 90 percent of the 100 Best Companies offer breast pumps, up from 88 percent in 2023; 73 percent offer transport facilities for breast milk, up from 67 percent in 2023; and 65 percent have lactation consultants available 24 hours a day, up from 61 percent in 2023.
- More of the 100 Best Companies have Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) for working parents (72 percent in 2024 v. 67 percent in 2023) and for caregivers (65 percent in 2024 v. 58 percent in 2023).
- Ninety-seven percent of the 100 Best Companies have policies supporting workplace mental health and 87 percent have a mental health and well-being work group, up from 95 percent and 79 percent in 2023, respectively.
ABOUT THE METHODOLOGY
The 2024 Seramount 100 Best Companies application includes more than 200 questions related to leave policies, benefits, childcare, advancement programs, flexibility, and more. It surveys the availability and usage of these programs, as well as the accountability of the many managers who oversee them. The names of applicants that do not make the list are kept confidential. Company profiles and data come from submitted applications and reflect 2023 data.
ABOUT SERAMOUNT
Seramount is a strategic professional services and research firm dedicated to supporting high-performing, inclusive workplaces. Over four decades, we've established a strong, data-driven understanding of the employee experience, which lays the groundwork for everything we do. Seramount partners with over 450 of the world’s most influential companies, large and small, to offer pragmatic solutions including best practice DEI research, workplace assessment, employee learning and development, and talent sourcing. These offerings empower companies to navigate a dynamic corporate environment and to cultivate a resilient, connected workforce that achieves extraordinary outcomes.
