Working Mother magazine has recently unveiled their “Best Companies for Multicultural Women” for 2014. This is a great honour, which recognises and celebrates the 25 corporations based in the U.S. that utilise the best practices in hiring and promoting women of colour. The top 5 companies (which are featured in this month's June/July issue of the magazine and via the magazine's official website) are; American Express, General Mills, KPMG, Procter & Gamble and State Farm. The magazine itself reaches an estimated 2.2 million readers, and is the only national, US based magazine specifically tailored towards mothers who are as committed to their careers as they are to their children. Workingmother.com, meanwhile, is a portal for working mothers that offers advice and solutions for both work and home life.
The top 5 companies are; American Express, General Mills, KPMG, Procter & Gamble and State Farm
The study, to decipher which American companies are providing the best jobs and opportunities for women of colour has been conducted annually by the Working Mother Research Institute since 2003. The study is able to accurately evaluate how well multicultural women are represented at every level, at all companies who apply to be included on the list. Working Mother media president, Carol Evans, says that the companies included on the list are “Leaders in building an inclusive culture, so that women of colour can thrive and lead.” She is “Proud of the policies and programs these winning companies support,” and believes that they underline how “Creating a culture of inclusion and authenticity is essential for all companies that want to have access to the top talent needed to drive their business."
Some interesting statistics gleaned from the survey reveal that amongst the companies surveyed, 9% of the executives reporting directly to the CEO are women of colour, up from 5% last year. Multicultural women also represent 12% of the Best Companies' top earners, up 2% from last year. It was also revealed that the representation of multicultural women at a senior manager and corporate executive level had each increased a percentage point in the last year (to 8% and 4% respectively) and that multicultural women received 13% of all promotions to manager and above. The companies on the list employ over 2.7 million workers, with almost 32,000 worksites across all 50 states, with multicultural women making up 20% of total employees.
The companies on the list were selected based on the answers given to an extensive questionnaire
The Working Mother Best Companies for Multicultural Women application is only available to companies that have at least 500 U.S. employees. The winners were selected based on the answers given to an extensive questionnaire, which covered a variety of subjects including representation, hiring, attrition, and promotion rates; recruitment, retention, advancement programs, and company culture. The institute then creates a bespoke scoring algorithm based on the previous year's benchmark results to determine the final winners, all of which can be found at the official workingmother.com website.
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer, musician and a working mother. Only one of those statements is a lie.
