TATA

These include paid maternity leave of seven months, in addition to 18 months of half pay-half working
day post-maternity support, flexibility to choose work hours, secure performance ratings during the
maternity leave and flexible work duration.

If required, as a care-giver at home, an employee can also avail one years leave at half pay, provided
she/he has completed five years at work. This is a new addition to the list of policies adopted by Indian
corporates.

In addition, those who have completed five years in service can avail another benefit of taking leave
for up to a year for child care or elder care. This leave can be taken at one go or in instalments of
maximum six times, for a minimum of two months. The compensation during this period will be half of
the last drawn CTC.

Mentoring programmes for junior women employees: Through Network to Win

(nWin), mentors are assigned to small groups of junior women employees to provide
guidance on professional and personal aspects. Career aspirations, work-life balance,
organisational culture, life stage changes, leadership development, safety and wellbeing,
etc., are addressed through discussion circles, formal and informal networking, coffee
chats, virtual live chats and panel discussions.

Discussion circles to help women through lifestyle stages: Women sometimes take
a step back from their careers or quit their jobs when they get married or have children.
Mentoring and counselling can help them deal with challenges in maintaining work-life
balance. It also encourages them to strive towards moving up the ladder. The provision
of subsidised child-care and support groups for working parents help ease their
responsibilities, allowing them to integrate both work and life.

rooming high-potential women for leadership roles: iExcel is a special programme

which grooms high potential women in middle and senior levels to become leaders.
Covering aspects like Business Finance, Customer Partnership and Sales, Business
Strategy, Executive Presence and Power Messaging, the programme allows participants
to interact with top leaders within and outside TCS, who also act as role models and
mentors.
the winner of the "leading organisation for the advancement of women" (>500
employees), Deloitte, has implemented an "Inspiring Women" program that focuses
on increasing the number of women in leadership positions through internal
promotions and by positioning the firm as an employer of choice for women. Women
comprised 50 per cent of the graduate intake in 2008 and 48 per cent of total lateral
hires. Of total promotions in 2008, 49 per cent were women, and 24 per cent of new
partners were women.
The goals of the program have been built into management's performance metrics.
Business segments are measured quarterly on the number of women leaders they
have as well as on the retention of women on their teams.
Itaipu Binacional | Developing the Leadership Pipeline
Itaipu Binacional, a global generator of renewable clean energy headquartered in Brazil and the
Center for Excellence and Innovation in the Automobile Industry (CEiiA), based in Portugal,
formed a partnership to develop new technological solutions to make cities more sustainable and
mobile based on renewable sources. This programme, called MOB-I, seeks to advance womens
participation in the development of environmentally friendly technologies. From the beginning,
the project ensured women comprised 50% of leadership roles and encouraged MOB-I suppliers
to embed gender equality into their operations. The MOB-I partnership promotes internships and
learning opportunities to encourage young women in local high schools and universities to enter
the technology sector and innovate environmentally friendly solutions. Since 2014, Itaipu and
CEiiA have encouraged industrial partners of the MOB-I programme to also develop strategies
and actions aimed at womens inclusion in the technology sector.

Rio Tinto | Inclusive Community Consultations

Rio Tinto, a multinational mining company, published the Rio Tinto Gender Guide offering
guidance on integrating gender into the companys community engagement efforts. The report
highlights linkages between gender and the environment acknowledging minings actual and
potential impacts on land use and quality, forest density, and water quality. In its publication, Rio
Tinto states that consideration should be given to how men might be affected differently from
women should there be an environmental incident. The companys focus on inclusive
engagement resulted in a more acute awareness of the environmental impacts on both men and
women. This type of assessment was shown to be a successful during a Mongolian project.
Following the initial community consultation process, the companys Community Relations Officer
organized a womens meeting where concerns over the environment were communicated.
Specifically, women of the village raised concerns about impacts on land rehabilitation and
quality, and the potential risk of exotic plants being introduced. These issues related directly to
the womens central role in dairy and milk production, and their livelihood. By including women in
the consultation process, Rio Tinto was able to better understand the environmental importance
of the land and decrease environmental impacts. Rio Tinto was also able to better map the land
as women had a deeper knowledge of the pasture lands and seasonal fluctuations.

Enel | Women as Solar Technicians

Recognizing the need for inclusive sustainable energy solutions in rural Latin America, Enel, an
Italian electricity company, partnered with Barefoot College Program to empower semi-illiterate
women from electricity deprived villages to install and maintain small photovoltaic systems. This
partnership develops the capacities of women entrepreneurs, specifically grandmothers, by
providing them with technical training to install and maintain solar panels. After completing a six
month course in northern India, the women return to their rural communities where they become
solar technicians. To expand the impact of the initiative, the women are also trained to host
electronic workshops for their local communities. The photovoltaic kits made available by Enel
Green Power, not only strengthened the capacity of women entrepreneurs, but brought
sustainable energy sources to rural communities. The programme was expanded in 2015 to
Kenya and Tanzania where women are learning how to become solar engineers as well as
redesigning off- grid solutions for fishery farms to become mainly reliant on renewable energy
sources. This partnership exemplifies the benefits of gender mainstreaming in public-private to
advance sustainable development and womens empowerment.
Kellogg Company | Empowering Women Smallholders in Value
Chains
Kellogg Company, a global food producer, has partnered with CARE, a non-governmental
humanitarian and development organization, to empower women smallholder farmers from poor
and marginalized communities who rely on increasingly variable rainfall in the Indian State of
Odisha. The programme includes training to women smallholder farmers, who have faced two
consecutive years of erratic rainfall, in sustainable agricultural practices to enhance their
capacities to adapt to and cope with climate change. The programme also works to enhance
womens participation in the maize value chain and increase their social standing, incomes and
savings. Womens collectives are formed to build their social capital and visibility, and to improve
their access to agricultural inputs, services and schematic benefits. The initiative also attempts to
increase womens productive and equitable engagement with men within households and in the
community, and works to strengthen women smallholder farmers linkages with market actors,
thus helping to improve equity in societal relationships. Strong gendered analysis, which is
inclusive of the various components of the maize value chain, guide the design and
implementation of the initiative. Outcomes and impact will be measured through a customized
Women Empowerment Index in the Maize Value Chain which will track five domains of
empowerment, i.e., production, resources, income, autonomy/time and leadership. Further, a
Coping Strategy Index will be used to assess improvements in coping mechanisms accessible to
and deployed by women to pursue resilient livelihoods. This initiative is aligned with Kellogg
Companys Global Sustainability 2020 commitments supporting sustainable agriculture and
women smallholder farmers.

Schneider Electric Brazil | Creating Opportunities for Women in the

Energy Market
Schneider Electric, a multinational energy company headquartered in France, came to the
conclusion that women need to be part of its expansion strategy and fight against climate change
in South America. With the goal of closing the access to energy gap of 1.1 billion people
worldwide, Schneider Electric created global energy focused vocational training program, which
reached more than 30 thousand people in South America. Recognizing that women drive much
of the consumption in the villages (due to household tasks) and knowing the energy sector is a
male dominated industry, Schneider Electric is learning to tailor the training programmes
specifically to develop women energy entrepreneurs that are well equipped to help address
climate change issues in their community. At first these training programmes did not attract many
women; however Schneider changed their strategy to target women both in rural zones and in
the cities, who women were already working as domestic helpers or household cleaners,
showing that they could also market themselves to their employers as clean energy electricians.
The program aims to create a network using Schneider points of sales to encourage a big portion
of these women to open their own electrical repair services. In addition these women are
transferring the knowledge to their children, teaching them how to conserve solar light for longer
term use
Agbar

Agbar, a Spanish public services holding company has committed to helping victims of domestic
violence by signing an agreement with the Catalan Parliament to facilitate job placement of
women victims.

In November 2008, Agbar and the Ministry of Employment of the Government of Catalonia
signed an agreement to hire women who had suffered gender-based violence. Each of the nine
companies who signed the agreement, which is in its first pilot phase, with the Government of
Catalonia Ministry of Employment are committed to hire at least three women who had suffered
gender-based violence. In order to carry this out, each company defined the professional profiles
of the positions to be filled as well as the training needs of the people who would have to fill
them. Based on this information, the Government selected the most suitable candidates and
trained them.

Agbar hired three women after signing the contract and today two of them are still on the
permanent staff. During the womens employment at Agbar, Human Resources tracks the
progress and safety of the person through phone conversations and visits to the work centre. For
reasons of confidentiality, only the HR Manager, the Head of Selection and the head of the area
in which the person works are aware of the circumstances. This way, greater sensitivity can be
shown when it comes to matters regarding work tasks or, in particular, the balance of work and
home life. If the department head has any doubt or query, he or she directly contacts the Head of
Selection on how to proceed.

Allens

Allens, is a leading international law firm with partners, lawyers and corporate services staff
across Asia and Australia, and a global network spanning 40 offices and 29 countries. Since
2002, its professional development programs have included programs specifically focused on the
engagement, career and professional development and promotion of women in the firm. In 2009,
Allens reinvigorated and extended its professional and career development programs for women.

Building on an existing mentoring program, the firm introduced a structured twelve-month

external mentoring program to help support and accelerate the development of its outstanding
female professionals. Selection is based on objective criteria and mentees and mentors are
matched through an independent external provider. Although not limited, the primary role of the
mentor is to offer support, strategic advice and inspiration. Since 2009, 17 women have taken
part in the program and have reported an "increase in confidence, courage, skills and networks
to manage a range of professional and personal challenges". Of those participants, eight have
been promoted to partnership or senior management.
Banco do Brasil

Banco do Brasil, a leading Brazilian bank, has put a number of initiatives in place to promote
employees with parental demands.

Maternity leave: Banco do Brasil was the first financial institution in Brazil to allow women
employees six months maternity leave on full pay, which is also available if adopting children
under eight years old. Women are entitled to return to the same job they were doing before
leave, in order to avoid adverse effects on their career advancement. In 2011 alone, 1,680
female employees benefited from this extended leave.

Family life: Banco do Brasil offers a number of other benefits for both women and men to
reconcile home and professional life as they start a family and care for children. Some of the key
benefits are: food vouchers, paternity or adoption leave, financial reimbursement of expenses for
day care center, preschool institutions, domestic help or nanny for parents with children (under
7), assistance for parents with disabled children (over age 7), family-member sick leave and
doctors appointments (paid 70% of salary for up to 90 days for cases of illness affecting family
members) and marriage leave (8 days).

BBVA

BBVA, is a financial services company in Spain.

Maternity initiatives, which are one of the three pillars of BBVA's Global Diversity Plan, are aimed
at preventing this situation from hindering the professional development of women. Specific
measures have been implemented to achieve this goal. In a first stage, maternity leave is
covered by a person with similar qualifications in order to prevent women from feeling any type of
pressure or guilt due to their pregnancy. Women leave knowing that their colleagues will not be
overloaded by their work, and that BBVA guarantees them their same job after finishing their
maternity leave. When she returns to work, support is provided for a few weeks by a personal
tutor, who may be her own boss. The tutors aim is to make the return easier, explaining news
and changes that may have happened in the work place in their absence, and guiding her
through them. In addition, after a period of approximately one year, a follow-up interview is
conducted with the mother in order to obtain an in-depth knowledge of her experience and detect
possible areas for improvement. Work circumstances are analyzed and professional
development is verified in order to assess if there is brake after maternity. The ultimate goal is to
maintain professional development and the recognition of employees talent, regardless of the
maternity leave.

BBVA is pleased to have achieved in 2012 a ten percentage point increase at the global level in
the number of maternity leaves in relation to 2011. Of the women 2,273 that went on maternity
leave in 2012, 100% came back to their same jobs.
Calvert Investments

Calvert Investments, a leading U.S. investment firm, launched the Calvert Womens Principles
in 2004, as the first global code of corporate conduct focused exclusively on empowering,
advancing and investing in women.

The Womens Principles, consistent with Calverts longstanding investment approach, hold that
well-governed, socially responsible companies are better positioned to manage risk and deliver
long-term value to their shareholders, and reflect the view that there is a strong business case for
gender equality. Since their launch, the Principles have offered corporations a set of standards
against which they can assess their performance and provided investors with a set of tools to
assess corporate progress on gender equality and womens empowerment. Calverts main focus
has been on turning the Principles from the aspirational into the operational.

In 2008, Calvert partnered with the City of San Franciscos Department on the Status of Women
and Verit to adapt the Principles for the Bay area. As part of the partnership, the company
launched the Gender Equality Principles (GEP) and a companion website
(www.genderprinciples.org). This resource serves as a one-stop shop to assist companies in
implementing and promoting the GEP, by allowing them to establish a baseline, identify areas of
strength and opportunities for improvement, leverage extensive indicators and resources, and
set concrete goals and objectives to strengthen gender-related policies, practices, and
organizational culture.

The Chemical Industries Development (CID)

The Chemical Industries Development (CID) is a leading Egyptian company in the production of
the pharmaceutical products. As part of its commitment to promoting gender equality within the
company, CID formed a Gender Equity Committee. The Committee, which is composed by CIDs
senior managers, has in depth meetings with the assistant technical team to raise awareness
about the Gender Equality principles and GEME (Gender Equality Model in Egypt), and to
assess gender equality impact on the company. To assess impact the commit conducts a self-
assessment questionnaire, develops a training needs assessment and leads trainings and
workshops. The committee established several indicators to monitor and evaluate the
effectiveness of the companys gender equity policies. If the evaluation process uncovers areas
for improvement, the committee documents and looks for potential changes to strengthen the
G.E. model.

In addition to the Gender Equity Committee, CID created a human resources Subcommittee
which addresses gender specific recruitment, complaints, training, promotion and evaluation
performance. In addition, the Subcommittee collects sex-disaggregated data so that participation
of men and women within the firm can be sufficiently analyzed by the committee (see a list of
data collected below). All Members of the Committee and Subcommittee are well trained and
qualified to undertake their responsibilities as internal auditors of gender equity in the firm and
operate under the leadership of a gender equity coordinator and supervised by the CEO. The
committees publish their results in the company magazine and in a G.E. manual.

(Data collected: Percentage of male and female employees (as share of total employment); The
percent of men and women participating at each level and position; Analysis of the number of
personnel who have left the firm and the reasons for leaving; Level of absenteeism for men and
women; Number of trainees at each level (Male/Female); Female/Male representation in
traveling chances, professional meetings, conferences; Female and male managers have equal
opportunities for management training; Mens and womens participation in training programs are
equal (according to specialization and training needs.)

5by20 - Coca-Cola

5by20 is The Coca-Cola Company' global initiative to enable the economic empowerment of 5
million women entrepreneurs across our value chain by 2020. The Coca-Cola Company is the
worlds largest beverage company with more than 500 sparkling and still brands available in
more than 200 countries worldwide. Through 5by20, women entrepreneurs around the world
from fruit farmers to retailers to artisans business skills training courses, access to financial
services and access to support networks of peers or mentors to address the barriers they face to
business success.

The Coca-Cola Company works with partners around the world to bring 5by20 to life,
encouraging innovation, scale-up and replication. For example, UN Women and Coca-Cola work
together to leverage UN Womens reach and influence as a leader in promoting gender equality
and economic empowerment in the context of Coca-Colas broad global value chain and
extensive business expertise. Their $4 million partnership will reach more than 40,000 women in
Egypt, Brazil and South Africa over the next three years and will provide valuable insights on
sustainable project models that can be scaled up worldwide. By the end of 2012, 5by20 reached
300,000 women total since its launch in 2010. There are 5by20 programs in 12 countries: Brazil,
China, Costa Rica, Egypt, Haiti, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines, South Africa and
Thailand. In the years ahead, Coca-Cola expects to reach every region of the globe as 5by20
grows exponentially.

Deans Beans Organic Coffee

Deans Beans Organic Coffee - a North American Coffee company, initiated CHICA Comunidad
de Hermanas Inteligentes con Corazones Abiertos (Community of Intelligent Sisters with Open
Hearts), a community based program in Guatemala. The program aims to raise self-esteem,
gender awareness and create educational and economic opportunities for indigenous teenaged
girls in rural Guatemalan coffee villages.

To overcome the cultural barriers to women and girls advancement, CHICA identifies the
impediments to self-esteem, uses group peer models to increase self-esteem and ready the girls
to go back to school, create educational funds and economic opportunities for the girls to fund
their future education and to assist the girls in becoming peer educators, advocates and
community leaders. Then, as the girls "graduate" from both the program and their schooling, the
program seeks to empower the young women to identify other impediments to their personal and
professional growth, advocate for improvements and develop their own programs to address the
issues.

The first round of graduating CHICAs identified Reproductive Health as a major impediment to
the quality of their lives and their abilities to move forward in the economy and to have a sense of
control over their futures. Of the first forty girls who participated in the self-esteem and education
aspects of the project, all of whom had left school after the sixth grade, all reentered school and
all but two have graduated high school. Half are now in university or college programs. Of those
first forty girls all but two have put off their first pregnancy from the average age of fourteen to at
least eighteen and only three have gotten pregnant to date. The new training modules on
Reproductive Health are taking place right now in the villages and are reported to be popular and
successful.

KPMG International

KPMG International, a global consulting firm, together with KPMG in the Netherlands hosts and
sponsors a Women in Leadership Program in cooperation with Womens World Banking.
Women leaders of microfinance institutions across the world are supported in understanding their
unique leadership style and building key leadership capabilities including strategic thinking,
making good decisions, and creating and nurturing challenging and supportive relationships.
During the six day conference programme on site at a KPMG office, the women leaders of
microfinance institutions are linked to mentors who are senior women of KPMG and/or KPMG
business relations. With ongoing remote support and mentoring, participants develop a vision for
their leadership and create an action plan to achieve this vision in which they are supported by
their mentor over the subsequent year. Over the past two years we have provided leadership
training to over 40 female leaders from the microfinance sector and related organizations in
Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe. This has provided opportunities for over 30 KPMG senior
women, besides enhancing their mentoring skills, to interact globally and gain exposure to new
industries, cultures and ways of working.

The second leadership programme in 2012, which was hosted in Amsterdam, The Netherlands,
witnessed, for the first time the participation of five business relations of KPMG as a mentor. The
programme, brought together 21 women in management and leadership roles from 19
microfinance institutions in 11 countries in Sub Saharan Africa and the Middle East. Daily
reflection sessions and a final programme evaluation form were used to assess participant
satisfaction with various elements of the programme delivery. The overall programme score was
4.7 out of a possible score of 5. Womens World Banking also conducted a follow-up survey for
mentors and mentees in December-January 2013 in order to assess the progress and quality of
the mentoring relationships to date. It is clear in the feedback from both mentors and mentees
that there is great potential for achieving impact through the workshop and ongoing mentoring
relationships.
MAS Holdings

MAS Holdings, a Sri Lankan based company founded in 1986, specializes in the production of
intimate apparel and sportswear goods and provides services to such companies as Nike, Gap,
and Victorias Secret.

In 2003, the company initiated the Go Beyond Program in apparel plants in Sri Lanka. The
program, targeted at women, provides career development, life skills education and recognition
for female garment workers. Prior to the initiative, MAS plants provided meals, banking services,
skills building classes and transportation to their garment workers in Sri Lanka; however, the
extent and funding of each program was at each plant managers discretion. With the Go
Beyond Program, MAS Holdings established a company- wide framework to standardize and
evaluate employee programs at each individual plant based on internally identified best
practices. The program identified a four-point framework of empowerment and development
based on career advancement, work-life balance, rewarding excellence and community
activation. Specific classes included: awareness on domestic violence, stress management,
balancing multiple roles of a woman, dressmaking, financial management and computer literacy.
During the initial roll-out of the program and based on an impact measurement framework that
was developed in July 2004, MAS Holdings plants implemented 290 programs in the four
thematic areas and reached the average worker 3.7 times in the first year. Since its rollout, the
program has been extended to India and Vietnam.

Merck

Merck, the second largest global healthcare company in the world, has a deep and longstanding
commitment to the advancement of women in the workplace, marketplace and community.

Merck Womens Leadership Summit 2011: Merck Womens Network (MWN) and Global Diversity
and Inclusion hosted more than 200 female leaders in Munich during March for the second
annual Merck/MSD Women's Leadership Summit. Offering a variety of mentoring sessions,
executive panels, networking events and workshops, the Merck Womens Leadership Summit set
its sights squarely on ways to retain top women and direct their focus to the future. The Summit
was an opportunity for these women to network, learn from each other and develop new
strategies and skills to be effective and successful leaders at Merck/MSD. Several Merck senior
executive leaders, including Willie Deese, president of Merck Manufacturing Division (MMD),
Bruno Strigini, president, Europe/Canada, and Joe Morrissey, senior vice president, Europe,
Middle East, Africa and Canada (EMEAC) Operations, MMD were in attendance.

Nestle
Nestle, a multinational food and beverage company has committed its efforts to promoting and
supporting the lives of women in its cocoa supply chain. In India and Pakistan, they employ
veterinarians and agronomists to supervise milk routes and provide female dairy farmers with
advice on various issues, irrespective of whether or not they are Nestl suppliers. There is no
charge for veterinary services, while medicines are provided at wholesale cost. The costs are
adjusted against subsequent milk payments to the farmers, making the medicines affordable.
Nestle also supports female farmers in expanding their operations, for example by assisting with
artificial insemination programmes for cattle, subsidising the purchase of milking machines and
helping them to procure loans.

Novo Nordisk

Novo Nordisk, a global healthcare company headquartered in Denmark, provides life-saving

treatments for people with diabetes and rare bleeding disorders. Half of its employees (currently
over 32,000) are women. To advance women internally, Novo Nordisk embeds gender diversity
into key corporate organizational assurance and accountability processes. For example, annual
internal organizational audits require that each business unit rigorously review diversity as one of
many key organizational growth drivers, and link business and gender diversity in succession
planning. The Balance Score Card promotes, with a common set of measurable gender
indicators, accountability and ownership of gender diversity results at the business unit and
executive levels. Furthermore, progress towards equal opportunity and inclusion in the workplace
is regularly assessed through in-depth interviews with approximately 20% of staff annually.

Pax World Investments

Pax World Investments is a leading sustainable investment firm based in the United States that
believes that womens empowerment is good for companies and investors. As investors, they
focus on influencing corporate policies and behavior so that companies can enjoy the benefits of
gender diversity, including improved decision-making, oversight and performance. Pax World
votes against all-male slates of directors at company annual meetings and against male
nominees on slates with only one woman. They also file shareholder proposals asking
companies to make diversity part of every director search. Pax World launched the Pax Global
Womens Leadership Index and Pax Ellevate Global Womens Index Fund based on the Index,
investing in companies that invest in women. This year (2016), they expanded their gender
engagement to include pay equity initiatives. They have filed three shareholder proposals, at
Apple, eBay and Amazon, asking companies to disclose pay ratios by gender and report on
programs aimed at eliminating gender pay gaps. Pax World also recently wrote to 31 technology
companies held across its mutual funds, asking for information about how the companies are
addressing pay equity and that they publicly disclose the results of a company pay analysis. In
February 2016, Pax Ellevate, a partnership of Pax World and Ellevate Asset Management,
submitted a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission urging the agency to either
require companies to disclose pay equity data, or to issue guidance for the voluntary disclosure
of such information. Pax World releases a pay equity audit annually in its own CSR report.

Symantec

Symantec, a United States software company, implemented the Gender Equity Image Project to
promote gender equality within the company. The goal of the program is to work toward the
ongoing improvement of gender representation and the reduction of the use of stereotyping
imagery at Symantec wherever possible. The project strives to ensure ethical marketing
standards by respecting the dignity of women in all sales, promotional, and advertising materials.
In 2012 the Corporate Marketing team conducted a benchmark audit to evaluate how gender is
represented through imagery at Symantec. We were reviewing for not only presence of gender
based imagery but also gender split and position of power. We discovered that overall Symantec
relies heavily on the use of non-gender logo based imagery, however, where gender based
imagery exists, we have an opportunity to improve.

One of the pieces of the improvement plan was to initiate an annual audit of gender
representation in various forms of our marketing communications. This audit uses an Excel
spreadsheet to track a range of image categories and their gender statistics (male only, female
only, mix of gender, position of power).

Further, in order to promote the Gender Equity Image Project; Symantec has added language to
both our Corporate Editorial Style Guide and our Visual Guidelines to educate our marketing and
sales organization as well as the agencies we work with to embrace all aspects of diversity,
including gender.

The Symantec Gender Equity Image Project uses straightforward and easy-to-understand
metrics. Several members of the marketing team evaluated over 300 images across several
categories in an effort to understand how gender is represented in Symantec imagery. The initial
results were presented to all of the teams with various control areas. Each team committed to a 5
percent improvement in the overall representation of gender in the first year, based on the results
of the annual audit.
PRIORITIZING PARENTAL LEAVE
Parental leave is arguably the biggest factor in supporting women in the workplace,
with good reason. Without it, women are forced to choose between being there for
her newborn or newly adopted child during a vital time of nurturing and bonding
or potentially losing her job. If we want to empower women in the workplace, it
seems obvious that we need good maternity leave policiesand parental leave for
fathers, too. While mothers play a unique role in her baby's early life, having
support from their partner is invaluable for mom, and baby. So we're heartened to
see more policies aimed at allowing men to be involved in their kids' lives. If more
fathers were able to take parental leave, as Mark Zuckerberg announced he was
doing last year, the pressure would be reduced on women in the home as well as at
work, and reduce the stigma that women carry when taking parental leave.

Last August, Netflix announced that they would be offering unlimited paid parental
leave for up to a year following a childs birth or adoption to its salaried streaming
employees, and then in December (after quite a bit of backlash) that they would
be altering the policy to include four months of paid parental leave for their hourly
workers, too.

Vodafone, an International phone company, provides all its employees (including

American staff) with a minimum of 16 weeks of maternity leave on full salary
which is then followed by 6 months of a protected 30 hour-per-week workload.
The best bit about the policy? As Anna Quinlan wrote for Verily when it was first
announced, Its about talent. Vodafone worked out that the new policy would
save global businesses $19 billion annually, meaning that their policy is a formal
recognition of the fact that working mothers, and women more generally, are
bringing value to businesses everywhere. You cant argue when its good for the
bottom line.

Other companies that offer great parental leave include Twitter, Johnson &
Johnson, Adobe, and Facebook.

FLEXIBLE WORK OPTIONS

Everyone (and every situation) is different, so flexible working options are another
huge factor in supporting working mothers. I, for one, wouldnt be able to do my
job if I couldnt work from home; flexible working policies include the option to
work from home when necessary, job share or working part-time hours, and fit
working hours around a parents schedule (allowing them to leave work to pick up
kids from school, for example).

So, which companies are doing well in the flexible working stakes?
As Fortunepointed out last year, The healthcare industry [in America] is
dominating the market for female talent by offering flexible work options and
promoting many into leadership roles. One company doing really well in this field
is Meridian Healthat the time of the report, women accounted for a huge 79
percent of their workforce, and filled 63 percent of leadership positions.

Similarly, Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta offers various different flexible work

options, including telecommuting for nurses when operating hotlines, flexible
scheduling such as compressed workweeks, as well as job sharing and reduced
schedules that adapt to the needs of the staff. These policies make a huge
difference to women, and the proof is in the numbers: Over half of senior managers
on the team are women, and eight out of twelve staff on the senior leadership team
are female, including the CEO. As one working mother commented, "I never feel
pressured to put work ahead of the needs of my family."

Other companies making a difference to female employees with flexible work

provisions include Accenture, who provides generous paid holiday and job-
guaranteed unpaid time off. GE allows employees to figure out their paid time off
requirements with their managers rather than adhering to a set number of allotted
days. Meanwhile, Lego allows full-time employees to shift their hours within a
designated window, and supports part-time workers by offering benefits after just
twenty hours a week.

ON-SITE CHILDCARE SOLUTIONS

As every parent knows, one of the biggest challenges for parents who are returning
to work is childcare. As it is most often women who are organizing the childcare,
this is another area where innovative policies can go a long way towards
supporting women in the workplace. Not every woman can follow in Yahoo CEO
Marissa Mayer's footsteps and commission a nursery to be built next to her office.

As well as their flexible work policies, Meridian Health provides on-site

childcare at three of its six hospitals in New Jersey, costing an average of $663 a
month rather than the national average of $972. Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta
also offers backup childcare, which helps explain the high proportion of women on
the staff at every level in the organization. Goldman Sachs offers at least 20 days
of backup childcare per dependent annually. Other companies that offer on-site
childcare include Google, Aol, and Eli Lilly.

WOMAN-FRIENDLY COMPANY CULTURES

Company culture is a tricky one to define, but it can mean the difference
between women putting themselves forward for promotions and quitting.

Googles company culture is legendary, and has won them the No. 1 slot
on Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list for seven years now. As well as
the dizzying array of perks that they offer all their employees (think three organic
meals a day, unlimited snacks, and subsidized wash and fold laundry services),
they also offer various women-friendly perks such as breast cancer screening and
reserved parking for pregnant employees (thanks to Sheryl Sandberg, who was the
first one to point out this need when she worked for Google years ago).

The overall percentage of women at Google is far below parity at 30%, but Google
has proven that they care about supporting women in the workplace: When they
realized six years ago that more male engineers were putting themselves forward
for promotions than female engineers, they experimented with different methods to
get more women to apply for higher roles.

Other companies such as Goldman Sachs foster a parent-friendly working culture

through maternity-mentoring programs and seminars on wellness and nutrition for
expectant mothers.

PROFESSIONAL MENTORSHIP
OPPORTUNITIES
As Julia Hogan pointed out for Verily, a host of research studies has found that
theres a marked confidence gap between men and women. Women
are reportedlyfour times less likely than men to ask for higher salaries and raises.
In Lean In Sheryl Sandberg writes that as women we often lower our own
expectations of what we can achieve, which sets us back in the workplace.
Businesses are beginning to acknowledge this confidence gap and do something
about it by offering women mentorship and opportunities to train and develop
skills in areas they wouldnt necessarily put themselves forward for.
The International law firm Ernst & Young has a sponsorship program
which Forbes writer Susan Adams described as a mentorship on steroids, with
partners mentoring groups of women and actively advocating for them to earn
places on highly visible projects, increasing their chances of getting promotions.

AND A NEW ONE: MENSTRUAL LEAVE (YOU

READ THAT RIGHT)
Yes, this really is a thing. A British company made headlines earlier this year for
introducing a period policy, allowing women to take off extra days or work from
home without having to class them as regular sick days. They werent actually
the first company to create a policy like this, however; back in 2007 Nike included
a menstrual leave policy in their Code of Conduct, applying it worldwide in
whichever countries they operate in, including the United States. They are
currently the only global company to include the policy in their code of conduct.

While this kind of workplace policy is not without controversy, putting periods in a
separate category from other medical conditions recognizes the physical reality of
being a woman. Rather than forcing women to conform to masculine behavior, it
introduces the idea that working women have inherent value and that we are
different from men, and can structure things a little differently.

While we still have a long way to go, thoughtful policies like these that individual
businesses are employing acknowledge the unique issues women face over the
course of their careers. As it turns out, change is already happening in the working
world around usyou just have to know where to look.

1. IndustryArc
GLASSDOOR

IndustryArc, a three-year-old start-up in Hyderabad has initiated a

menstrual policy, which allows their women employees to take a day or
two off during their menstruation. However, the policy also comes with a
catch. Women employees would have to later compensate for the leave
and finish the pending work later on!
2. RMSI
REDIFF

The global GIS consulting company organises self-defense workshops,

Tai Chi and also distributes pepper sprays for women safety. They have
health benefits for women for breast and cervix cancer and other
gynaecological problems.
3. Google
COGNIVIEW

For mothers who go through complications during childbirth receive an

additional four weeks of leave, along with the normal 18 weeks of paid
maternity leave. The family of the employee also receives baby-
bonding bucks. Also if the employee dies (even if its a male) his or her
children would receive $1,000 per month until age 19 or 23.
4. Mondelez

INSIDEIIM

The multinational confectionary company whose famous subsidiary is

Cadbury has two mentoring programmes for women. The My Mentor
program is a self-paced 12-week program to augment the key
competencies of senior high potential women at the organization. There
are also mentoring circles where a collection of mentoring relationships
that meet on a regular basis for an agreed period of time.
5. Accenture

YOUTUBE
At Accenture, under the Group Chief Executive Julie Sweet, women
employees can take 16 fully paid weeks of maternity leave and post
pregnancy, they can also choose to work locally for a full year. There is
also a service where they can ship breast milk for free when they are out
travelling for business.

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6.

BHANDARI AND PLATTER

EY (formerly Ernst & Young) multinational professional services, is a

step ahead of others when it comes to executing women-friendly
policies. The firm has started offering fertility treatment coverage where
the employees are being offered $25,000 for fertility treatments and
adoptions.
7. Goldman Sachs
THE TIMES

Investment banking firm Goldman Sachs understood the pain of the new
mothers of leaving their toddlers under the unreliable supervision and
coming to work. Therefore, they started an on-site corporate office
crche in London where the parents could leave their kids at the child
care centre and work without any stress.
8. Apple
APPLESUTRA

Accenture

Accenture

Accenture plc is a multinational management consulting, technology

services, and outsourcing company that offers eight fully-paid leaves
for women who gave birth, four fully-paid weeks plus $5,000 in aid for
women who adopted a child. The consultancy also offers a Maternity
Support Program to provide female executives with managing-
Director-level coaches, educational info and discussion groups to help
prepare them for the arrival of their children and the eventual return to
work. The company also offers backup child care and sick child care.