25-03-2025
What Do Companies Who Champion Women Do?
Susan Madsen, Karen Haight Huntsman Endowed Professor of Leadership, Huntsman School of Business, Utah State University.
Through the decades, I've reviewed the literature and conducted studies that have explored what well-known companies do to support and champion women. In fact, I started down this path over 25 years ago when I taught a graduate course at the University of Minnesota focused on the work-family divide and integration. While completing my doctorate, I had four young children at home, so the department chair figured I knew something about work-life balance—or at least work-life conflict. Frankly, the 'balance' part was never my forte.
Fortunately, teaching the course did introduce me to the variety of family-friendly policies and practices that employers were implementing, as well as public policies that some national, state and local governments were passing. I've been interested in the topic ever since. In fact, I ended up completing a dissertation on the impact of teleworking on work and family conflict. In addition, I've been a women's leadership scholar for decades and have explored the types of programs and initiatives that companies have successfully implemented that focus on developing and advancing women leaders.
With this context as a backdrop, beginning in 2022, I have partnered with the Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity in the state of Utah to craft a statewide initiative called '100 Companies Championing Women.' As part of the "Inspire In Utah" campaign, this initiative 'recognizes and highlights stories of 100 Utah companies offering family-friendly policies and practices, as well as women-specific initiatives known to impact the recruiting, hiring, retaining and advancing of women employees, managers and leaders.' To prepare for the launch, we determined the characteristics we would use to rate organizations that applied.
When organizations apply for recognition as one of the 100 Companies Championing Women, they are asked to check several boxes that apply to them. They are then required to expound qualitatively on the five options they are most proud to offer.
First, they select all the flexible/family-friendly arrangements that their company currently offers from among the following options:
• Adoption and/or fertility benefits
• Childcare support (e.g., on-site childcare, childcare reimbursement, emergency/back-up childcare)
• Compressed workweek
• Flexibility with working hours/schedules (for full-time employees)
• Formal job-sharing program
• Paid family leave
• Part-time work with full benefits
• Part-time professional roles (including higher-level positions)
• Remote work options
• 'Returnships' or other programs for returning workers
• Transition back-to-work support after maternity leave
• Tuition reimbursement for dependents/family members
• Unpaid family leave
An open-ended 'Other' option allows for additional flexible/family-friendly arrangements the company offers.
Second, company representatives identified women's focused initiatives or efforts that their company currently offers or engages in. Again, they can submit additional policies, programs and initiatives in an open-ended option. The list includes the following:
• Increase diversity in mid-level and senior leadership roles
• Increase presence of women on board (if applicable)
• Mentor and/or sponsorship programs targeted at women
• Pay equity efforts
• Recruiting strategies focused on increasing the number of women employees
• Women ERG (employee resource group) or network
• Women-specific leadership development program
• Women-specific professional development offerings
And third, they are asked to highlight five of the policies, programs or initiatives listed above and, in no more than 150 words, provide additional details on each of them.
Although Utah is not known as a state that focuses on supporting women, based on our 50th of 50 state rankings in WalletHub's Best & Worst States for Women's Equality rankings, things are improving. The 100 companies in the 2024 cohort reported their policies and initiatives in the following percentages:
1. Family-Specific Policies And Benefits: Paid Family Leave (69%), Unpaid Family Leave (64%), Back-to-Work Maternity Support (58%), Childcare Support (34%) and Adoption and Fertility Benefits (27%)
2. Flexible Work Policies And Benefits: Flexible Hours (98%), Remote Work (91%), Part-Time Professional Roles (51%), Compressed Work Week (43%), Part-Time Work Benefits (25%) and Job Sharing (7%)
3. Professional Development & Leadership: Diversity at Mid to Senior Level (84%), Strategies to Recruit Women (64%), Women Board Members (58%), Mentoring/Sponsorship for Women (55%), Women Professional Development (46%), Women Leadership Development (38%), Women Employee Resource Group (ERG) (34%) and Returnships (21%)
4. Other: Pay Equity (89%) and Tuition Reimbursement (34%)
In terms of recommendations for organizational leaders, here are three:
First, compare your current offerings to see how they align with the list of family-friendly policies and women-focused initiatives above. Although each company is unique in terms of challenges and resources, all companies can create more inclusive workplaces for women by being thoughtful about effective ways to support all employees and their families.
Second, though childcare support was not a top offering in Utah (likely because of complexity and high costs), the state is far from unique: Childcare nationwide is at a crisis level. Many leaders still believe that if they cannot offer onsite childcare, they cannot offer anything; however, there are many ways to support employees and their families in this area. Do your research.
Third, continue to provide flexibility in workplace location and work hours. Some employers are pulling back their remote work policies, with some leaders not having a strategic reason to do so. Because women take the brunt of unpaid care work, we often benefit the most from these policies.
As more and more companies embrace family-friendly policies and practices, they create additional opportunities for women's workforce engagement, advancement and success while still allowing women to prioritize other areas of their lives, including their families. These days my children are older and have families of their own (I now have six grandchildren), but I'm forever grateful I was able to have opportunities for meaningful work in the home and the workplace. Let's support all employees by offering the policies and practices they need to be successful in both!
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