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New England firms among 100 best for working moms

By Davis Bushnell, Globe Correspondent, 9/25/2005

DAVID L. RYAN/THE BOSTON GLOBE Marilyn M. Hausammann at her office at Harvard University.

One of the most important lessons she has learned as a human resources executive, Marilyn M. Hausammann said, ''is seeking and using support'' for juggling her responsibilities as an administrator and mother of two.

''At low moments, I often give myself pep talks about the good support system I have had from superiors, colleagues, and my husband,'' said Hausammann, 54, who became Harvard University's first vice president for human resources last October, where she oversees a workforce of 17,649, of whom 52 percent are female.

Harvard is one of seven New England employers on Working Mother Magazine's 2005 list of the 100 Best Companies. The others are: Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. in Springfield; Timberland Co. in Stratham, N.H.; Yale-New Haven Hospital; General Electric Co. in Fairfield, Conn.; Lego Systems Inc., in Enfield, Conn.; and Phoenix Cos. in Hartford.

In selecting mom-friendly employers, the magazine gave special consideration to companies that offer flexible scheduling and child-care services. Indeed, all of the employers chosen have flex-time plans, compared to 56 percent of employers nationally, and 94 percent offer child-care referral services, versus 20 percent nationally, said Carol Evans, chief executive and founder of Working Mother Media, the magazine's parent.

While Hausammann and others have been able to take advantage of a smorgasbord of child-care offerings, working mothers still have a long way to go before being similarly supported by their employers, Evans said in a telephone interview
last week.

''Unfortunately, not all US companies are sympathetic to working mothers. On the other hand, lots of companies are looking down the road when baby boomers will retire. Then, there will be a vital need to retain women'' through various programs that will make their work-family lives more manageable, Evans predicted.

Meantime, the number of women in the US workforce is rising. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that by 2008, women will account for 48 percent of the labor force, compared to 45 percent in 1988. Today, 80.2 million men and 69.4 million women are on the job.

Although there is no data currently on the number of working women who have children, Evans believes about three-quarters do.

Program costs and the lukewarm economy are largely preventing employers from fulfilling all of these women's needs for work-life balance, said Jen Jorgensen, spokeswoman for the Society for Human Resource Management, a major trade group based in Alexandria, Va.

''And options like flexible work schedules and telecommuting have leveled off because they are not suited to certain jobs,'' Jorgensen said. ''However, programs aimed at achieving work-life balance are bound to gain momentum for men as well as women.''

Nonetheless, some of the more forward-looking companies and institutions are making life easier for working mothers, said Hausammann, who has a son, 22, and a daughter, 16, and has witnessed a sea change in program offerings since she began working first as a human resources specialist in the mid-1970s. Before accepting the Harvard offer, she was global director of human resources for The Boston Consulting Group.

''I have been fortunate to have been able to get good advice all along about child care and other matters from colleagues at companies that had good policies,'' Hausammann said.

But keeping on top of job and family issues has also entailed working out ''a flexible partnership'' with her husband, Mark, 56, a risk manager at State Street Corp., she said.

Harvard, Hausammann noted, is doing all it can to be supportive of working mothers and their families. For example, she said, the university sponsors six child-care centers. Employees pay reduced fees.

Also, about one-fifth of the technical and clerical staffers, she said, have flexible schedules.

At Massachusetts Mutual, Kristen Haggerty, 42, a communications specialist, said she works a flexible schedule from 6:15 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. three or four times a week so that she can spend more time with her two children, ages 10 and 12.

She also takes advantage of the company's miniretail-service center, including a tailor shop, hair salon, and gift store. The insurer also has relationships with several day-care centers. Depending on their gross annual family income, employees are eligible for discounts of between 10 and 40 percent at these centers. One of Haggerty's children was once enrolled in a center.

Sixty percent of Mass. Mutual's 5,950 employees are women, a company spokesman said.

At Timberland's headquarters, women also outnumber men, 473 to 291. The footwear and apparel maker has various offerings to benefit working moms, ranging from a Women's Network and subsidized child care to flexible work schedules and job sharing.

Kathy Neils, 36, is a leader of the network, which provides speakers on women's issues and sponsors events such as walks to raise funds for breast cancer research.

The company also has another network of people who help women readjust to the workplace after they have returned from maternity leave, Neils said. She has two daughters, ages 5 months and 4 years.

''The day-care center on site has been particularly helpful to me and my family,'' noted Neils, director of employee and organizational development. The programs for mothers and women employees in general ''will continue to evolve with any changes in the workplace or workforce,'' she said. But one thing, she said, won't change: informing and supporting others.

That's also been the experience of Marna P. Borgstrom, 51, who takes over Oct. 1 as president and chief executive of Yale-New Haven Hospital and Yale-New Haven Health System. She had been executive vice president and chief operating officer since 1993.

''Everyone here pitches in and helps others on matters,'' whether job- or family-related, said Borgstrom, noting there are 12,000 employees, 6,300 of them at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Sixty-five percent are women.

As a working mother with two sons, now 20 and 16, Borgstrom said she has had ''a terrific mentor,'' in her boss, Joseph A. Zaccagnino, whom she'll succeed next month when he retires.

''He's a man who knows the pushes and pulls'' of work and family responsibilities, Borgstrom said of Zaccagnino. ''He has four kids, so he has a good perspective on things, which makes me believe that who you work for, in whatever industry, is critical.''

Yale-New Haven was one of the first hospitals in New England to set up a child-care center 22 years ago, she said.

Now, one-third of the mothers who use the center receive some sort of tuition assistance, she said.

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