Ernst & Young LLP Ranks Among the Top 10 Companies for Working Mothers for the Eighth Straight Year

New York, New York (PRWEB) September 17, 2013

Ernst & Young LLP has ranked in the top 10 on Working Mother’s annual Working Mother 100 Best Companies list for the eighth consecutive year, also marking the firm’s 17th appearance on the list to date. One new effort contributing to this year’s recognition is EY’s Career and Family Transitions coaching initiative, which the organization began piloting in the Americas in December 2012 to support women and men welcoming a new baby through birth or adoption. Due to its success, the pilot is now expanding into a long-term program expected to reach about 375 moms and dads by December 2014.    

EY business unit leaders have nominated mid-level professionals to participate, with a 100% acceptance rate to date, including dads. The program is unique in that EY’s internal Executive Coaching team, which typically coaches the organization’s highest-ranking leaders, has dedicated several executive coaches to spending a majority of their time helping these working parents through individual and group sessions held before and after the birth or adoption of their child. Additionally, training is offered for the EY professionals who serve as participants’ counselors both prior to their leave and focused on their return to work, which is expected to reach about 250-300 counselors by December 2014. Internally, counselors are the EY professionals responsible for collaborating on annual goals, assessing performance and supporting development.

“Our track record with Working Mother’s 100 Best Companies list celebrates our continued innovation in supporting working parents, yet our new Career and Family Transitions coaching program demonstrates that we don’t rest on our laurels when it comes to our work culture,” said Steve Howe, the EY Americas Managing Partner and the Managing Partner of Ernst & Young LLP. “This new initiative is designed to retain and engage working parents, while helping them meet their personal and professional goals during one of the biggest transitions of their lives — the birth or adoption of a child. As the competition for top talent in the professional services sector grows increasingly fierce, maintaining a leading people culture is what will ultimately help us attract and retain the best professionals and meet our growth objectives.”

The Working Mother 100 Best Companies list honors organizations for their commitment to progressive workplace programs, including child care, flexibility, advancement and paid family leave. This is the 28th year, Working Mother has recognized organizations for their initiatives.

Following are additional examples of perks that Ernst & Young LLP offers to attract, retain and develop working parents, caregivers and other professionals:

•     The firm’s generous parental leave package provides 14 fully-paid weeks off for birth moms, six weeks for primary care dads and adoptive parents, and four additional weeks of time off beyond what the Family and Medical Leave Act requires. The number of parental leaves taken each year by the firm’s men is consistent with that of its women.
•     Breastfeeding support includes counseling, providing hospital-grade pumps to employees or their spouses, and transporting breast milk for women traveling on business.
•     The firm offers subsidies for back-up child care and adult care as well as access to quality care centers and credentialed home care professionals.
•     EY fosters a culture of sponsorship and provides a growing array of related resources and initiatives to help women and others advance, such as its Professional Networks. To reflect the evolving and expanding needs of families — as well as EY’s support of them — the organization recently restructured its “Today’s Families” group of networks to include the Working Moms’ Network, Fathers’ Forum, Caregivers Circle, and Parents of Children with Special Health Care Needs.
•     Flexibility is also embedded in EY’s culture and available to everyone, regardless of level or gender. While thousands of EY people in the Americas are on a formal flexible work arrangement — with hundreds of them getting promoted to its highest ranks while participating — most people are interested in exercising day-to-day flexibility. Among EY’s newest flexibility efforts is its Workplace of the Future initiative, a trust-based, work-anywhere environment that combines physical workspace, technology and flexibility solutions to better accommodate how its high-performing, global teams work today.

Carol Evans, president of Working Mother Media, says, "Ernst & Young LLP has been named a Working Mother ‘Hall of Fame’ company, with a total of 17 years as a 100 Best Company. EY and its member firms have created some of the most innovative programs in the workplace to advance family leave policies, including the Career and Family Transitions coaching program, which helps moms or dads to strategically plan to meet their personal goals while also meeting their clients’ and teams’ expectations."

The Working Mother 100 Best Companies Gala Awards Dinner will recognize all winning organizations on Oct. 23, 2013, at the Marriott Marquis in New York City, in addition to announcing Ernst & Young LLP’s working mother of the year. The event is part of the 2013 WorkLife Congress taking place Oct. 21-23. Additionally, the 100 Best Companies are featured in the October/November issue of the magazine and on workingmother.com.

Internal Survey Findings About Working Parents’ Engagement Complement External Ranking

EY periodically conducts a Global People Survey to measure the engagement of its more than 167,000 people and to identify organizational strengths and areas for improvement. In 2013, Ernst & Young LLP included questions regarding child care responsibilities for its US professionals for the first time, finding that the firm’s working parents expressed the highest levels of engagement among all professionals.

“In addition to today’s prestigious external recognition, our recent internal research further demonstrates that our working parents feel engaged, which is particularly meaningful to us given the challenging nature of our work and careers in our profession,” said Karyn Twaronite, the EY Americas Inclusiveness Officer and a Partner of Ernst & Young LLP. “While we believe our leading programs and benefits contribute significantly to their fulfillment, we are confident that EY’s flexible and inclusive culture we've worked for decades to create continues to have the greatest impact.”

Other recognition of EY's culture: Universum World's Most Attractive Employers

It was also announced today that globally, EY firms are the world’s most attractive professional services employers — and second most attractive employers overall — in Universum’s annual World’s Most Attractive Employer ranking. Based on the preferences of almost 94,000 business students from the world’s top academic institutions in the largest 12 economies by GDP, EY is now the second most attractive employer globally and the highest ranking choice for business students among leading professional services organizations. In the US, it was announced in May 2013 that college students ranked Ernst & Young LLP No. 1 in accounting for the sixth consecutive year and No. 4 in business on the US Undergraduate Universum IDEAL™ Employer Survey.

“During the downturn, when any business would have been tempted to pull back on investments in recruiting, inclusiveness, talent development, corporate responsibility, and other efforts central to our workplace culture, we were doubling down,” Steve Howe added. “We’re seeing the results of this unrelenting commitment to our people and our culture in today’s Working Mother and Universum rankings, and this is exactly the type of momentum we’ll need to fulfill our business purpose of building a better working world.”

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About EY
EY is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The insights and quality services we deliver help build trust and confidence in the capital markets and in economies the world over. We develop outstanding leaders who team to deliver on our promises to all of our stakeholders. In so doing, we play a critical role in building a better working world for our people, for our clients and for our communities.

EY refers to the global organization and may refer to one or more of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.

This news release has been issued by Ernst & Young LLP, a member of the global EY organization that provides services to clients in the US.

About Working Mother Media
Working Mother Media, a division of Bonnier Corporation (bonnier.com), is the publisher of Working Mother magazine and its companion website, workingmother.com, and the Working Mother Research Institute. The National Association for Female Executives (nafe.com ), Diversity Best Practices (diversitybestpractices.com) are also units within WMM. Working Mother Media’s mission is to serve as a champion of culture change. Working Mother magazine reaches more than 2 million readers and is the only national magazine for career-committed mothers; Workingmother.com gives working mothers @home and @work advice, solutions, and ideas. This year marks the 28th anniversary of the magazine’s signature research initiative, Working Mother 100 Best Companies, and the 11th year of the Best Companies for Multicultural Women. Follow us on Facebook or on Twitter.

About Universum
Universum is an international company which specializes in the field of employer branding. Founded in 1988, its goal was to improve communication between students and the employers who want to recruit them. Today, Universum’s mission is to help employers excel in recruitment and retention by ensuring improvements to their employer brand. Universum delivers a full range of services in research, strategic consulting and communication solutions that enable employers to better understand, attract and retain current and future ideal employees. Universum is a trusted partner to 1 200 clients, including many Fortune 500 companies, and co-operates with 1 500 universities worldwide to conduct research on the career and employer preferences of top talent. Universum surveys on an annual basis 400,000 students and professionals worldwide.

For more information, go to http://www.universumglobal.com.

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