Accenture’s inclusion on Working Mother magazine’s 2007 list of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers for the fifth consecutive year brings added prestige with Accenture’s Karrie Claytor featured on the cover.
Working Mother’s October issue describes Accenture as a company with “flex appeal” for its variety of flexible work arrangements for all employees—as well as child care and leave options available to parents.
“Accenture not only offers essential benefits like flex-time and telecommuting, they go above and beyond with a range of best practices and policies to ease the difficulties for working parents and their families,” said Carol Evans, Working Mother chief executive officer and president. “Their supportive culture makes a huge difference to employees who want to be great parents and great workers.”
Claytor, a relocation manager for the Finance organization in Chicago, says that as a single parent of two children—Caitlin, 12, and Colin, 6—she has taken advantage of just about every program Accenture offers working mothers. The flexible spending day care and health care programs have been particularly helpful, she says—as well as the emergency reimbursement for child care. Additionally, she optimizes flex-time work hours, which includes working two days from home.
“Accenture understands,” Claytor says. “My last company simply did not understand that life and family comes first and work needs to be in sync with that.”
Time for herself and kidsA flexible work arrangement gives Claytor the opportunity to enjoy ample personal time, be it with her children or personal hobbies. She says that for her family, the key to a happy work/life balance includes patience, flexibility, music, exercise and laughter as well as the assistance of her “extended family.”
“Caitlin and Colin are with me Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and every other Saturday,” said Claytor, who is divorced. “My typical week includes rehearsing in the community orchestra—I play and teach French horn—youth choir rehearsals and performances, a group tennis session and taking my kids to soccer practice and games.”
Claytor said being on the cover is a dream come true, and was certainly shocked when she heard the news. She said the cover story is validation of her efforts as single, working parent as much as it is a tribute to Accenture’s efforts to help her succeed.
“I feel that the connection I share with my associates at work complements my lifestyle and desire to succeed,” Claytor said. “They are my extended family and they help me gain perspective, offer time-off flexibility and share great opportunities for laughter and fun with me. Accenture encourages me to put balance and family first, and I really appreciate that.”
“Woman of the year” W orking Mother chose Claytor for the cover story from a large pool of women nationwide as a working mother who brings inspiration to others and who exemplifies how a company can help one of its own achieve both personal and professional success, explained Sharon Klun, manager of US work/life initiatives.
“For 3 million-plus readers, that face becomes Working Mother’s ‘woman of the year,’” Klun said. “Karrie is representative of all working moms across the United States.”
Andre Hughes, managing director-Human Capital & Diversity, US, said that the Working Mother’s recognition of Accenture is a tremendous testament to the work the company does to provide our people with innovative tools and resources to help them manage their work/life balance.
“We can be proud of Accenture’s accomplishment in securing a place as an employer of choice for working parents,” Hughes said. “And congratulations to Karrie. She is a shining example of high performance in action.”
Working Mother’s 100 Best Companies list recognizes organizations that demonstrate commitment and support to their people through their programs, polices and resources. The extensive application includes detailed questions about the workforce, compensation, child care and flexibility programs, leave policies and more. It also verifies the usage, availability and tracking or programs, as well as the accountability of managers who oversee them.