For the ninth consecutive year, and third year in the Top 10, FleishmanHillard has been named one of the 2018 NAFE Top Companies for Executive Women by the National Association for Female Executives. The list recognizes American corporations where women have significant clout to make the decisions that affect their company’s future and its bottom line. The NAFE Top 70 Companies, released today, is featured in the April/May issue of Working Mother.
“It has long been our commitment to actively support and create clear leadership and career pathing opportunities for women within our organization,” said John Saunders, FleishmanHillard president and CEO. “To consistently be recognized by NAFE as a leading company for female executive professionals in the U.S. is a great honor we celebrate in tribute to the women who contribute to the success of our organization.
“Every day, we strive to provide a workplace that champions diversity in all forms where everyone can advance and thrive as leaders. It’s essential for shaping the culture of the firm and ensuring our business success.”
The NAFE 2018 recognition highlights FleishmanHillard’s ongoing initiatives to promote and support women in leadership roles. Several examples of these efforts include:
- Women being appointed to 8 of the 15 current seats on the company’s leadership cabinet.
- Women holding half of the roles within the C-suite.
- Women holding more than half of the regional leadership positions, including: president, APAC; president, Greater China; deputy CEO, FleishmanHillard Fishburn; president, U.S. South; and president, FleishmanHillard HighRoad.
- Female leaders overseeing nearly half of FleishmanHillard’s global practice and sector groups, including the reputation management, brand marketing, research and analytics, and media relations practice groups; and the food, beverage and agribusiness, healthcare and technology sector groups.
- Introduction of increased parental leave that resulted in turnover reduction of more than 10 percent across female employees at the mid-level.
Betty Spence, president of NAFE, says, “NAFE’s annual scrutiny of women’s progress at American companies offers essential data about the movement of women into top leadership in the private sector. In this first year of having five NAFE Top Companies with boards of 50 percent or more women, we point to a synergy between the greater presence of women on the board and an increase in the number of winning companies with women CEOs and with 50 percent plus women in the C-suite (10 companies).”
Subha V. Barry, senior vice president and managing director, Working Mother Media, says, “NAFE’s Top Companies shows us what progressive organizations are doing to ensure women’s advancement into executive positions. This year, noting increased enrollment and more companies with high scores, we decided to enlarge the list by 10. Areas such as number of female CEOs and promotions at every level illustrate improvement. However, while there is increased CEO engagement in making sure women have the best chance to become leaders, we also note there has also been a dip in key indicators like top earners, which needs to be addressed.”
The 2018 NAFE Top Companies application includes some 200 questions on female representation at all levels, especially the corporate officer and profit-and-loss ranks. The vetting process includes tracking access and usage of programs and policies that promote the advancement of women as well as the training and accountability of managers in relation to the number of women who advance. In order to be eligible for the NAFE Top Companies survey, entrants must have a minimum of 1,000 employees, two women on the Board of Directors and be a public or private company. NAFE also separately names the Top 10 companies in the nonprofit sector. The full report on this year’s winners are listed here.
