Nine CT Employers Among Nation's Best for Women, Analysis Shows

Nine Connecticut companies are among the 300 best employers in the country for women, according to a new analysis. Four of them - Booking Holdings in Norwalk (54), Pitney Bowes in Stamford (63), The Hartford in Hartford (88) and Farmington-based United Technologies (99) earned a spot in the top 100. The No. 1 company on Forbes' list was Iowa-based Principal Financial Group. According to Forbes, 59 percent of the company's employees are women and the company offers benefits like flexible work schedules and onsite child care. Philadelphia-based Penn Medicine was ranked second. According to Forbes, women comprise 77 percent of Penn Medicine's workforce and 55 percent of its executive positions. Five of Penn Medicine's seven CEO positions are held by women, the magazine noted. 

The survey is the first-ever ranking of America’s best employers for women produced for Forbes.  Rounding out the top five were Hallmark Cards, BayCare and Oregon Health & Science University.  At Hallmark, 83 percent of employees, 40 percent of senior managers and 75 percent of board members are women.  Hallmark closed its longtime Enfield distribution center two years ago.

The five other Connecticut employers to merit mention in the inaugural top 300 list were: WR Berkley of Greenwich (171), Synchrony Financial of Stamford (194), Ethan Allen (197) and Praxair (220), both based in Danbury, and Hartford-based Aetna (287).

Forbes partnered with market research firm Statista to develop the list. Statista surveyed 40,000 Americans, including 25,000 women, working for businesses with at least 1,000 employees. The surveys were anonymous.

Respondents were first asked to rate their organizations on criteria such as working conditions, diversity and how likely they’d be to recommend their employer to others. These responses were reviewed for potential gender gaps. If women, for example, rated an organization poorly on diversity, but men rated it highly, Statista would take that into account and adjust the company’s score accordingly. Women were also asked to rate employers on factors like parental leave and pay equity, according to Forbes.

Earning a position in the top 10 were Keller Williams Realty (#6), Boston Children’s Hospital (#7), Providence Health & Services (#8), and Harvard University (#9).

Among the employers on the list with a presence in Connecticut are YMCA (#34), Lincoln Financial (#52), Ikea (#56), Five Guys (#65), Gap (#66), Hilton (#90) and Whole Foods (#93).