These multinational corporations offer flexible work schedules, generous parental leave benefits, career advancement opportunities and more.
ELC’s Jane Lauder, executive vice president of enterprise marketing and chief data officer (left) and her “reverse mentor” Audrey Brady, assistant manager of global media and creators, at a fireside chat.
ELC
“My grandmother, Estée Lauder, founded our company over 75 years ago from her kitchen table,” says Jane Lauder, executive vice president of enterprise marketing and chief data officer at the Estée Lauder Companies (ELC)—and since the beginning, the now multinational cosmetics company has been “supporting and scaling opportunities to advance possibilities for women in our business and around the world.”
Lauder’s words are not just lip(stick) service. ELC’s representation of women in leadership roles backs them up: half of the company’s global regions are led by women; 59% of vice president positions and higher are held by women; and all six of its research and development innovation centers are helmed by women. Perhaps more telling: while women make up only 29.2% of STEM workers globally per the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) 2023 Global Gender Gap Report, female workers account for more than 60% of ELC’s scientists, engineers and technical professionals. “The innovative creators behind our products and experiences,” says Lauder, “are women.”
Such dedication to advancing women in the workplace is not a given, even in 2023. Case in point: only about 32% of women hold senior leadership positions in the global workforce, according to the WEF report. Still, female leaders are part of the fabric of the Estée Lauder Companies and their presence is one of the many reasons the corporation nabbed the No. 2 spot in our ranking of the World’s Top Companies for Women.
The list, which Forbes created in partnership with market research firm Statista, ranks the companies around the world that support women both in the workplace and outside of it. The ranking is based on surveys of approximately 70,000 women working for multinational corporations across 37 countries.
Tap here to scroll through the World’s Top Companies Full List
Survey participants were asked if they would recommend their employer to friends or family, and to rate the corporation on both general workplace practices and on such gender-specific issues as gender pay equity, the management of employee discrimination cases, and whether men and women have the same opportunities for advancement. Women were also asked to rate other companies within their respective industries, and eligible companies were then assessed to determine the percentage of women in leadership positions. Ultimately, all of these data points were combined to create a scoring system, and the top 400 companies made our final list.
ELC rose in the ranks this year (up from No. 6 last year) not only for the opportunities it affords its own employees—through leadership programs, skills trainings, mentor relationships and more—but also for the investment the company makes in girls and women in communities across the United States. ELC has partnered with the Student Leadership Network and the Young Women’s Leadership Schools for nearly 20 years to help girls and gender expansive youth from underserved areas access college, career, leadership, and mental health resources.
Other companies that claimed top spots on our list this year include the French mutual insurance company MAIF (No. 1; up from No. 3 in 2022), the German software company SAP (No. 3; rising from No. 18) and the California-based Clorox Company (No. 4; down from No. 2).
Marriott International (No. 5) offers a range of female-focused initiatives and benefits, including its Women’s Executive Mentorship Program and Women in Leadership & Learning program. In addition, Marriott offers a variety of family benefits, including fertility support, financial assistance for adoption, in vitro fertilization and egg freezing, childcare discounts and phase-back or reduced-hour programs for full-time associates returning to work after parental leave.
“We empower women by providing flexibility and choice,” says Ty Breland, the company’s executive vice president and chief human resources officer. “This includes options for flexible scheduling, part-time management roles, and broader jobs where associates can learn and perform multiple tasks across the hotel, leading to greater responsibility, diversity and opportunities for career advancement.”
Such options help women—especially those with childcare or eldercare responsibilities—progress into leadership roles. In fact, one in five women in the U.S. says flexibility has helped them stay in their job or avoid reducing their hours, according to the new Women in the Workplace report by McKinsey and LeanIn.Org.
“Flexibility is helpful for everyone—but especially for working women, given the amount of care duties that typically falls to women,” says Nicole Kyle, co-founder of CMP Research and a LinkedIn Top Voice in Gender Equity. “I’m a big proponent of flexibility and the data shows it’s what employees want.”
The results are inarguable at Marriott International, where women represent 57% of CEO direct reports, 51% of U.S. executives and 47% of global executives. Likewise, London-based retailer Marks & Spencer (No. 6), boasts a female-majority board of directors, while nearly 50% of its senior management roles are filled by women, thanks in part to flexible work policies including job shares. “This year we announced the appointment of an all-female leadership team to head up our five new flagship stores,” says Sarah Findlater, human resources director at M&S, and “two of the new managers will job-share the role.”
Marks & Spencer employees gathered on World Menopause Day on October 18, 2023, for a discussion on supporting female workers experiencing menopause.
Courtesy of M&S
M&S has also made strides toward alleviating an often under-acknowledged workplace issue: menopause. The company has a “menopause network,” which includes 2,800 employees—M&S’ largest colleague network (aka employee resource group). The network allows colleagues to share experiences, offer advice, and reduce the stigma associated with menopause, which can impact work-related performance, attendance and wages.
Though menopause has not historically been the focus of office water cooler chats, it affects a growing proportion of the workforce, and research shows that manager awareness and support of it can improve worker satisfaction and productivity. Indeed, the menopause network at M&S has helped spur change at the company, including new menopause-friendly uniforms that are more comfortable and breathable and an updated human resources system that enables employees to denote menopause-related absences. “Making menopause part of our company language is an important step forward,” says Findlater.
Despite these gains, work remains to be done to improve gender equity in the workplace—especially for women of colour, says Kyle, who notes that the pay gap between Black and Hispanic women and white men is much larger than the pay gap between white women and white men: “Employers have to understand that women are not a monolith, and the experiences of white women in the workplace are very different from the experiences of Black and Hispanic women.” As the Women in the Workplace report notes, over the past nine years, progress for women of colour has lagged significantly behind the progress of white women in the U.S. In the past year alone, for every 100 men promoted from entry-level to manager, 91 white women were promoted compared to 76 Hispanic women and 54 Black women.
“When you look at diversity initiatives at companies, a very common result is that the entry level positions become more diverse, but the C-suite stays the same,” says Kyle. Progress, clearly, must continue. In the meantime, appreciate the efforts of the World’s Top Companies for Women.
Methodology
To create our ranking of the World’s Top Companies For Women 2023, Forbes partnered with market research firm Statista to survey approximately 70,000 women working for multinational corporations across 37 countries. Participants were asked—among other questions—if they would recommend their employer to friends or family and to rate the corporation on both general workplace practices and gender-specific issues including gender pay equity, the management of employee discrimination cases, and whether men and women have the same opportunities for advancement.
Women were also asked to rate other companies within their respective industries and to evaluate the organizations based on their public image—such as whether a company positions its services or products to actively fight against gender stereotypes, and whether it promotes gender equality through marketing campaigns and nonprofit initiatives. Eligible companies were then assessed on the percentage of women in their leadership positions.
Ultimately, such data points were combined to produce the scores that determined our final list.
