Allstate Named One of 25 “Best Companies for Multicultural Women” by Working Mother

May 15, 2013 5:45 PM ET

NORTHBROOK, Ill., May 15, 2013 /3BL Media/ – Allstate has been named one of the 2013 “Best Companies for Multicultural Women” by Working Mother magazine. This honor recognizes Allstate as one of the 25 U.S. corporations that create and use best practices in hiring, retaining and promoting women of color. This year, multicultural women received 15% of all promotions to manager and above, compared to 13% in 2011.

The Working Mother Research Institute, which conducted the study, found a significant jump in participation rates for the Best Companies’ education programs. For example, 42% of all employees participated in gender diversity education this year, up from 23% in 2012. A total of 76% of the Best Companies have mandatory diversity training for their workforces.

“Allstate is committed to making certain we have programs, services and options to help all employees develop professionally,” said Michael Escobar, vice president, chief diversity & organization effectiveness officer for Allstate. “The high value we place on individual differences allows us to create a workplace where you can have meaningful work and opportunities to grow.”

Carol Evans, president of Working Mother Media, says, “The Best Companies for Multicultural Women know that a truly diverse workforce makes for an effective team, one that’s plugged into the needs and desires of its customers. Grooming female leaders has become a crucial mandate, and great companies are simultaneously weaving diversity into their culture. However, many challenges lie ahead for all U.S. companies to build a pipeline of diverse talent to represent them at every level of decision-making and management.”

Key findings of the 2013 Working Mother report can be found on workingmother.com.

Here are some highlights:

Direct Reports

Twenty-three percent of executives who report directly to the CEO at the Best Companies are women, and 5% are multicultural women. That’s an increase over last year’s Best Companies, where women represented 19% of all executives reporting directly to the CEO, 4% of who are multicultural women.

Representation of Multicultural Women

The representation of multicultural women has held steady for the past two years at the manager, senior manager and corporate executive levels at the Best Companies, Working Mother reports. As multicultural women move up the corporate ladder, their representation shrinks significantly. White men are the only employee group to gain representation as they advance in their careers.  Multicultural women vs. white women represent 19% vs. 27% of total employees, 14% vs. 29% of managers, 7% vs. 27% of senior managers and 3% vs. 20% of corporate executives. For white men who make up 36% of the total employees, they advance to 54% of senior managers and 68% of corporate executives.

Best Companies Workforce Composition

The 2013 Best Companies employ more than 1.2 million workers with almost 22,000 worksites across 50 states in the following 8 industries: Accounting, Consumer Products, Financial Services, Food and Beverages, Insurance, Media, Internet and Advertising, Professional Services and Technology. 

Methodology

The Working Mother Best Companies for Multicultural Women requires candidates to have at least 500 employees. The winners were selected based on their answers to an extensive questionnaire on representation; hiring, attrition and promotion rates; recruitment, retention and advancement programs; and company culture.  The Working Mother Research Institute created a scoring algorithm based on the previous year’s benchmark results to determine the winners.

About Working Mother

Working Mother magazine reaches 2.2 million readers and is the only national magazine for career-committed mothers; WorkingMother.com (workingmother.com) gives working mothers @home and @work advice, solutions, and ideas. This year marks the 28th anniversary of Working Mother’s signature research initiative, the Working Mother 100 Best Companies, and the eleventh year of the Best Companies for Multicultural Women. Working Mother Media, a division of Bonnier Corporation (bonnier.com), includes the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE, nafe.com), Diversity Best Practices (diversitybestpractices.com), and the Working Mother Research Institute. Working Mother Media’s mission is to serve as a champion of culture change.

The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) is the nation’s largest publicly held personal lines insurer, serving approximately 16 million households through its Allstate, Encompass, Esurance and Answer Financial brand names and Allstate Financial business segment. Allstate branded insurance products (auto, home, life and retirement) and services are offered through Allstate agencies, independent agencies, and Allstate exclusive financial representatives, as well as via www.allstate.com, www.allstate.com/financial and 1-800 Allstate®, and are widely known through the slogan “You’re In Good Hands With Allstate®.” As part of Allstate’s commitment to strengthen local communities, The Allstate Foundation, Allstate employees, agency owners and the corporation provided $29 million in 2012 to thousands of nonprofit organizations and important causes across the United States.