Family-friendly workplaces

Juggling family responsibilities with a career along with everything else is sometimes akin to that circus trick of spinning plates.

Lots of mothers and fathers are able to do it. But the really lucky ones also get some help.

Every year, Working Mother Magazine publishes a list of the nation’s top 100 family-friendly companies. Last year, some of the companies that made the list included:
* Microsoft, which provides “backup care” when an employee’s child care falls through, if schools are closed or if her or his child is ill;
* Texas Instruments, a company that allows moms to telecommute or work part-time;
* Cisco Systems Inc., which provides on-site child care.

The companies that were included in the list offered a number of perks, including: financial planning services, flex time, job sharing, telecommuting, health care insurance for part-time workers, lactation rooms, even adoption benefits and paid paternity leave.

“Who says women can’t have it all?” asked the editors of Working Mother. “An invigorating career, a fun-filled family life — today’s working moms enjoy both, thanks to smart companies that realize life doesn’t end at the office door.”

Which companies in the Inland Northwest would you nominate for the “family-friendly” list?

On another note, do you think women can really have it all?