A place where women flourish

July 26, 2018 | (21) Comments

Yesterday, I learned some truly exciting news. Forbes released its first-ever ranking of America’s best employers for women, and Texas Children’s is ranked at no. 11 among the best 300 companies in the nation. And we are THE best in Houston!

This was most surprising because we didn’t expect it or know about the debut of this survey until it was released. There wasn’t an application – the recognition is driven by Forbes’ work with independent market research company Statista. Statista surveyed 40,000 people, including 25,000 women, who work for companies with at least 1,000 employees. Those surveyed anonymously and candidly rated their companies based on work conditions, diversity, discrimination, parental leave and pay equity.

It’s truly an honor to be recognized for setting the standard for our employees in regards to their working conditions and diversity, but this survey also considered gender diversity among boards and executives in their analysis. I am so very proud of the staff, faculty and leadership team and the wonderful work we do here every day.

The final list ranks 300 companies nationwide. So seeing Texas Children’s on this list – at no. 11 at that – was such an amazing feeling. It’s no coincidence that Texas Children’s has enjoyed year after year of success. Women comprise 81 percent of our workforce and dominate our executive leadership (71 percent), senior leadership (72 percent) and manager-level leadership (75 percent). And we are the force that we are because of innovative, determined resourceful women who have driven so many of the milestones in our 64-year history.

Click here for the Forbes article and list.

I have for years believed that Texas Children’s is a place where women have boundless opportunity, and I am truly ecstatic about what this survey says about our organization – that this is a place where women flourish and lead exceptionally, a place where women have a voice, and are valued and celebrated. That’s not just amazing news … it’s our culture, and that makes me incredibly proud.

What a wonderful recognition for Texas Children’s. Congratulations and thank you to each of you for your outstanding support and leadership to help us achieve this distinction.

Help me share this great news – simply copy and paste the link to my blog post on your LinkedIn or Facebook page. And I’d love to hear from you below!

 

21 Responses to “A place where women flourish”

  1. Crystal

    Texas Children’s truly is an organization that leads by example. It is great that other women and men around the nation can hear how we set the bar to be inclusive in the workforce. As a women, it makes me proud to work here and lets me know that my gender will not hold me back from being able to contribute my best. Thank you Mr. Wallace and all the Executive Leaders at Texas Children’s for paving the way for equal opportunities for all employees.

  2. Regina Wysocki

    Wow this is an honor for our organization! I am proud to say that I work at Texas Childrens, and do agree this is a very women-friendly workplace. It is nice to be able to have a true work-life balance, and know that you can still provide input and do meaningful work. Will be sharing this on my LinkedIn!

  3. Carolyn

    Wow, this is amazing! Since I started Texas Children’s, I have been surrounded by incredible women leaders who have been such good role models for me both personally and professionally. It is inspiring to be surrounded by such talented and fierce women in all phases of life. I have learned so much!

  4. Ashley Lloyd

    I am truly so happy to be working at Texas Children’s Hospital, a high ranking organization with national recognition. However, as I prepare to welcome my third child at the end of this year, I was very disappointed to learn that TCH has no paid parental leave or short term disability. For newer employees, the accrual of EIB yields only 41 hours per year. I’d love to see an organization that prides itself on patient and family centered care, actually provide and support that for its employees.

  5. Yolanda Roberts

    It’s inspirational to see so many women in leadership roles with our organization. It makes me proud to say that I work for Texas Children’s and I feel Blessed to have this opportunity.

  6. Alicia Turner

    I do agree that TCH is a wonderful place to work as a woman! We have excellent representation of women in leadership. I have enjoyed my career here very much and I believe this is well deserved ranking! However, I would argue parental leave could use some improvement, and is important to many of the women employed at TCH. There is absolutely no dedicated paid benefit for parental leave. From personal experience, I spent several years accruing PTO and EIB as a TCH employee and still did not have enough paid time to cover my maternity leave. This was challenging for our family, and as a result I had to work overtime while pregnant to save up funds to cover my unpaid leave. When you return to work with a brand new baby at home, you have exhausted your PTO and sick time. This leaves you unpaid should you need time off when your newborn is sick. I would love to see progress on this not only here at TCH, but on a national level as well. I understand this issue is bigger than just us, but I have faith that voices will be heard and one day perhaps we will do better as an institution-even if not mandated to do so by legislation.

  7. JAVIER RAIS

    If , TCH was wrong place to work I would never have almost twelve years working for ORTHOPEDIC DEPARTMENT. I’m still and I’ll continue
    Even my son, belong as “cancer survival clinic at TCH” more than nine years ago.
    Yes TCH is great place.
    May GOD always bless this fabulous Hospital and the group of people who give thier own life; Adminitration people: Our CEO; Manager’s, Director’s MD’s:; RN’s; Tech’s; MA’S; PA-C’s; ASR’s; Security team; Cleaning and grooming people, Lab. personal; Multi media and many, many more!
    Thank you so much

  8. Rebecca

    I am so grateful to work for this organization and truly love my job at TCH. I agree with the previous comments regarding the dissappointing lack of paid parental leave. Many large corporations have family-friendly policies regarding leave after birth or adoption of a new child, and TCH is lacking in this area – meeting essentially the bare minimum set by law. Actually one thing I think TCH should work on is the facilities for breastfeeding employees. Accomodations for pumping moms (specifially, space to pump) is inconsistent across locations (some building have great, dedicated rooms and some have none). When I was at orientation, we were provided an empty room on the bottom level of the Meyer building with dysfunctioning air conditioning – and there were 3 pumping moms that day! I ended up pumping in my car when all of us needed to use the lactation room during the same time frame. Sadly, I’ve been to Target stores with more welcoming lactation facilities! I agree with previous poster that some of these areas for imporvement are more on a societal level and I feel confident TCH will work towards providing these types of things for us women.

  9. Jennifer Smart

    I had the good fortune to be hired by Texas Children’s in 1997 after working for M. D. Anderson Cancer Center for 10 years. Around the time I left MDACC, they announced that the first woman was appointed as department head or VP (it’s been awhile since then and I’m not sure my memory serves me well on the title). When the announcement was made, MDACC had been around for 56 years, and my first thought was – why did it take so long for them to promote a woman to leadership? So when I arrived at TCH, one of the first things I noticed was numerous women in leadership roles. The Forbes ranking is very well deserved!

  10. Denise Tanner-Brown

    Mr. Wallace,
    This is such an amazing accomplishment for our system and I am so proud to work for Texas Children’s. It truly speaks to how you lead the way for us all! Specifically speaking to women flourishing at Texas Children’s, I have had the opportunity to do many things in my career for the past 16 years and it is because of the strong women at this great organization mentoring, guiding, and coaching me to be greater and better each day. In doing so, the thing that resonates with me most is that I’ve never given up anything in my personal life to accomplish my professional goals and it’s because of the balance Texas Children’s has afforded me. I’m a wife, a mother, a daughter, an aunt, a sister, a friend, etc. and I can do those things because women flourish at Texas Children’s. I could go on and on, but I’ll close the way I started, thank you for leading the way!!!

    Denise Tanner-Brown

  11. Joseph Uthuph

    Yaaayy for TCH, AGAIN!
    We, as an organization definitely deserve this accolade.
    Proud to be working here for 27 Years!
    Now, since we have some empty spaces coming-up, We could probably open a generous space for 24/7 Childcare for our employee’s children and, also, maybe a good Gym.
    #1 Ranking, here we come!

  12. Catherine Waites

    Having worked in other environments, I can certainly attest to the safe and respectful environment at TCH – a blessing for both the people who work here and our patients.

  13. Michelle

    I am very honored and proud to work for this wonderful organization, and I appreciate the platform this forum affords us to express our viewpoints. I agree with some of the previous comments made regarding leave and facilities for new moms. Our hospital fully supports breastfeeding from a patient perspective, offering wonderful lactation consultants and support. However, from the employee perspective, I do feel the support and facilities are lacking. I agree on seeing facilities at stores and stadiums that are extraordinary and hope we will one day have consistent options across our various geographical locations. I also agree with the leave. As an expecting mom, I have worked hard to accrue hours to have a mostly paid leave. However, it has been at the expense of taking time off to spend with my family and cherish these moments before our world turns up-side down with the new baby. During leave, most of us do not have enough time for a fully paid absence, which can be very stressful on a family when you are encountering a very expensive time in your life. Once returning work, it is also hard to dig out of the 0 PTO balance, as your newborn and, ultimately you too, will get sick as they are building their immune systems. Again, I truly enjoy working here and am proud of our organization. I love that TC has been recognized nationally. However, I do feel there is always room for improvement.

  14. Chelsey Cepeda

    I want to start out by saying I absolutely love working at TCH, and I can never imagine leaving this institution! As with any good organization I believe there is always room to grow. After becoming a single working mother I saw areas with room for improvement that I had never noticed before. I echo what many other women have said that our maternity leave is non existent and many companies are starting to pay for maternity leave (and some places have paid paternity leave too!) How nice would it be to not have to work for years to build your PTO and EIB to only exhaust all of it the moment you have a baby? Many women have to pull from their savings/retirement to complete the 12 weeks or return to work before 12 weeks. Also, if you don’t work in West Tower pumping can be difficult to orchestrate as well. My biggest wish for improvement for working mothers here is child care. If you are on the ride out team you can’t bring your children with you which can be a very stressful idea for mothers of little ones. I say all this in hopes that these areas to grow will be kept in mind when making future goals. I can’t wait to see what TCH holds in its future!

  15. Olivia Davis

    While I agree that Texas Children’s is a wonderful place to work in terms of career satisfaction, I have to agree with the previous comments in stating that our benefits that directly affect women could use some major improvement. I had previously worked at a Top 10 children’s hospital that offered paid maternity leave for 12 weeks @ 75% of pay and we could apply, through our insurance, to have the rest of our pay supplemented for a few extra dollars a month. A maternity leave policy that requires the woman to use her Paid Time Off to recover from something as momentous as childbirth is not exactly what I would call a woman-friendly work environment. We put so much emphasis on patient/family centered care but it would be even better if we put that same emphasis on the care of our employees and THEIR families. I’ve seen my friends working overtime @ 8 months pregnant to have enough money to take time off after the birth of their child because they lacked enough PTO for the full time of their leave. While many corporations in America are behind in terms of maternity leave compared to every other country in the developed world, a hospital that is deemed a standout employer for women shouldn’t leave women potentially unpaid during the biggest time of change in their lives. Our insurance is another area that could use a little work. $60 specialist copays to see your gynecologist outside of your standard exams (which are now recommended every 2-3 years for women over 25) isn’t cheap. Paternity leave and childcare assistance would also be a welcome addition. I love my job and I am truly proud to work for Texas Children’s but I think we have the ability to do better.

  16. Christine Fochler-Massey

    I have been fortunate to be around for 20+ years, & have seen much growth in the leadership for women. There are a lot of deserving women who work for this company, & TCH has always recognized them. I always recommend TCH to any families I know, & love where I work. Congratulations TCH!

  17. Shivani Bhakta

    This is a wonderful accomplishment! However, there is room for improvement for women. Short term disability should be offered for paternal leave. The philosophy of the Pavilion for Women is to give women, mothers and babies quality health care at every important stage of their lives. Can these be extended to staff? Adequate pumping stations should be available in all buildings, not just a utility closet. As the cost of child care skyrockets an on site day care should be explored. Work life balance must become a priority for staff and I trust TCH leadership to work towards making positive changes.

  18. I am proud and excited to see the women of Texas Children’s being honored for their hard work!! As a RN who has over 10 years of experience here I can say for sure that it is The Best Place for Women to Work!!!
    With that being said I have to agree with the previous posts about leave time for parents. I have seen too many women go with un-paid leave time when they have a baby. If we are promoting ourselves as a “women- friendly” hospital to work at I feel we have some catching up to do with our Baylor counterparts who offer a true maternity leave.
    I can not wait to see how Texas Children’s grows from this wonderful honor we have been given.

Leave a Reply to Olivia Davis Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *