Companies keeping doors open for moms

NEW YORK — Gina Thoma is taking a year off work to raise a family, but she's still playing the corporate game.

As part of a new program at PricewaterhouseCoopers, the 42-year-old mother of three mingles at company events, checks in with a career coach and attends seminars to keep her accounting skills fresh.

"They're keeping the door open for me, saying they would still like to have me," said Thoma, who quit her job at the financial services firm in January.

Once regarded as a career setback, taking extended time off work to care for children is no longer a liability as businesses fight to hold onto valuable female executives. A growing number of companies are rolling out lavish welcome mats for returning women, offering a spate of options that ease the transition back.

Women might act as "substitutes," or take advantage of free professional courses, networking events and even lactation consultants. Flexible work schedules are more popular too, with many women opting to "phase back" to work after standard or extended maternity leave.

The programs come amid shifting attitudes about balancing work and family. Last month, a study by the Pew Research Center found 60 percent of working mothers now say part-time work is their ideal rather than full time, compared to 48 percent a decade ago.

The emerging preference for part-time work clashes with reality, however: Three-quarters of working mothers have full-time jobs.

The discrepancy could signal dissatisfaction with work-life arrangements and eventually spur turnover, one of the biggest costs facing companies, said Suzanne Riss, editor-in-chief of Working Mother magazine.

In hopes of preventing an exodus of talent, a growing number of companies are offering ways for new mothers to balance family and work.

However, the programs are typically reserved for a smaller subset of women in managerial or executive positions.

Of Working Mother's 100 best companies last year, for example, 81 offered a variation of "phase back" plans for new mothers. The programs let women phase back to work at their own pace after maternity leave, perhaps starting by working a few hours a day before ramping back up to full time.

Other programs go much farther, providing personal time far beyond the 12 weeks of unpaid maternity leave guaranteed to most women under federal law.