Honoring the Best Operators, Programmers

For the third year in a row, Cox Communications, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Charter Communications have been named the best operators for women employees by Women in Cable Telecommunications' PAR Initiative study. Indeed, Cox has ranked as the No. 1 operator every year the PAR survey has been conducted.

These operators have shown a strong commitment to diversity, recruitment and retention of women, moving them into leadership positions, said Joanne Cleaver, a researcher with Working Mother Media., which works with WICT to put together the PAR study every year.

It's not as if other operators aren't doing things to make their work environments better for women employees, she added. It's just that these companies are so far ahead of the pack already and they continue to raise the bar every year. Other operators are close to breaking into the top five but haven't quite made the cut yet.

This year's best programmers — Oxygen Media, Turner Broadcasting System, Discovery Communications, The Weather Channel Cos. and Lifetime Entertainment Services — tapped women's groups for new business ideas, strengthened recruiting efforts to attract women and women of color, and added transparency and accountability to pay equity policies. Turner and Oxygen are on every PAR list this year, excelling in each category.

While most companies claim that their employees are their greatest assets, Cox proves it every year. Strong and evolving pay equity and leadership programs ensure that every woman, regardless of position, has a chance to develop her full potential, Cleaver said. This year, Cox complemented its recruitment of women of color by adding a 12-month newcomer mentoring program at all levels. Cox is perhaps one of the most progressive when it comes to luring, retaining and promoting women at its call centers.

In the past five years, Comcast has reinvented its pay policies and streamlined its leadership programs so that they are stronger, more strategic, and deliver a deeper pool of talent to each of the company's divisions, Cleaver said. Comcast has excelled at taking the procedures and policies of acquired companies and integrating them throughout the business. The operator has also taken a strong position on diversity, tying managers' compensation to diversity goals.

Time Warner Cable is building new platforms for advancing women at all levels including reviving its Women's Leadership Council with a refreshed mission based on business growth. The council's objectives are framed by measurable goals that underscore its purpose. The operator now has its most balanced roster of mid- and upper-level women leaders, according to Cleaver.

Few high-potential women are overlooked at Advance/Newhouse Communications' Bright House Networks, which has a strong track record of recruiting women of color and promoting them. The operator trains managers to detect leadership aptitude at every level, from installers to women with newly acquired MBAs. Bright House is one of a few cable companies that counts pay equity enforcement as a core management competency.

The company is also building its tech staff from the ground up by collaborating with a local technical college to shape a curriculum for an electronics engineering technology degree designed specifically for the telecommunications industry.

Charter's persistence has served it well over the years. The operator has battled several business challenges in the last five years, but has made the advancement of women a priority, Cleaver said.

“We are in a talent war,” said Lynne Ramsey, senior vice president of human resources. “We need to have top talent want to come to us.”

When the PAR Initiative launched, Oxygen's culture was pro-woman, but unstructured. Now, women at the programmer have clear career paths, delineated work/life policies, and a state-of-the art pay equity policy. New and existing programs and policies resulted in a 30% increase in women of color, boosting the company to 45% of its total workforce in 2006, Cleaver said.

By weaving its commitment against domestic violence into its cultural DNA, Oxygen is further equipped to market itself as a company that cares. Cleaver hopes NBC Universal, which has agreed to buy Oxygen, takes many of the network's programs and policies and introduces them throughout the larger company.

Turner has never stopped trying to improve its programs and policies to attract, retain and promote women in the workplace. The company has a stable of strong programs in every PAR category.

The company hit a home run with its KEYS (Knowledge Energizing Your Success) in-house business incubator program, conceived and operated by women. “Turner blew us away with this program,” Cleaver said.

Discovery Communications has long been a leader in women's issues and new management didn't change that. The programmer has one of the highest and most consistent proportions of female leaders in the industry and over half — 14 of 25 — of its new media staff are women.

Then new CEO David Zaslav hired fellow NBC Universal executive Adria Alpert-Romm as senior executive vice president of human resources earlier this year. “Discovery was well ahead of where NBC was headed,” she said. “They were moving in the right direction, but Discovery had been doing these things for years.”

One driver Alpert-Romm has spearheaded since joining eight months ago is the creation of an on-site day care facility, which will open next summer.

The Weather Channel has made the best programmers list every year since 2003. The company earned recognition in the first year with its prescient pay equity policies, Cleaver said. It has stayed on the list because of its evolving pay policies and because of its nimble advancement and work/life culture.

The programmer increased its number of women of color by improving the rewards that employees get for referring qualified friends to the company. It also now requires diverse candidate slates for every management position.

Lifetime has not only been reinventing itself in the market, it's also been reinventing its culture. As it reestablished its business case for marketing to women, it rediscovered the value that it brings as an employer to ambitious women employees.

By focusing internships on women of color and orienting its entry-level hiring to valued interns, Lifetime has built a short, straight path from college to career. The company has enabled its employees to volunteer their time with professional groups and organizations, which has created several recruitment opportunities.

“All of a sudden, it's a natural relationship, it's not forced and it has worked very well for them,” Cleaver said.