Sodexo Named "Best Company for Hourly Workers" by Working Mother Magazine

GAITHERSBURG, Md., April 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Working Mother magazine today named Sodexo, the leading provider of quality of daily life solutions, one of the "Best Companies for Hourly Workers" for 2012, awarding those employers that have the best policies and programs for promoting women and a dynamic work life culture. Best Buy, Capital One, Hilton, Marriott and Target are among the 12 companies that made the list.

The survey, conducted by the Working Mother Research Institute, found that women at the winning companies earned 56% of all promotions from hourly non-manager to non-exempt manager positions at the winning companies. One hundred percent of the winners offered their hourly workers personal and family health insurance benefits.

Jennifer Owens, Editorial Director of Working Mother Media, says, "This year's Best Companies exemplify best-practices workplaces and cultures to help female hourly workers thrive. Most of the companies use the 70-20-10 rule: Focus 70% of your time on getting on-the-job experience, 20% on developing internal relationships and networks and 10% on formal training."

"We are pleased to be recognized by Working Mother for the third consecutive year for our steadfast commitment to our employees," said George Chavel president and chief executive officer for Sodexo. "Because we have a truly diverse work force that interacts with the millions of people whose lives we touch every day, we work continuously to engage our employees, provide a safe, open, and inclusive workplace, and offer meaningful wages, benefits, and training and development opportunities."

Here are the Best Companies for Hourly Workers of 2012:

Over the last year, the percentage of winning companies with formal compensation policies to reward managers who help hourly employees advance more than doubled, to 67% from 25%. A full 100% of the companies offer flexible work arrangements, and 79% of full-time hourly employees have access to them. On average, 73% of hourly workers at these Best Companies use flextime, up from 68% in 2011.                   

A majority of the Best Companies offer career advancement opportunities, including technology training and supervisor/team leader preparatory training. Nine out of 12 offer mentoring, career counseling and vocational skills training.

The full results of the WM Best Companies for Hourly Workers report can be found at:  workingmother.com/hourly. Please visit us on Twitter (@_workingmother_ and @BestCompaniesWM) as well as at facebook.com/workingmother. Working Mother is owned by the Bonnier Corporation.

About Working Mother Media

Working Mother magazine reaches 2.2 million readers and is the only national magazine for career-committed mothers; WorkingMother.com (www.workingmother.com) gives working mothers @home and @work advice, solutions and ideas. This year marks the 27th anniversary of Working Mother's signature research initiative, Working Mother 100 Best Companies, and the tenth year of the Best Companies for Multicultural Women. Working Mother Media, a division of Bonnier Corporation (www.bonnier.com), includes the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE, www.nafe.com), Diversity Best Practices (www.diversitybestpractices.com) and the Working Mother Research Institute. Working Mother Media's mission is to serve as a champion of culture change.

About Sodexo in North America

Sodexo, Inc. (www.sodexoUSA.com), leading Quality of Daily Life Solutions company in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, delivers On-site Service Solutions in Corporate, Education, Health Care, Government, and Remote Site segments, and Motivation Solutions such as Esteem Pass. Sodexo, Inc., headquartered in Gaithersburg, Md., funds all administrative costs for the Sodexo Foundation (www.SodexoFoundation.org), an independent charitable organization that, since its founding in 1999, has made more than $17 million in grants to end childhood hunger in America. Visit the corporate blog at www.sodexoUSA.com/blog. 

SOURCE Sodexo, Inc.