Work-family benefits improve dramatically among best American workplaces

The best American workplaces today are more flexible, more supportive of employees raising families, and more fun than the workplace of ten years ago, finds Great Place to Work Institute, the international research and consulting firm that partners with FORTUNE annually to produce its 100 Best Companies to Work For list (on newsstands January 15).

While many commentators long for the workplace of old ñ with fully paid health care, generous pensions and lifetime job security -- we see that for many lucky employees, the workplace has never been better, says Robert Levering, cofounder of Great Place to Work Institute, and coauthor of FORTUNEís list with Milton Moskowitz.

Other key changes among the best companies include increased racial and gender diversity, improved internal communications, and increased use of employee stock ownership programs.

The most dramatic policy changes over the last decade among companies on FORTUNEís ì100 Best Companies to Work Forî list concern improved work-family benefits:

- 72 offer job sharing programs today, compared with only 18 a decade ago.

- 79 now offer compressed work weeks on a year-round, regular basis, compared with 25 companies 10 years ago.

- 82 provide telecommuting opportunities today, compared with only 18 in 1998.

Cisco has the highest percentage of telecommuters this year with 90% of its workforce telecommuting or working from home. At five other companies on the 2007 list, 50% or more of the workforce telecommutes as compared with only one company 10 years ago.

One of the least common benefits in corporate America a decade ago was the inclusion of domestic partners and same sex couples in benefit plan coverage. Yet even then 28 of the best companies offered domestic partner insurance. Today 70 do.

These improvements are also reflected in the results of the Institute’s Trust Index survey. For the 2007 FORTUNE list, 105,000 randomly selected employees at 446 companies were surveyed in the largest simultaneous employee survey in corporate America. Results for all 57 Trust Index survey questions have increased among the best companies between 1998 and 2007.

Eighty percent of employees at FORTUNEís 100 Best Companies to Work For now feel that management encourages them to balance their work lives and their personal lives ñ an increase of 11 percentage points from ten years ago. Eighty-four percent believe their employers offer special and unique benefits today ñ an increase of 6 percentage points.

Other notable increases include an 8-point increase in employees’ perceptions of management’s competence; and a 15-point increase in employees’ perceptions of opportunities to receive special recognition.

These improvements are a direct result of global competition, Levering observes. More companies now realize that they cannot compete successfully unless they attract and hold onto the most qualified workers. Todayís employees simply wonít put up with a lousy workplace environment. And women workers in particular are demanding a more family-friendly milieu. So we expect that the workplace will continue to improve as the competition for qualified workers should intensify over the next decade.

One thing hasnít changed: the best companies still outperform their peers. According to Russell Investment Group analysis, a portfolio of publicly-traded 100 Best stocks, started in 1998 and reinvested annually to reflect changes in the list, would yield a 14.6% return today, nearly triple the return of the SandP 500 (5.96%).