SANTA BARBARA — Cottage Health is honored to be named one of Seramount’s 100 Best Companies for Working Parents in 2024. Seramount, a strategic professional services and research firm, has unveiled its annual list celebrating companies that set the standard for inclusive family benefits.
Seramount has built a legacy supporting and advancing women in the workplace. The 2024 winners include major brands with global reach. They are recognized for offering comprehensive support such as paid gender-neutral parental leave, subsidized childcare, bereavement leave after miscarriage, fertility expense reimbursement, and enhanced mental health support for employees.
“We are proud to be recognized by Seramount as one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Parents,” said Cara Williams, Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer at Cottage Health. “This recognition is a reflection of our commitment to prioritizing the well-being of our employees by fostering a supportive and inclusive culture.”
“Our 100 Best Companies have been setting the standard on what is considered an inclusive workplace for parents and caregivers for over 40 years,” says Subha V. Barry, President of Seramount. “Thanks to their dedication, benefits that were considered progressive are now considered the norm, like offering bereavement leave after a miscarriage. The mental welfare of employees continues to be a priority and we are thrilled to see almost 100% of companies offering support in this area.”
Key findings from the 2024 100 Best Companies:
- The 100 Best Companies offer an average of 12 weeks of fully paid gender-neutral parentalleave for full-time employees, up from 11 weeks in 2023.
- Ninety-seven percent of the 100 Best Companies allow women to use bereavement leave after a miscarriage, up from 91 percent in 2023.
- Eighty-nine percent of the 100 Best Companies offer caregiving leave, up from 85 percent in 2023. Caregiving leave allows an employee to care for a sick family member over an extended period of time.
- Ninety-seven percent of the 100 Best Companies have policies supporting workplace mental health and 87 percent have a mental health and well-being work group, up from 95 percent and 79 percent in 2023, respectively.
The 2024 Seramount 100 Best Companies application includes more than 200 questions related to leave policies, benefits, childcare, advancement programs, flexibility, and more.
Visit Cottage Health’s careers page to learn more about opportunities to make a difference for the community and work in an environment recognized as one of the best for working parents.
About Cottage Health | CottageHealth.org — The not-for-profit Cottage Health provides advanced medical care to the Central Coast region. In the past year, Cottage Health hospitals in Goleta, Santa Barbara and Santa Ynez Valley provided care for 20,201 inpatient admissions and 87,356 emergency department visits and helped deliver 1,772 newborns. Comprised of more than 700 physicians, many with subspecialties typically found only at university medical centers, Cottage Health’s comprehensive range of specialized services includes the Cottage Children’s Medical Center, Level 1 Trauma Center, Neuroscience Institute, Heart & Vascular Center, Center for Orthopedics, and Rehabilitation Hospital. Beyond hospital settings, Cottage Health offers primary care and specialty clinics, Cottage Urgent Care Centers throughout the tri-counties, and 24-hour access to providers via Cottage Virtual Care (English and Spanish), an online service for common conditions.
About Seramount — Seramount is a strategic professional services and research firm dedicated to supporting high- performing, inclusive workplaces. Over four decades, we’ve established a strong, data-driven understanding of the employee experience, which lays the groundwork for everything we do. Seramount partners with over 450 of the world’s most influential companies, large and small, to offer pragmatic solutions including best practice DEI research, workplace assessment, employee learning and development, and talent sourcing. These offerings empower companies to navigate a dynamic corporate environment and to cultivate a resilient, connected workforce that achieves extraordinary outcomes.