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The MGH was selected for the 2007 Working Mother 100 Best Companies based on an extensive application of 575 questions covering issues such as the hospital’s workforce, compensation, childcare and flexibility programs, leave policies and more. Particular weight was given to flexibility and family-friendly policies. Some of the highlights from the hospital's application this year includes: Programs for parents of teens and tweens: Our EAP program offers a variety of programs for employees and their families, including teens and tweens. For example, EAP offers “Words Can Work: Knowing the Issues, Talking with Kids,” which is a partnership with Jeanne Blake, founder of Words Can Work, to offer employees information and materials to help them start and continue lifesaving conversations with the young people in their lives. Words Can Work DVDs, booklets and website offer true stories, and insight from experts, about the challenges young people face growing up, including the use of alcohol and other drugs, early sexual activity, bullying, concerns about body image, and much more. Blake is a medical reporter, author, and affiliated faculty member at the Division on Addictions at Harvard Medical School. In addition, EAP offers programs for parents of teens such as “Protecting Teenagers,” “Recognizing Depression,” “Communicating with your Teenager.” “Parenting non-traditional families,” “Activities for Kids,” and “Parenting through Divorce.” Programs to reduce employee stress or overwork: The MGH started a new stress reduction program this year that is a collaboration of the hospital’s Be Fit Program and the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at MGH (BHI). The BHI is an internationally known organization that joined the MGH family in 2006 and as a way to introduce the BHI staff to hospital employees, we offered daily stress reduction sessions at no cost for one month. At each daily session, a staff member of BHI guided participants in the elicitation of the relaxation response, using techniques that include meditation, muscle relaxation, and diaphragmatic breathing. These sessions were met with an overwhelmingly positive response from employees. For the first week, the room was filled to overflowing with more than 130 employees attending. And every day after that, the attendance was anywhere from 50 to 100. The sessions were so popular, the hospital decided to continue to offer them weekly with two sessions at different times to accommodate varying lunch breaks. Here is what one of our employees had to say about the program: “I wanted to again thank you for the wonderful experience I had with the Be Fit program and the Benson Henry Institute. The presenters and the skills they taught us are greatly appreciated, and surprisingly I have had the opportunity to try them out at work and at home. This was such a wonderful benefit for the staff." In addition, BHI offers a variety of stress reduction programs geared toward women such as: Calm Mother; Happy Child, Infertility, Perimenopause/Menopause and Weight Management. These stress reduction sessions are an important part of the Be Fit Program’s mission to help MGH employees incorporate healthy habits into their daily activities. Be Fit is a wellness program based on the premise that by helping employees improve their overall health, medical expenses can be reduced over the long-term. The 10-week program is based on a healthy competition among six teams of 25 employees to make a serious commitment to Be Fit. After each 10-week program, the teams “graduate” to a maintenance phase while another phase of teams enter the program. Programs that encourage the advancement of women: Recruiting materials pertaining to Work-Life programs, flexible work arrangements and benefits: MGH Recruitment Ad that appeared in the Boston Globe's Big Help section in the fall of 2006. Press arrangements or media releases pertaining to Work-Life programs, flexible work arrangements and benefits: MGH press release about Claflin Awards.
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