MetLife Named a 2008 Working Mother Best Company for Multicultural Women for Third Consecutive Year

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MetLife has been recognized by Working Mother magazine as a 2008 Best Company for Multicultural Women for the third year in a row. The Working Mother Best Companies for Multicultural Women initiative celebrates employers that are establishing groundbreaking diversity policies and programs to encourage the hiring and advancement of African-American, Hispanic, Asian-American and Native American women.

“It’s an honor to be recognized for our programs that create an environment where everyone knows their contributions are welcomed and encouraged,” says Denise Singleton, vice president and chief diversity officer, MetLife. “Diversity is key in our business performance, and we’re proud of our continual progress. We know that our commitment to inclusion will help us to attract the best talent, better serve our customers and create lasting value for our shareholders.”

Just one example of MetLife’s programs to support diverse women is its Global Women’s Leadership Forum. Launched in 2007, this forum brought together MetLife’s senior women officers and diversity leaders from across the company and the globe to promote networking and knowledge-sharing among women leaders. The forum kicked off with a discussion about how to take diversity, inclusion and women’s advancement to the next level, and will continue throughout the year with webinars, regional small group meetings and other opportunities for candid conversations.

“We salute the 2008 Best Companies for Multicultural Women for leading by example and providing corporate America with a new benchmark for diversity and inclusion,” said Carol Evans, CEO, Working Mother Media. “Just as our nation has made history with this year’s Presidential primaries, we challenge corporate America to pay attention to issues of race and gender, and to benchmark their own work against our winners.”

This year’s 20 Best Companies for Multicultural Women show a dramatic increase in the number of women of color who are senior managers and that women of color represented 13% of all new hires last year, 14% of all employees, and 7% of top 20% earners at the winning firms. The report also finds that Gen Y thinks about race and gender far differently than Gen X and Baby Boomers—and are changing the discussion about race and ethnicity in the process. Unlike their Boomer parents, Gen Y’s tend to look beyond skin color for their identity, choosing instead to define themselves by age or lifestyle. This shift is causing companies to rethink their diversity strategies so that they resonate with a group that’s eager for speedy advancement.

The 2008 Working Mother Best Companies for Multicultural Women were selected through a detailed application process that covers a wide variety of questions about a company’s workforce (such as number of women of color in top positions); culture (programs for women of color); external programs (diversity activities); and work/life programs (child care, elder care). This year the most weight was given to questions involving the representation, recruitment and retention of women of color.

Founded in 1979, Working Mother magazine reaches 2 million readers and is the only national magazine for career-committed mothers. Its 22-year signature initiative, Working Mother 100 Best Companies, is the most important benchmark for work/life practices in corporate America. Working Mother is published by Working Mother Media, which was founded in 2001. WMM includes the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE), Diversity Best Practices, the WorkLife Congress, the Multicultural Women's Conference and Town Halls. Working Mother Media's mission is to champion culture change.

Celebrating 140 years, MetLife is a subsidiary of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET), a leading provider of insurance and financial services with operations throughout the United States and the Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific regions. Through its domestic and international subsidiaries and affiliates, MetLife, Inc. reaches more than 70 million customers around the world and MetLife is the largest life insurer in the United States (based on life insurance in-force). The MetLife companies offer life insurance, annuities, auto and home insurance, retail banking and other financial services to individuals, as well as group insurance, reinsurance and retirement & savings products and services to corporations and other institutions. For more information, please visit www.metlife.com.