Best Operators for Women in Cable
Highly valued, highly marketable women often leave during significant organizational change, but not at Time Warner Cable. The company’s integration of Adelphia assets and employees signaled growth in many key markets but also meant divestiture of several legacy operating units with talented and tenured women leaders. It retained many of these senior women leaders and quickly rebuilt its proportion of women of color in entry level and middle management.
Now, Time Warner Cable is building new platforms for advancing women at all levels. Its National Diversity Council is centered on the business case for inclusion. Time Warner Cable’s Women’s Leadership Council (TWCWLC) has a mission based on leveraging the insights of women for business growth.
Time Warner Cable maintained its proportion of women of color through its recent reorganization by leveraging information about and exposure to expanded opportunities in other parts of the company. It retained them through the simplest of techniques. Time Warner Cable addressed individual concerns about job security and outlined career paths to alleviate uncertainty. The operator now has its most balanced roster of mid- and upperlevel women leaders.
Best Companies for Women in Advancement Opportunities
Finding and keeping qualified women technology workers is a complex challenge for all companies, especially cable operators, which must continue to beat competition by offering ever-more-sophisticated technology services to consumers and businesses. Time Warner
Cable demonstrates flair and a deep understanding of what women in technology want through its recruiting and retention practices.
A successful strategy for recruiting women in technology is Time Warner Cable’s targeted use of paid internships for women as young as juniors in high school. By developing long-term relationships with women headed into engineering, IT and other technical education areas, the operator identifies potential candidates early in their careers. Time Warner Cable partners annually with the Emma Bowen Foundation to identify women students specifically targeting
the cable industry and provide quality internships as well as matching scholarship funds over several summers. Finally, Time Warner Cable has encouraged new Gen Y recruits to use their
online social networks to make others aware of opportunities within
the organization.
The operator also actively encouraged its women leaders to stick with it during the long transition period typical of acquisition and divestiture activity. It used a relatively low-tech strategy for building loyalty — talking with women one-on-one about future opportunities. Time Warner Cable has also used the implementation of a regional organization structure to promote experienced women from different disciplines into positions of increased
responsibility with broader scope.
Best Companies for Women in Resources for Work/Life Support
Employees across a company’s operations value work/life benefits, and enlightened companies ensure that such services are available, accessible and affordable to all. Time Warner Cable has long been a leader in this area.
Recognizing that some call center staffers are balancing family and work responsibilities, Time Warner Cable has enhanced its backup child and elder care benefits in some of its larger call center operations — a tool that has a proven track record of increasing productivity and retaining valued workers. Several Time Warner Cable divisions are piloting these services, which are available 24/7.