This "Bright Spot" shares a point of progress, as part of Leading Edge's Gender Equity in Leadership Project.

For the past 37 years, the outdoor clothing and sportswear company Patagonia has operated an on-site child development center at their California headquarters. Under the leadership of CEO Rose Marcario, they have maintained and expanded this strategy of being a family-friendly workplace. In 2015, for example, they extended on-site childcare to a 400-employee distribution center in Nevada as well. 

As Marcario explains, Patagonia calculates that they recoup 91% of the cost of this investment in tax benefits, employee retention, and employee engagement. It’s probably not coincidental that 50% of upper management positions at Patagonia are women, a rate that is the exception rather than the rule in high-level corporate management.