ESPN Named One of the Top Employers for Women in Cable Industry

DAPs Magic Disney News – PRESS RELEASE

ESPN was named one of the top five programming companies for women to work for in the cable industry, according to a survey conducted by Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT).  The 2011 WICT PAR Survey was conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management in collaboration with the National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications AIM Survey.

In all, 25 companies participated in the survey, representing 54% of the overall cable work force. Top-five positions for Programmers and MSOs are as follows:

  • The 2011 Best Programmers for Women in Cable are NBCUniversal; Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.; Scripps Networks Interactive; Discovery Communications; and ESPN.
  • The 2011 Best Operators for Women in Cable are Time Warner Cable; Cox Communications, Inc.; Comcast; Bright House Networks; and Suddenlink Communications.

“ESPN is proud to be recognized as a leader in our industry in fostering a workplace environment where women are valued and succeed,” said Paul Richardson, ESPN senior vice president, human resources, & chief diversity officer, The Walt Disney Company.  “Embracing diversity is one of our core values and we have worked diligently to introduce a number of initiatives that positively impact the employee experience and demonstrate our commitment to ensuring gender equity, inclusion and support for employees seeking greater work/life balance and support.”

“While this is certainly a tremendous honor and we are proud as a company to accept it, we also recognize that there is always an opportunity for continuous improvement and the need to innovative,” Richardson continued.  “Consequently, we will constantly look for new and better means to attract, develop, reward and retain this vital segment of our workforce.”

The PAR Survey asks participating companies in the cable telecommunications industry to submit gender-related qualitative and quantitative employee data, and assesses companies’ practices as to how they support Pay Equity, Advancement Opportunities, and Resources for Work/Life Support. This year marks the eighth cycle of the PAR Initiative, which is now administered biannually.