There's something to be said about Southern hospitality. Fortune and Great Places to Work added the inaugural list of 100 Best Workplaces for Women this year, with three multifamily companies making the cut. It just so happens they're all based in Texas.
A continual name on such lists, Camden Property Trust, ranks No. 40. At this Dallas-based firm, 46% of the company is composed of women, who actually hold 72% of the management positions. Employees can also stay in fully furnished Camden vacation apartments for $20 a night. Both of these benefits also extend to spouses and children.
Austin-based CWS Apartment Homes made it in at No. 55, with 48% women in both the overall company employee base and at the executive level. One worker stated, "At CWS we believe that we are all here with a common purpose in mind, to enhance lives—of our customers, our investors, our peers, and our employees."
Transwestern, a commercial real estate firm with a small foothold in multifamily, was the last apartment firm on the list, at No. 70. Forty-four percent of the Houston-based firm's employees are women, who hold more than half the company's management positions. At the executive level, however, that figure falls to 15% women. Fortune remarked that Transwestern places a large emphasis on making newcomers feel welcome with social events and mentoring for young professionals.
These rankings are based on surveys filled out by 135,689 women at 637 companies, with questions detailing fairness of promotions, access to information and leadership, support for employees' personal lives, and degree of inclusiveness and connection to colleagues. Two-thirds of each company's score is based on employee opinion and reports from female workers. The last third considers how well women are represented throughout the company's workforce.
