Attracting the best talent has become such a competitive sport that it wouldn’t look out of place at the Olympics.

Today’s top employers must offer more than a decent salary and staff canteen: those at the top of the “progressive-ness” table see employees in a more holistic way. While many of the perks on offer apply to male and female staff, there’s no denying that support for parents can be a deal-maker for women.

When Niamh McKenna returned to work at Accenture after maternity leave, she was invited to a conference for senior executives. Reluctant to be away from her son, McKenna voiced her concerns. “Accenture couldn’t have been more supportive,” she says. “I was able to take my son and they arranged childcare at the hotel. They made it so easy for me to attend.”

Accenture strives to be “best in class” in support for parents. The maternity package includes 39 weeks at full pay. Employees can even take up to two weeks’ paid leave for fertility treatment. “It’s a lot of pressure and time, and trying to do the cloak-and-dagger thing in the middle of your working day isn’t good for people,” Susie Mullan, the HR director, says.

At KPMG, a network of “flexible working champions” provides information on the options available. After having her son, Victoria Stewart, an associate director, chose an annualised hours contract, working 60 days a year. She sees it as a bridge enabling her to negotiate the tricky period between having a baby and returning to the workplace. “It allows me to stay with the company while I’ve got a young family and to keep up to date with how the department is working,” Stewart says. “I didn’t want to leave when I had my son, but to go back in at senior level with three or four years’ break would have been quite daunting.”

You don’t have to be a parent to benefit from flexi-working. Sue Day is a corporate finance manager and a member of the England women’s rugby squad. Support from her bosses at KPMG, who granted Day’s request to work part-time and gave her extra leave to attend tournaments, has helped her to make a real impact on the pitch. At this year’s Six Nations she captained England to a Grand Slam. “It’s easy for a big firm to make the right noises on flexible working, but that has to be backed up by managers at a local level,” Day says.

At Capgemini, networking events and masterclasses happen at lunchtimes, taking account of the fact that not everyone can commit to after-work meetings. In 2003, only 8.5 per cent of Capgemini’s vice-presidents were women. Through positive action such as flexible working and promoting internally, that is now 17 per cent.

Louella Eastman, the director of corporate responsibility at Aviva, says: “We’ve pro-actively targeted women wanting to balance their work and home life. For example, we ran a recruitment campaign aimed at women who wanted to get back into work but were looking for flexi-hours due to family or other commitments.”

Jackie Lanham, an HR officer, says: “I’ve been able to have a great career at Aviva. You are valued for your achievements, not because you are last to leave the office every night. To me it makes good commercial sense: if you’re given the flexibility to take care of home and work life, it reduces your stress and you perform better at work.”

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