Eli Lilly Chairman, President and CEO John Lechleiter chairs the executive diversity council, which meets quarterly. He also meets with resource groups four times a year and is on the board of United Way Worldwide.

Eli Lilly’s mentoring programs are cross-cultural and consistently available to managers across the organization. The top three levels of management participate and mentors are cross-culturally trained. More than half of its mentees are women. The company also has a formal succession-planning program for women and tracks promotions and retention of employees in its talent pipeline.

The company is a leader in work/life programs. It offers up to 16 weeks for maternity leave and paid parenting leave for new fathers and adoptive and foster parents. Adoption assistance, telecommuting and dependent-care benefits are also offered. The company offers onsite medical services at no cost to employees, including dependents and domestic partners.

Eli Lilly has 43 resource groups, including a Middle Eastern group and an India group. A senior executive is a member of each group, and the groups are used for marketing efforts. The groups help with the on-boarding of employees, and they identify and nurture management talent. Additionally, the company partners with the groups to deliver internal events including diversity-specific conferences and forums, external community events, and internal diversity training.

Eli Lilly and Company will receive DiversityInc’s 2012 Top Company for Working Families special award. For more information, go to www.DiversityInc.com/events.

U.S. Headquarters: Indianapolis

Global Employees: 38,080

U.S. Employees: 17,849

Last Year’s DiversityInc Top 50 Ranking: No. 39