Working Family Resource Center A Business Education Partnership

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Working Family Resource CenterA Business
Education Partnership

• Presented by
• Marcie Brooke, CFLE, Executive Director
• Beth Quist, Work Family Education Specialist
• Early Childhood Administrators Conference
• April 27, 2007

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Working Family Resource Center

• The Evolution of Working Family Resource Center
  and the Workplace
• Educating, Strengthening and Affirming Working
  Families
• Making the Business Case

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The Evolution of the Workplace

• Past
• Present
• Future

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The Past

• Two parent households
• Work-Centric, employer loyalty
• Working Parent Resource Center

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The Present

• Variety of household models, dual-careers
• Aging workforce, increased diversity
• Evolution Working Family Resource Center

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The Future

• Diverse households
• Flexible work arrangements, Dual-Centric
• Labor shortage

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Evolution Study Responding to the Changing
Future Boston College

• Work life practices ingrained into the workplace
  culture
• Providing education and support so employees can
  make good choices
• Implementing work life HR policies

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Working Family Resource Center

• Educate
• Strengthen
• Affirm

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Educate

• Seminars
• Publications
• Customized Programs

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Seminars

• 52 topic areas
• Research-based
• Instructor expertise

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Publications

• Life Balance Digest
• Tip Sheets
• Welcome to the World of the Working Parent

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Customized Programs

• Parent Education Program (PEP)
• Work Life Consultations
• Online Seminars

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Strengthen

• Work and home conflict
• Personal effectiveness
• Employee productivity

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Affirm

• Fulfilling multiple roles
• Valuable contributor
• Sensitivity to employees major life events

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Making the Business Case

• Recruitment and retention
• Family-friendly work environment
• Focus, productivity and effectiveness

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Recruitment and Retention

• Bringing family into work gives employees more
  reason to be motivated, becoming a successful
  recruiting and retention tool for the
  organization. (Academy of Management Journal,
  2003)
• Employers receive a huge payoff in reduced
  absenteeism nearly 16 for every dollar spent
  when employers encourage health promotion
  programs. (Brigham Young, 2005)

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Family-Friendly Work Environment

• There is consistent evidence that parents who
  feel they are succeeding at home are more likely
  to succeed at work. (Work and Families
  Institute, 1999)
• Job satisfaction is increased by access to
  work/family options, which make it easier to
  integrate work and family and naturally
  facilitates a better experience for customers in
  the organization. (The Conference Board of
  Canada, 2006)

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Focus, Productivity and Effectiveness

• Employees who put the same priority on work and
  their personal/family life who are dual-centric
  have the highest ratings for feeling successful
  at work. (Families and Work Institute
  Dual-Centric A New Concept of Work-Life)

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Focus, Productivity and Effectiveness Continued

• Researchers state that employees benefit from
  having higher quality jobs and more supportive
  workplaces that are less likely to negatively
  affect their personal and family lives, while
  employers benefit from having more engaged
  employees, higher retention, and potentially
  lower health care costs. (Alfred P. Sloan
  Foundation 2005 National Study of Employers)

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Testimonials

• Participants
• Business

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Participants

• I feel like Im actually doing it right!
• Very informative, practical and common sense
  approaches.
• When you go back to finish the rest of your day,
  youre feeling better about the decisions youve
  made in your life.
• "When I'm ready to go back to work, I'm not as
  frustrated or concerned about home, I'm more
  willing to be a lot more understanding, I'd say
  when we're dealing with customers."

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Business Testimonials

• Working Family Resource Center offers timely and
  pragmatic solutions. Working parents in our work
  force have found them to be helpful tools in
  understanding their child's development, building
  a support network, and learning new ways to
  balance work and family.    
•   Senior Vice President of Operations, CIGNA
  Behavioral Health

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Business Testimonials Continued

• Having been through the process of trying to find
  a resource on work and family issues, I couldn't
  help but wonder what our organization would have
  done without the Working Family Resource Center
  as a source of support, expertise and
  assistance.... Our managers and supervisors need
  more and more "tools" to deal with emerging
  management issues. We've had to deal with many of
  those issues that are a direct result of the
  change in demographics such as the increased
  number of women in the workforce, the development
  of the "sandwich generation" and the changes in
  the family structure. Your help in educating our
  managers and supervisors will have long term
  benefits for our organization.       
• Training and Communications Manager,
  American National Bank, St. Paul

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Working Family Resource Center

• The Evolution of Working Family Resource Center
  and the Workplace
• Educating, Strengthening and Affirming Working
  Families
• Making the Business Case

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Additional Work Life Resources

• http//www.workingfamilyresourcecenter.org/wfrc/en
  /businesses_top10.asp
• http//www.workfamily.com/AboutWork-Life/WorkLifeB
  usinessCase.htm
• http//www.winningworkplaces.org/consultingandtrai
  ning/business_case.php
• http//www.winningworkplaces.org/library/research/
  rs_competitiveadvantages.php
• http//www.worklifechampions.org/success_stories/

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Our Future

• Working Family Resource Center becomes a 501c3 on
  July 1, 2007.
• Statewide expansion through partnerships and
  collaborations.
• An invitation to continue the dialogue.

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Working Family Resource Center

• Degree of Honor Building
• 325 Cedar Street, Suite 250
• Saint Paul, MN 55101
• 651-293-5330
• www.workingfamilyresourcecenter.org
• mbrooke_at_wfrc.us
• bquist_at_wfrc.us