Balancing Work-Family

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Balancing Work-Family

• Overview of Work-Family Crisis Myths
• McNeil Case
• Benefits Barriers
• Common Practices
• Best Practices (if time)

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Work-Family Crisis

• There has been a steady increase in dual career
  couples, an increase in mens involvement in
  child rearing, and an increase in elder care
  issues.
• Women and workers under 35 cite work-family
  balance as the most important component to their
  overall job satisfaction (SHRM, 2005)
• Nearly 1 in 3 workers complain that their
  organizations do not support their work-life
  programs (Work and Family Connection survey, as
  cited in Carlson, 2005)
• Even when benefits are offered, men are usually
  hesitant to take advantage of them (Roberts,
  2005) women often fail to take full advantage
  of them as well.

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Work-Family Myths Gebeke, 1993)

• People will take too much advantage of w-f
  programs
• Child care is the familys problem
• Family-supportive initiatives are costly

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Kathryn McNeil (A)
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Kathryn McNeil (A) Debriefing
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Benefits of Managing Work-Family

• Work-family initiatives lead to lower turnover
  and absenteeism, and higher productivity (Gebeke,
  1993)
• Work/Family Directions argues that spending 1 on
  work-family programs yields more than 2 in
  direct-cost savings (Solomon, 1994)
• Investors react positively (e.g., higher stock
  prices when announced) (Cascio, 2006)

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Barriers to Implementing Work-Family Programs

• Cost (however, cost is often less than healthcare
  and more visible!)
• Lack of leader modeling (Carson, 2005)

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Work-Family (Work-Life) Practice Types (Cascio,
2006 Pratt Rosa, 2003)

• organizations take over or assist with
  responsibilities typically seen as the purview of
  the family
• Creating new company towns (Useem, 2000)
• Daycare and elder care
• peoples homes become transformed
  into places of work
• Telecommuting, distributed work
• programs to
  help people better keep work and family separate
• Flextime, 4/40 weeks job sharing, compressed
  work-weeks, part-time work, etc.
• If you have flex time, be sure to have hours
  where everyone is at work!
• Leave options (e.g., family-medical leave,
  maternity/paternity leave, etc.)

Others?
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Day Care Elder Care

• In a recent study, childcare breakdowns were
  found to be responsible for 6,900 missed days at
  work at Chase Manhattan Bank alone (Cascio,
  2006)
• Eldercare is estimated to cost U.S. organizations
  400 million a year
• Employers who provide child care can reduce
  absenteeism and voluntary turnover by 20!
  (Cascio, 2006)
• Johnson Johnson found that having elder care
  and other work-life programs increases retention
  
• Options range from
• emergency back-up
• weekend and summer programs

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Distributed Work Teams (Rockmann Pratt, 2005)

• Disadvantages
• Inability to detach from work
• Stereotypes about distributed workers

• Advantages
• Higher productivity (e.g., no commute,
  easier to field inter- national calls)

• Factors that Facilitate Advantages
• Frequent communication (technology)

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HRM General PracticesSloan Work-Family Policy
Network

• Employers should
• Design work to achieve both high performance and
  a satisfying work life
• Promote more women into high-level positions in
  company

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Best Practices (if time)

• Los Angeles Department of Water Power (DWP)s
  Work Family Services
• Fathering program (includes classes, support
  groups, and mentors, beeper loans) Solomon,
  1992 http//www.ladwp.com/ladwp/cms/ladwp000444.j
  spP15_388
• Weyerhaeuser's Childcare Task Force use of
  resource and referral programs (Working
  Solutions) to provide ongoing feedback Haupt,
  1993 http//www.weyerhaeuser.com/careers/companyc
  ulture/worklifebalance.asp

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Best Practices

• Eli Lily worked with local and state governments
  to build a strong child-care infrastructure.
• SAS provides high quality daycare, health care
  center wellness program concierge services
  (e.g., eldercare information), a cafeteria with
  booster seats, unlimited sick days and 7 hour
  work days.

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Questions?