Kathie Lingle's Work-Life Blog

October is National Work and Family Month

Sept. 25, 2007 - October is National Work and Family Month, an annual event of AWLP’s creation in the fall of 2003, just prior to our joining forces with WorldatWork. This work-life education campaign was launched with a flurry of activity centered on our successful effort to obtain a Congressional Resolution that proclaimed October as the official month. 

We had originally aimed for September (Labor Day seemed an appropriate target), but we didn’t know anything about getting Congress to pass such a resolution, however small, so it took us a long time to learn the ropes that summer, by which time Congress had adjourned for a break. The Iraq War had begun several months before, so our country’s legislators had a few other priorities in front of ours. That also explains why we haven’t gone back every year to re-designate October, since the Resolution simply declares October 2003 as National Work and Family Month (NWFM). A perpetual resolution is even more complicated a process, so we have left Congress well enough alone and gone about leading a national celebration each year, focusing on the language of support from Congress for work-life as a business strategy and not getting hung up on a date.

…”Proclaiming October 2003 as National Work and Family Month and expressing the sense of Congress that because the well-being and productivity of the American worker is good for both employees and the corporate national productivity, public policies that support a balance of work, family and personal life should be fully supported.”

The concept is quite simple:  During October of each year, every employer (not to mention everyone who works) should pause to take stock of where they are on their journey to work-life effectiveness, celebrate their progress, and dedicate themselves to raising the bar a notch for the year ahead.  

It was hard work to attract attention and elicit participation by employers across the country during the first several years, but we are noticing a significant increase in interest this fall, five years later. Companies, universities and government agencies have been contacting us for several months, instead of the other way around, letting us know how they are planning to draw attention to their work-life efforts, and in some cases, inviting our direct involvement. This week, for example, I’ll be in Washington, D.C., participating in an Interagency Work-Life Meeting that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is hosting as one of a series of events to celebrate National Work and Family Month.  In October, I’ve been invited to Houston to help the The University of Texas - MD Anderson Cancer Center kick off NWFM with the launch of its new work-life initiative.

For ideas, communication templates and a work-life inventory that you might find useful in creating your own celebration, visit our Web site.

And please let me know what you are doing, or what you did, and how it went.  Your plans don’t have to be grandiose to inspire someone else.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of WorldatWork and its affiliate, Alliance for Work-Life Progress (AWLP).