Cali Williams Yost
President & Founder
Work+Life Fit, Inc.
National Work and Family Month is not only a celebration of work-life effectiveness, but it reinforces the need for innovative solutions to our working culture. Read what 2007 Work-Life Rising Stars have to say about trends, ideas and the progress of work-life effectiveness.
What are you doing to celebrate National Work and Family Month in your organization?
Jennifer E. Swanberg, Ph.D.
“The University of Kentucky Institute for Workplace Innovation will be assisting with the University of Kentucky's work-life month activities by offering staff support. The Institute will also be highlighting on its Web site Kentucky-based companies that are holding special events during National Work and Family Month.”
Barbara Ashby
“At the University of California, Davis, the Human Resources Work Life team focuses on awareness and appreciation. With 26,000 employees and 30,000 students, it takes a concerted effort to raise consciousness. A key vehicle we use is a Chancellor’s Directive that announces the celebration, supports Senate Resolution 210, and encourages the campus community to participate in the myriad programs and services that enable members to meet commitments and pursue interests both in and outside of the workplace. Secondly, we kick off our annual Work Life Brown Bag Series each October. ”
John-Anthony Meza
“KPMG has several initiatives that we will launch or promote for National Work and Family Month. In October, we launch our national ‘Season of Service,’ which continues to National Family Volunteer Day (Nov. 17, 2007). This initiative will highlight and encourage our employees and their families to participate in the numerous ways KPMG supports volunteerism.
"‘Career Talk,' a radio-style program, broadcast via the firm’s intranet, will provide employees with topical, timely, relevant information on a variety of career development issues. The shows will be recorded, archived and ultimately available as podcasts. The first segments will focus on balancing work and family as individuals progress in their careers.
"In addition, the firm will use our intranet to profile working mothers and working families during the month, to help draw attention to best practices of telecommuting, flexible work arrangement, parental leave and back-up childcare that successfully balance work and family demands.”
Teresa Hopke
“To provide employees with practical tips and ideas for managing work-life issues, we’ve scheduled two work-life Webinars hosted by the Minneapolis Coalition of Family-Friendly Workplaces: How to Win the Chore Wars and Find Peace in the Family and Dual Career Families.
"In addition, employees will see many work-life communications and stories throughout the month through a home mailing as well as our Intranet site and local newsletters. These communications will remind them about the firm’s commitment to work-life and the programs and services available to assist them.
"We will also be offering two Coach on Call work-life coaching sessions to assist employees with individual strategies for work-life effectiveness.”
Cali Williams Yost
“First, focus on the fact that work-life is not a 'program.' Work-life is a core strategic business imperative in today’s 24/7, high-tech, global work reality. It is not a women's initiative, although women definitely benefit. But it is a tool for managers to manage scarce resources—talent and time—most effectively. For individuals, it is a way to effectively reset the ever-changing boundary between their work and life as they experience personal and professional transitions throughout their career.”
Jennifer E. Swanberg, Ph.D.
“Organizations’ work-life initiatives should focus on creating a work environment that fully engages employees in their work and allows for work-life integration. While people often consider child care and elder care as work-life policies, organizations and employees significantly benefit when they consider a broader perspective of work-life. Research that I've been conducting, along with other studies, demonstrate that quality work environments — that is, work environments that have effective supervisors, opportunities for growth, flexibility, mechanisms in place to allow for employee input into management decisions, and autonomy on the job — have positive effects for employee engagement, employee health and work-life integration.”
John-Anthony Meza
"Work-life programs should strive to develop innovative, flexible ways to make people more effective in all aspects of their lives. This requires ‘out of the box’ thinking, but it is critical to developing an effective and satisfied work force.
"Along those lines, work-life programs must be flexible and adaptive — capable of anticipating changes and new needs. Whether its new technology, new volunteer opportunities, new family arrangements or new job functions, work-life balance is never static. Work-life balance is perpetually in flux and we must be ready to adapt with it.
"Finally, programs must recognize that up to four generations are in the work force at any one time. That’s four different categories of needs — from daycare to eldercare — requiring flexibility and a multitude of programs to address each generation."
Teresa Hopke
"In addition to the basics of making sure that a work-life strategy provides solutions that cover the lifespan of an employee, work-life programs should also focus on some of the more impactful areas that employees tell us they are concerned about such as overwork, stress and providing employees with the 'how-to's' of managing their lives."
Q. What innovative work-life solutions have you witnessed in companies that you work with?
Jennifer E. Swanberg, Ph.D.
"Several organizations in Kentucky are engaged in innovative workplace practices that have positive results for employees and the business.
"W. Rogers Company, a central Kentucky family-owned general contractor company specializing in construction of water-treatment facilities, has pioneered a condensed work week for construction workers. This is very atypical for construction workers. In this company, four-10 hour days are the norm for construction workers. Given that employees often travel several hours and stay away from home overnight, the four-day work week allows employees to 'have a life' and enjoy time with their friends and family over a long weekend. It helps keep employee morale up and retention high. From a business perspective it cuts done on the time lost to set up/take down at the job site each day, and most importantly, it helps retain workers.
"Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, a private, non-profit grassroots citizens' organization that works to eradicate unfair social, political and economic systems the state of Kentucky, offers its employees a variety of paid-leave options. The organization recognizes that employees may need to take leave time for personal or professional reasons. As a result, they've established a range of paid-leave options, including paid family leave, earned paid sabbatical and personal growth leave."
Barbara Ashby
"The most innovative, successful initiative to date has been our Breastfeeding Support Program, which provides lactation sites, consultation, education and pumps. Dedicated pumping stations are a design standard for all new construction and renovation.
"In addition, we are encouraging volunteerism from local to global levels. 'Engagement' is one of the three goals of the UC Davis Vision. This spring HR Work Life hosted a workshop in which our provost/executive vice chancellor discussed how and why volunteering can enhance the quality of life within and beyond the university. A variety of campus and community service groups presented information on opportunities within their organizations."
John-Anthony Meza "One issue we’re especially focused on at KPMG is employees who are parents of children with special needs. KPMG has many support systems within and outside the firm, but it can be difficult for these parents to source the specific ones they need. To help them, we’ve developed an innovative Web site where they can access critical information. In addition, parents can become part of virtual meetings on a variety of topics such as creating trusts for special needs children, individual education programs and the like. We invite outside speakers to these meetings, as needed or requested.
"Shared leave is a particularly popular program at KPMG. The policy allows employees who are facing a significant 'time off' emergency (e.g., death in the family, extended family illness, etc.) and have exhausted all of their personal time. Other employees may donate up to 12 weeks of additional leave to give these individuals more time to take care of family members.
"For new parents, KPMG has developed a tailored Web site that provides information on relevant benefits including the various forms of leave the firm offers, back-up child care, wellness and links to the March of Dimes site. In addition, the firm sends new parents a gift of clothes and other useful items."
Teresa Hopke "Some of the more innovative solutions we offer include:
FlexYear (like a teacher’s contract where our employees can take a portion of the year off and receive a prorated paycheck and full benefits all year long)
FlexCareer (where our employees can take up to five years off to pursue personal interests while staying connected to the firm and getting subsidized Continuing Professional Education credits)
Work-Life Coaching (we hired a coach that is available twice/month to do 1:1 coaching with employees about any work and/or life issues they may have)
Work-Life Goal Setting (our performance management process includes asking employees to write and discuss an annual work-life goal)"
Q: What trends do you see taking shape or percolating in the workplace?
Cali Williams Yost
"The recognition that work-life flexibility is a mission-critical strategy is moving from the human resources realm into the C-suite. This is excellent news for organizational champions; however, it also takes the conversation and development process to a whole other level sophistication and complexity for which practitioners in this field need to prepare if we want to leverage this tremendous opportunity. Work-life has officially moved from a 'nice thing to do' to a critical business and career management strategy. I believe recognizing and acting on that fact will determine who thrives, survives or destructs in a global work reality that is here to stay."
Teresa Hopke
"We see a lot of new trends happening as a result of the increased inclusion of Generation Y in our workforce. Many of them are expressing their work-life concerns and interests as early as the interviewing process and have expectations around getting the flexibility they need in the workplace. Also, there is much more of a 'free agent' mentality in the workforce. Many of our employees are part of dual-income families and do not feel dependent on their jobs. Because of this they are much more willing to ask for the flexibility they need and leave if they aren’t afforded it. Once an HR tool that progressive firms used to gain the Employers of Choice status, savvy executives are now elevating work-life to the strategic imperative level and leveraging it as the latest tool to enable greater business success."
Jennifer E. Swanberg, Ph.D. “I hear [different] themes from the organizations that have been affiliated with our work at the Institute for Workplace Innovation. Not only do individual workers have different needs, but flexibility may be operationalized differently for employees classified in different job categories. Findings from a study that I am co-directing with my colleague Dr. Jackie James with the Center for Aging, Work/Workplace Flexibility and Center for Work and Family at Boston College, suggest that the meaning of what constitutes a 'quality job' may be different for workers in lower-wage hourly positions compared to workers in professional, salaried jobs. As a result, to fully engage employees in their jobs companies must be willing to develop a range of flexible work solutions to fit the circumstances and needs of the various job functions and the people who fill those jobs.”
Barbara Ashby "Traditionally the concept behind work-life was balance, especially of professional and home/family life. But separating them as disparate functions is unrealistic and weighing their values is unfair. It also frames work-life as a women’s issue. Fortunately, the trend is toward work-life integration, which is much more inclusive."
