Work/Life Programs: A Win/Win Business Strategy

During the last several decades, we have seen an increase in dual-income and single-parent families, longer average lifespans, and significant advancements in technology. The impact of these changes on the labor market include:

• An increase in the number of workers who have child and/or elder care responsibilities
• The desire by many employees to continue working beyond traditional "retirement age" (in some cases on a reduced-schedule basis)
• Greater opportunity for individuals with disabilities to be productive, contributing members of the workforce

Have your company´s policies and practices kept pace with these trends? Progressive employers understand that responding to such shifts is vital to their success. One increasingly popular approach is providing work/life programs to help employees balance professional and personal demands. But the advantages of these offerings are far from one-sided:

Know Your Options
There are countless ways that a company can help its workforce achieve work/life balance. While large-scale - and, for many employers, cost-prohibitive - initiatives tend to get the most attention, the majority of work/life offerings can be implemented quite inexpensively. Consider the following:

Â	Best Practices of Companies Recently Recognized by Health Magazine	Additional Strategies
"Family friendly" benefits Â	Abbott Laboratories offers a day care center that is almost 50,000 sq. ft., a full-time kindergarten program (scheduled to be operational in September), and a "camp-like" facility for older children during the summer and school holidays.	§                 A resource and referral service §                 Arrangements with one or more centers to provide employee discounts and/or backup care §                 Dependent care spending accounts from which employees pay expenses with pre-tax dollars §                 Protected leave beyond FMLA requirements §                 Private space designated as a lactation room for nursing mothers §                 Financial assistance for adoption §                 Seminars, discussion groups, resource libraries, etc. that address common family issues and problems §                 Domestic partner benefits §                 Company events that include spouses/partners and families
Alternative work arrangements (AWA) and time off Â	Tom''s of Maine allows employees to use up to five percent of their work time for volunteer activities.	§                 Part-time schedules and job share arrangements §                 "Flextime" and compressed workweeks §                 Full or partial telecommuting §                 Temporary and project-based work §                 A single time bank from which all days off - regardless of the reason - are deducted §                 Sabbaticals as an opportunity to pursue personal endeavors
Financial assistance Â	Patagonia, as part of its commitment to protecting the environment, provides a $2,000 subsidy to workers who buy a "hybrid" (i.e., electric/gas) vehicle.	§                 Voluntary insurance policies for which employees pay their own premiums, but at reduced group rates §                 Tuition reimbursement §                 Employee discounts to theaters, restaurants, etc. §                 The ability to use "frequent flyer miles" earned during employer-paid flights for personal travel
Health and wellness Â	New York Life Insurance Company employees enjoy free healthcare at an onsite medical center staffed by several full-time physicians.	§                 Confidential counseling provided through an Employee Assistance Plan (EAP) §                 Medical benefits that include annual checkups and comprehensive mental health coverage §                 An on-site fitness center or employee discounts at a local gym §                 On-site health screenings, flu shots, educational seminars, etc.
On-site amenities Â	The Mitchell Gold Company´s Comfort Zone helps employees "run errands" - including banking, renting movies, filling prescriptions, and a dozen other tasks - without having to step foot outside the workplace.	§                 Dry cleaning pickup and delivery service §                 Full concierge services to assist with personal travel and entertainment arrangements, household appointment-setting, and gift giving

Maximize Your ROI

Simply adding a few indiscriminant benefits or scheduling policies will undoubtedly produce disappointing results. Instead, develop and communicate your selected programs as a high-level business strategy - not as an individual benefit or accommodation.

In working closely with employers of all sizes, across all industries, and with diverse approaches to work/life issues, we have observed the following success factors:

§                 Form a Work/Life Task Force to assess needs, evaluate programs and vendors, and implement the chosen offerings.

§                 Ask - rather than assume - which programs your employees would find most valuable.

§                 Avoid focusing entirely on the needs of working parents; elder care responsibilities are far more common than most people realize. Additionally, ensure that at least some of your offerings support non-family-related interests.

§                 Measure performance by results, not by "face time" or the number of hours worked. This means rewarding and promoting qualified individuals regardless of when or where they perform their jobs.  

§                 Be clear that eligibility for flexible scheduling is not an entitlement, but do make every effort to accommodate requests that meet pre-determined employee- and job-related criteria. Building trial periods into your corporate policies is recommended, as this enables you to "test the water" before outright approving or denying a long-term Alternative Work Arrangements (AWA).

§                 While some amount of coordination among staff members is to be expected, ensure that granting an AWA to one individual does not put undue burden on another.

§                 Hold managers accountable for meeting individual needs without compromising departmental productivity, and train them in effectively hiring, managing, and supporting staff irrespective of the schedule they keep or location in which their work is performed.

§                 Assign or hire a "Work/Life Manager" to track utilization, satisfaction, and results on an ongoing basis, and to modify programs accordingly.

§                 Encourage employees to utilize your work/life programs, and routinely publicize success stories and outcomes.

It´s Better to Start Small Than Not at All

The availability of work/life programs is becoming a key consideration for more and more job seekers.   Many companies know that making some changes would help them to better compete for top Talent, but they´re often worried about cost or unsure how to proceed.   Because flexibility is a key attraction for some candidates, begin by offering alternative work arrangements and temporary or project-based work. These neither require a large capital investment, nor favor any one group over another.

Progressive companies across all industries who make the commitment to a comprehensive work/life strategy, reap the benefits of increased employee performance and moral, while increasing the company´s bottom line.

About the Author

Beth Casey is Director of Human Resources, Advantage Human Resourcing ®, a leading provider of professional and support-level Talent.   For more information contact Beth at bcasey[at]advhr.com or 800-WORKING or visit www.advhr.com.

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