Work-life balance news from Dec 6-26, 2009

Yep, I took some time off so it’s been a while since you’ve had news from me.  Here are the highlights from the last 3 weeks as I attempt to get back into the groove after lots of family time over the holidays.  Here’s hoping your New Year will be flexible and balanced!

In the News

Should We Eliminate Our Vacation Policy? (Business Insider)

At The Business Insider, we currently have a standard vacation policy–a certain number of weeks a year….I’ve taken some time off, of course, and I’ve worked remotely some, the way most of our team has.  I’ve let my teammates take as much time off as they’ve asked for without recording the days on some official log.  I’ve encouraged everyone to work intensely, efficiently, and effectively but also to make sure they’re creating a work-life balance they’re happy with (which many haven’t–including, sometimes, me).  The only thing I have been frustrated by is when folks disappear without arranging for their responsibilities to be covered while they’re away (because this screws the rest of us, as well as our readers and our clients).

In practice, therefore, our vacation policy seems to be “We’re all adults here, so take as much time as you want.  Just make sure you communicate clearly ahead of time and make sure your responsibilities are covered.  And, of course, make sure that you do a great job.”

How work changed in the noughties (Guardian)

The number of employers offering staff the chance to work flexibly almost doubled over the course of six years, according to data in the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey. In 1998, 84% of managers argued it was up to the individual to balance their work and family responsibilities; by 2004 this had fallen to 65%.  But how flexibly do we really work? Recent research by the Work Foundation showed that despite technological and social advances, over 75% of employees working for large companies continue to work in one premises.

We may be part-time but we’re one in a million (London Evening Standard)

The number of people in part-time work because they can’t get full-time employment has risen by 34,000 in the past three months and now stands at a million. (Finally – I am one in a million!)…But there’s still a lot to be said for what I’ve got, which is a three-day week in the office. In fact, it comes close to my definition of perfection in the way of a work-life balance.  You get to do a job away from the home – a desk in an office gives you a kind of psychic security – and yet you see your family. Or make chutney or do jigsaws and all the things other people have to wait for weekends to do…So the new part-timers do have blessings to count. They’ve got a job. And they’ve got a life. It’s the best of both worlds, I’d say.

It’s Not Easy to Be a Good Wife and Mother (About.com)

The truth is, it can be hard to be a good wife and mom. At least for me! Yesterday I ended up snapping at my husband for suggesting that perhaps not every book I’ve read in the last 15 years needs to be displayed in our new home. And this morning I lost my patience with my kids over the endless dawdling on the way out the door to school.  So today I’m rereading my own articles on how to have a happy marriage, bonding with the children, work-life balance and resolving to do better next time. Fortunately, this is a good time of year for resolutions and fresh starts!

The gentlemom from New York: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s work-life balance (Washington Post)

How to be a Super Dad (Independent)

Nikki Walsh meets a new generation of dads striving to juggle the demands of the office with the crèche

He is not sure fathers can achieve work-life balance. “Society wants it both ways: we are supposed to be loving, caring parents and we are also supposed to be part of a machine.” When it comes to easing the pressures of working fathers, he agrees with Ray.  “Equality that seems to relate only to women is missing the point. Equality relates to everyone.”

Recession has left workers disgruntled, planning to leave jobs (Chicago Sun Times)

While employers might have taken necessary steps to streamline operations to remain viable during the downturn, “it appears many employees may have felt neglected in the process,” said David Hughes, market vice president for Chicago at Right Management. “The result is a disengaged and disgruntled work force.”  Employees want to work for companies that offer career development opportunities and understand the importance of work/life balance, he said, adding companies need to have a strategy to combat turnover.

Fidelity Investments Study Finds Shift in Generation Y Attitudes Toward Finances, Employment and Benefits (News Blaze)

Gen Y individuals overwhelmingly (75%) agree that work-life balance still drives their career choices, similar to what they said in 2008, but workplace benefits have taken on greater importance. The majority of Gen Y (62%) individuals responded that the quality of benefits packages influences their choice of employer today with slightly more (64%) stating it also impacts their job loyalty. Four in ten (44%) believe that the value of the benefits they receive should be tied to their workplace performance with nearly half (49%) describing the current benefits approach as a one-size-fits-all system where everyone gets the same package. When asked which benefits are a “must have,” Gen Y individuals ranked health insurance first (82%), followed by paid vacation time (68%) and access to a retirement savings plan (57%).

“Laurie and I had wanted to balance career-advancement opportunities with family needs,” Ms. Hughes says. “We put together a one-pager on a career-sharing idea and very quickly got the company’s commitment. General Mills was very supportive of our proposal.” The two women shared their position, which worked so well that within a year, they got promoted to a shared position as finance director. That lasted until this past September, when the women chose to take full-time positions with the company.

Workplace support for fathers beneficial (BtoB)

Fathers want to spend more time with their children but work gets in the way, according to research that has triggered a renewed call for partner’s paid parental leave and flexible workplaces.

Plenty of takers for telecommuting jobs (Emirates Business)

When asked how telecommuting would benefit employees, 44 per cent of respondents said it was a mixture of providing a good work-life balance, promoting more productivity and encouraging staff loyalty.

Almost a third, 32 per cent, said its advantage was solely due to the fact that it allowed employees to secure a good work-life balance, and 12 per cent said it was because it inspired greater productivity. Just five per cent agreed that the main advantage of telecommuting was the fact that it promoted company loyalty.

Where the top-notch employers are (Crain’s New York)

Even in bad times, good companies focus on workers.

Rock-solid financials and fat paychecks help make companies attractive to workers. But the lesson this year is that even in difficult times, great workplaces can keep people engaged—and keep them committed—with a combination of openness, camaraderie and well-thought-out benefits that make it easier for people to juggle the professional and the personal.  Thus Goldman Sachs, with its $658,000 in average compensation, is on the list. But the top company is tiny Atelier Ten, where work-life balance is a watchword.

In the Blogs

Flu Season Shows the Need for Workplace Flexibility (Sloan Work and Family blog)

The swine flu draws attention for the critical need for more workplace flexibility for American businesses. Workplace flexibility is a concept that gives workers flexibility in the how, where and the quantity of hours they work.

Now is the time for a national conversation and effort to increase that flexibility. Flexible work arrangements such as telework can allow workers to be productive when they are not able to be in the office.

During the swine flu epidemic, it is likely that many workers will be sick enough that they will need to stay away from work, if only to keep their coworkers from being impacted, but they will be well enough to complete substantive work. Or many will be healthy themselves, but they will be needed at home to help care for a family member or a child. Schools across the nation will identify potentially sick children and many will have to stay at home for a week or more, so their working parents will be stuck at home

When Your Life Hangs in the Balance (The Human Race Horses)

Tips for getting your own life back

1. Never forget that you are your most important personal asset.   You need to make sure that you are providing yourself with sustenance on a physical, profession, emotional and spiritual level in order to have a fully rounded life.

Leadership in Human Resources Management:  The Case of IBM Company (The Third Space)

Work/Life Balance
In 1984, IBM became the first major employer in the nation to establish a dependent care network for its employees. In July 2000, the company announced the creation of a five year, $50 million global fund to develop and support work/life programs in communities where its employees live and work. Programs range from new child care centers and science/technology camps for school-age children to collaborations with other companies to expand existing child care centers. Between 1990 and 1994, IBM invested $25 million to develop new or expand existing child and elder care facilities and programs through its Funds for Dependent Care Initiatives. Between 1995 and 2000, the company has invested a total of approximately $150 million in dependent care services to help employees better manage their work and personal lives.

Working mom boom on the horizon as American businesses re-focus hiring practices (Club Femina)

A recent global study of over 11,000 corporations across 15 countries commissioned by Regus (www.regus.com), the global provider of innovative workspace solutions, found that 44 percent of companies worldwide plan to hire more mothers for part-time jobs over the next two years. The study found that among U.S. firms, 46 percent reported plans to recruit more mothers into their workplaces over the next two years.

In the Balance (Exec Digital)

While many companies toss around the term ‘work-life balance’, few actually mean it.  More and more executives are ‘voting with their feet’ to work in organisations where they are respected and can demonstrate high performance. In return, they expect the organisation to provide development to keep them marketable and provide a reasonable work-life balance. In particular, many of the new generation of leaders will not sacrifice their quality of life or longevity of life for the sake of an organisation. As a result, the Best Practice Companies will be able to more easily attract and retain the best talent in the future.

4 Business Realities That Work-Life Balance Articles Ignore (WAHM.com)

Top 10 Homepreneur Trends for 2010 (Small Business Trends)

Work/life Balance: Interest in work/life balance is growing across almost all demographic segments.  The Great Recession has increased the interest in work/life balance as more people focus on non-economic life issues.  Surveys and other research show women, boomers and Gen Y in particular stress the importance of finding balance.  Homepreneurs often cite work/life balance as one of the key benefits of home businesses.  As this news spreads, so does the interest in home-based businesses.

Workplace Flexibility…For Baby Boomers! (Brand for Talent)

I recently read via SmartBrief on Workforce an article from Business Week about an innovative new program for older workers at Abbott Laboratories who don’t want to retire, or are unable to do so, but desire a little more time off.

The program dubbed “Freedom to Work,” provides workers with an opportunity to work a four-day-work-week and take 5 weeks vacation per year.  Workers’ age 55 and older who participate agree to reduce their paychecks accordingly, but 401(k) contributions remain as a percentage their prior full salaries, and pension calculations are protected so that workers can attain more years of service at their highest pay level.

What Work-Life Books Have You Found Useful? (WSJ Blog – The Juggle)

That’s why book reviews can come in handy, as they summarize notable reads, or help pinpoint key books to pick up. Recently, my WSJ colleague Laura Landro reviewed a trio of new juggle-related books. They aim to offer insight and advice to “help women navigate the still-rocky road to professional success and achieve some kind of work-life balance,” Ms. Landro writes. (There are plenty of juggle-related books for men, but Ms. Landro only reviewed books pertaining to women;)

Flex Time: Making it a Win-Win (Corporate Voices for Working Families)

In January, the accounting giant KPMG, looking for a way to save payroll costs without losing valued employees, introduced an initiative called Flexible Futures. This new program offered the 11,000 professionals in KPMG’s British operations the following options: They could go to a four-day workweek and take a 20 percent pay cut; they could opt for a mini-sabbatical at 30 percent base pay; they could opt for both of the above; or they could stick with their current arrangement.

The program was hugely successful. Over 80 percent of KPMG’s professional employees (men and women) volunteered to take one of the flexible options. This allowed KPMG to achieve its goal of retaining jobs while cutting costs.  Because Flexible Futures positioned shorter workweeks and mini-sabbaticals as a strategic response to the downturn rather than a “benefit” for working mothers, it has gone some distance to legitimizing flex time.

10 Tips To Implement Flexibility Programs: Work/Life Leader’s Series (HR Ringleader)

Many CEOs and business owners are boggled and bothered by the whole idea of workplace flexibility and work-family balance.  Boggled because there’s nothing they would rather do than work and bothered because they are paying employees in exchange for their time Monday through Friday 8am to 5pm…As the CEO of Nobscot Corporation, it has taken me a long time to get comfortable with flexibility and yet I see it working in our organization every day.  Like with all new initiatives, there are pros and cons.

“High Anxiety” as workplace stress soars (Examiner.com)

The 2009/2010 Staying@Work report found that despite the recession, while many companies have not slashed employee health and productivity programs, they have not dealt specifically with those aforementioned stress factors. Here’s a snapshot of employers who were surveyed.

• 78% of employers said excessive work hours was a leading stress monger, but just 21% say they are addressing it.

• 68% of employers cited lack of work/life balance as stress producer, but only 38% say they are taking action to combat it.

Phrase of the week: WORK-LIFE BALANCE! (C Sharp)

What were the most significant work life stories of 2009? (Families and Work Institute Blog)

Judy Martin writes, “Recession, a new American president, record high unemployment, women now at half the workforce and health care reform. An instant visual for a year that thrust the concept of work life balance into the headlines, while dismantling the very idea that such a dynamic even exists.”

Her picks:

Is telecommuting the new trend in the modern workplace? (ODesk – Job News)

During these difficult economic times, working from home can save money. According to the Associated Press (AP), some smaller businesses are encouraging their employees to work from home because this allows the company to relocate to a smaller office space, thus saving money on real estate, office furniture and resources such as computers and printers.  Adrienne Giannone, CEO of Edge Electronics, told the AP, “I’d rather keep my people and not spend the money on the bricks and mortar.”  A recent article in the Wall Street Journal reports that the number of workers telecommuting is growing. Ray Boggs, a vice president of IDC, a market research firm, told the newspaper that full-time home-based freelancers and independent contractors in the U.S. are forecast to increase by 200,000 by year’s end, bringing the total number of telecommuters in the country to 11 million.

How We Have Failed Working Families, And What We Can Do About It (Sloan Work and Family Blog)

In conjunction with Mrs. Obama’s talk, Corporate Voices released a comprehensive study that looks at workplace flexibility options and programs involving hourly employees, Innovative Workplace Flexibility Options for Hourly Workers.  Recent research about the value of workplace flexibility has focused primarily on management and professional workers. This study finds that workplace flexibility initiatives, when available for hourly employees, are as successful as those designed for professional staff.  And it demonstrates that businesses offering hourly employees flexible work options benefit through enhanced recruitment, retention, engagement, cost control, productivity and financial performance.

Nobel Laureate: ‘Career Structure … Has Worked for Men’ (WSJ Health Blog)

You can work part time and do “really good research,” Elizabeth H. Blackburn said yesterday. She was speaking in Stockholm, where she’ll pick up a Nobel Prize in medicine later this week. Blackburn said scientific institutions should take a more flexible approach that might allow more women to fill leadership positions. “The career structure is very much a career structure that has worked for men,”

All (Cali Dad)

I’ll be the first to admit that “the choice to work” is far easier for men than women. On top of our non-existing biological clocks, society still accepts and rewards the hard-working dad who puts his nose to the grindstone to provide for his family. Moreover, there’s that neurochemical, physiological kinship between mother and child that I’ve blogged about before that makes it extra hard for moms to spend long periods of time away from their kids. My only retort is that, at the end of the day, it’s still a choice and a sacrifice that’s not always easy to make. Any one of those panelists above could just as easily have been male. It’s true that society may not frown upon hard working men, but missing out on watching your children grow up in favor of long, grueling hours in a stressful work environment is a form of misery that is decidedly gender-neutral.

Press Releases

Events

Workplace Flexibility: Flexibility in a Multigenerational Workforce

Ann Arbor IT Zone
330 E. Liberty
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104

“Work, Life, Balance: No Excuse!” February 4 Lunch Program – Century House Hotel & Conference Center,
997 New Loudon Road – Route 9 Latham, NY 12047

A Conversation on Workplace Flexibility Research Pt 2 (Georgetown Law event)

Career Life Connection News and Events

Career Life Connection will be exhibiting at the Massachusetts Conference for Women on December 10, 2009 at the Boston Convention and Exhibit Center:  Come on by and talk work/life balance/flexibility/fit at the annual conference where women can connect, be motivated, network, get inspired and build their skill base.  Last year the event brought together more than 5,000 women for the day.  Also be sure to check out the career fair raffle where Career Life Connection will be looking to put more balance back into your life with a one-hour massage gift certificate to Bella Sante.

Social Recruiting Summit – November 16 – NYC

Social media is rapidly becoming more than just another tool in a recruiter’s toolbox — it’s an important part of the future of the talent acquisition profession. The goal of #socialrecruiting summit is to have an industry conversation about these tools, talk about tactics and strategies that are already in the field and working, not pie-in-the-sky ideas.  Leanne Chase of Career Life Connection will be part of that conversation.  If you are attending the Social Media Summit or just in NYC and would like to talk about social media, workplace flexibility or work/life happiness with her contact her at chase at careerlifeconnection dot com.

Career Life Connection will be attending the OnRec/Kennedy Information Recruiting Conference in Chicago November 3 & 4th.  If you’d like to meet Leanne Chase and talk work/life with her contact her at chase at careerlifeconnection dot com.  You can also catch her and many HR professionals talking about how to fail spectacularly in business at this fun industry event.

Leanne Chase of Career Life Connection spoke about #work/life with Human Resources Professionals during the October 8th Episode of HR Happy Hour:  The WorkLife Show.

ERE Interviews:  Career Life Connection (JobRadio.fm)

Last week we stalked some of the job search vendors at the ERE Fall Expo in Hollywood Florida. This is the first of several interesting interviews from the expo floor. Meet Leanne Chase from Career Life Connection, an online community all about finding flexible work.