Learning As We Go
Work-life Policies & Practices For Business

David R. Rodbourne

Director of Programs

Minnesota Center for Corporate Responsibility

July 1996

The Minnesota Center for Corporate Responsibility has focused on improving corporate Work/Life policies and practices for the last three years. Recently, the Center's Business Task Force on Work/Life participated in a national conference organized by US Vice President Al Gore. In addition, we hosted our own conference for business featuring nationally recognized speakers.

Work and Family or Work/Life -- does the terminology really make a difference? Increasingly, companies in the US have adopted the term Work/Life or even Lifecycle to describe their programs and policies. They've made this shift because Work/Life is a broader, more inclusive term than Work/Family.

What do we mean by Work/Life? The field is very broad. It includes: alternative work schedules, flex-time, job sharing, telecommuting, child care, information and education, referral systems, elder care assistance, wellness and health information, sabbaticals, parental or health-related leave policies, employee assistance programs, emergency time-off pools, and a spectrum of training and support for managers and employees.

Work/Life policies and practices make sense for two important reasons: one, they strengthen business performance and profits, and two, they strengthen society. Unfortunately, business has too often treated Work/Life as a social issue and given it lower priority than it merits. Our networks, meetings and research tells us that Work/Life improves performance and the bottom line.

Work/Life is not just an option limited to "Big Business." Some small companies think, mistakenly, that they cannot afford Work/Life programs. Our contacts tell us that small companies often have very creative Work/Life solutions to business problems. One small manufacturer in rural Minnesota discovered that flexible scheduling was an effective way to retain workers -- many of whom were women with young children at home or in school. Flexible working hours enabled these employees to meet the needs of their kids (and elders in some instances) and get the job done at work. The irony of this -- the company did not think of this as a "Work/Life" policy; they thought of it as a solution to a business problem.

While many leading US companies have extensive Work/Life programs, policies and practices, most have not yet changed their organizational cultures to support employees and managers who want to use Work/Life options. Some companies have extensive policies, but few employees take advantage of them. Employees, in many companies, fear that using a Work/Life option, perhaps job sharing or telecommuting, will damage their career and chances for promotion. Managers need to focus on results, not seat time. CEOs need to clearly support Work/Life. The company culture needs to change. Research funded by the Ford Foundation has determined that it is possible to change work practices and work cultures -- it is very difficult but possible.

Ford researcher and MIT professor, Lotte Bailyn, teaches us something else as well. Typically we think that Work/Life policies are need to accommodate an employee who has a problem at home. In other words, we visualize a personal or home life problem intruding on the workplace and getting in the way of business. Professor Bailyn argues that badly run workplaces are often the source of the Work-Life conflict instead of the other way around. Rather than fixing the employee, we need to concentrate on fixing the workplace.

Some corporate activity that is not normally seen as being Work/Life related can have tremendous benefits to employees at home and in their personal lives. For example, Saturn Corporation employees report that on-the job training they receive in communication, listening skills, conflict resolution, team building, and empowerment can be applied at home with their families. They learn the skill at work, and they use it at home.

To be effective, Work/Life must be integrated into the full range of business strategies and functions. Work/Life can be a solution to specific business problems. It is a tool that can be linked to Quality Improvement, Team Building, Customer Satisfaction, etc. It would be a mistake to isolate Work/Life as a narrow human resource or benefits issue.

It is important to recognize that corporations cannot do it all. A leading economic and social policy analyst, Robert Kuttner, speaking at our Annual Meeting warned companies not to promise more than they can deliver. Government has important roles to play. As we look worldwide, we recognize that some countries have pursued social policies that offer benefits not available in other economies. Our key challenge is achieving an appropriate balance between private and publics sector responsibilities.

It is also worth noting that the tremendous differences among cultures worldwide, particularly with respect to women and children and work, present difficult dilemmas for companies. No one model fits all situations. And these differences can also give rise to serious conflict and disagreement which we must work out.

Finally, a word about benchmarking and recognition. I believe that we are making progress encouraging more and more companies to do a better and better job of enabling employees to balance their commitments to work and to their families. We are making progress because companies are benchmarking their performance against leading firms and because they have been recognized for their accomplishments.

We still have a long way to go, but by keeping this issue in front of CEOs, we can strengthen our companies and communities.

Center for Ethical Business Cultures

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Phone: 651 962 4120 or 800 328 6819 Ext. 2-4120 ▪ Facsimile: 651 962 4042

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