The Work & Life Survey

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The Work & Life Survey
General Mills

Date of Survey: 2000

Note: General Mills and Work & Family Connection, Inc. have given permission to the Minnesota Center for Corporate Responsibility to include The Work & Life Survey on our website. The survey was designed and conducted by Susan Seitel, President of Work & Family Connection, Inc. for General Mills.

To help in assessing the current work/life environment at General Mills, please fill out this survey regarding the balance between work and your life outside of work. Through this survey you have the opportunity to voice your opinion on policies and programs that should be considered by General Mills in the future. This survey is anonymous. Your confidentiality will be protected. Your response is mailed to and tabulated by an external research firm. Please be as candid as possible. If you find the survey does not adequately cover your specific work/life concerns, please use the comments section to communicate what is important to you.

Please follow the directions under each section. When finished, please refold, tape and drop in the mailbox. Thank you!

Section 1: Balancing Work and Life

A. Have any of the following been a problem for you during the past year?

Please check appropriate box.

	Not Applicable	Major Problem	Moderate Problem	Minor Problem	No Problem
1. Needing to work overtime of take work home.
2. Having inflexible work hours.
3. Having a company culture that doesn't consider my life outside of work.
4. Inconsistent implementation of policies at work.
5. Taking care of my own health and fitness.
6. Managing my personal financial affairs.
7. Preparing or educating myself for the future.
8. Having time to take care of home or car repairs.
9. Missing work when older family members need attention.
10. Making arrangements to handle personal responsibilities when I travel on business.
1l. Fulfilling expectations of those at home.
12. Being a single parent or parent with joint custody.
13. Handling dual career issues.
14. Having stepchildren or a blended family.
15. Having enough time to spend with my family.
16. Finding quality child care.
17. Finding affordable child care.
18. Arranging for care of paying for care for sick children.
19. Missing work to care for sick children.
20. Taking care of or finding care for special needs children.
21. Concerns about parenting children.
22. Finding benefits (i.e., health care) for unmarried partner.
23. Taking care of my family's health.
24. Handling school, medical, dental appointments, etc.
25. Concerns about paying for college for my children.
26. Concerns about caring for elderly parents.
27. Concerns about pending retirement.

B. How do you feel about the following?

Please check the appropriate box.

	Not Applicable	Strongly Agree	Agree	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
1. General Mills' work/life policies are fair, appropriate and sensitive.
2. Other major companies' work/life policies are more fair, appropriate and sensitive.
3. My co-workers are understanding when personal issues interfere with my work.
4. My supervisor is understanding when personal issues interfere with my work.
5. The stress of dealing with personal issues has a negative effect on my family.
6. The stress of dealing with personal issues has a negative effect on my work.
7. It is usually easy for me to balance the demands of work and personal life.
8. My work is harder because of coworkers' outside of work issues.
9. My supervisor has a good understanding of work/life balance.
10. I have thought about finding another job/quitting work due to work/life issues.
11. My supervisor is not as fair about work/life issues as other supervisors are.

Section 2: Desirability of Potential Future Programs

A. If the following were available, how likely is it that you would use them now or within two to three years?

Please check appropriate box.

	Would Use Now	Might Use Now	Would or Might Use Within 3 Years	Would Not Use
1. Flexibility to handle personal emergencies.
2. Part-time work in my current position with pro-rated medical and dental coverage.
3. Help finding or providing summer child care or activities for school-age children.
4. Infant or toddler child care at or near the worksite.
5. Subsidization for sick child care.
6. Subsidization for emergency child care.
7. Subsidization for in-home care of sick children or other dependents.
8. Subsidization for child care when traveling on overnight business.
9. Additional communications about current program/policies at work.
10. Paid parental leave for men and women following birth or adoption.
11. Work/life training for managers.
12. Group home/auto insurance.
13. Seminars about managing personal financial affairs.
14. Seminars about time management.
15. Including unmarried partners and their dependents in employee benefits (i.e. health care, etc.).
16. Telecommuting (work at home).
17. Job sharing.
18. Flexibility to set my own starting and ending time.
19. Ability to work my regular hours in a 4 or 4.5 day work week.
20. Subsidization for eldercare.
21. Including parents as eligible dependents.
22. Retirement planning programs.
23. Group legal services.
24. Seminars about support for family/personal problems.

B. From the list above, please circle the number of the five (5) programs which you feel would be the most beneficial to you.

C. Would you be willing to give up or pay for a benefit or program that you currently use in order to receive any of the benefits or programs listed in the previous section?

Yes
No

D. If you have comments on the issues addressed in this questionnaire, or any other work/life issues, please write them in the space below.

Section 3

If you supervise other employees, please answer the following questions:

	Strongly Agree	Agree	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
1. I try to accommodate employees when they request a change in their work schedule due to personal reasons.
2. I feel I have the support I need from management to be flexible with employee work schedules.
3. I feel some employees try to misuse our paid time off privileges.

Section 4

The following questions are to help us analyze results by groups. This information will not be used on an individual level.

1. Where is your location?

Ad Warehouse
Carlson
CRS
Fridley Plant
JFBTC
MGO
Purity Oats Plant
Westview
Other

2. What is your functional area?

Corporate
Distribution
Engineering
Finance
Human Resources
Information Services
Legal
Marketing
Marketing Services
Manufacturing / Operations
Procurement
ORO
R & D
Sales
Other

3. Are you a manager, director or executive?

Yes
No

4. Do you travel more than 20% of the time in your job at General Mills?

Yes
No

5. How many years have you worked for General Mills?

Less than 1
1-5
6-10
11-20
20+

6. Are you…

Full time
Part time
Temporary
Other

7. Are you eligible for overtime pay?

Yes
No

8. Are you currently...

Married
Living with a partner
Single
Divorced/Widowed/Separated

9. Do you have any children living with you?

Yes
No
If no, go to question 11.

10. What are the ages of children you have living with you?

Check as many as apply

0-5
6-12
13-18
19+

11. Do you have either your parents or your spouse's or partner's parents living with you?

Yes
No
If no, go to question 13.

12. Are your parents or your spouse or partner's parents dependent on your for at least some of their care?

Yes
No

13. Are you...

Female
Male

14. How old are you?

Less than 21
21-29
30-39
40-49
50-59
60+

Thank you for your time!

Center for Ethical Business Cultures

1000 LaSalle Avenue, TMH 331 ▪ Minneapolis, MN 55403-2005 ▪ USA

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

Email: mail@cebcglobal.org

Business Partnering with the University of St. Thomas - Minnesota