How much longer can employers resist employees’ impassioned pleas for more balance in their lives?
Just about a decade longer, according to a new project out of Georgetown University Law Center in Washington called “Workplace Flexibility 2010.” Project participants include lawyers, students and work/life advocates.
In an effort to develop a “comprehensive national policy on workplace flexibility that will break the stalemate that pits businesses against employees,” the team is analyzing existing laws that might create barriers. It’s expected that work on the project might take 6 to 10 years. The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation provided the initial funding of $750,000.
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“Workplace flexibility is a key concern for today’s employees,” said Chai R. Feldblum, director of Workplace Flexibility 2010 and a professor of law at Georgetown. She also is director of the law school’s Federal Legislation Clinic. “Whether you’re a parent seeking to spend more time with your child or you’re a worker who wants to learn a new skill to retrain in today’s economy, you want laws that will help you achieve … control over your time.”
Life outside the office: TrueCareers, an online job board, finds that nearly 60 percent of 431 employees they surveyed recently assert that “there is a healthy balance between their work and their personal lives.” Work/life balance activists must have been very busy in the past two years because in 2002, 70 percent of workers in a similar survey by TrueCareers reported a “poor balance.”
“These results indicate that employers are taking the notion of a healthy work/life balance much more seriously than even two years ago,” said Cecelia Dwyer, president.
And there’s more hopeful news: In the 2004 survey, 59 percent said their “company’s culture encourages them to have a life outside of the office.” Another 74 percent state their “employer understands when personal obligations keep them from being at work.”
But there still are some major concerns that the survey revealed are on the minds of employees: working too many hours and stress from trying to maintain a balance between work and family responsibilities.
Flexible work/life: Susan Seitel, president of Work & Family Connection Inc., a publishing and consulting firm based in Minnetonka, Minn., reports that she recently attended a two-day conference of “advanced human resource strategists”–and it wasn’t until halfway through the second day that she heard the phrase “work/life” mentioned.
That doesn’t mean work/life isn’t a major concern for these high-placed professionals. “It’s so accepted, in some cases, that it’s no longer a separate category,” said Seitel. “But that isn’t always good news: Some companies are just starting to put their feet in the water.”
When the subject of helping employees cope with professional and personal responsibilities was discussed, however, there was a very important word constantly in use: “The term `flexibility’ was on the lips of nearly every presenter,” Seitel observed.
And that shows a great deal of flexibility–in the area of work/life discussions.
Career aspirations: Although there’s been a great deal of media attention recently to a small group of women who chose to leave executive jobs to become full-time homemakers–a choice every woman should have, not just those who are affluent– the truth of the matter is that most high-ranking women have the same ambitions as high-ranking men.
A recent survey of 750 senior-level women and 243 senior-level men by Catalyst, a New York-based research and advisory group that works to expand career opportunities for women, shows that 55 percent of the women surveyed and 57 percent of the men want to be the CEO some day.
And another significant finding: Women who have children living with them are just as likely to aspire to the corner office as women who do not.
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Carol Kleiman’s columns also appear in Monday’s and Thursday’s Business sections. Hear her on WBBM Newsradio 780 at 6:21 p.m. and 10:22 p.m. Mondays and 11:20 a.m. Saturdays. Watch her “Career Coach” segments on CLTV. E-mail [email protected].