Work-Life Balance: A Case of Social Responsibility or Competitive Advantage Essay Example

focus on stress management in the workplace, time management, customer service, and change management. Jim Bird believes that to achieve better work-life balance, each individual needs to work smarter – to get more done in less time.

WORK-LIFE BALANCE

Work-life balance programs in the U. S. have become increasingly popular through the years. The following lists some of the more common work-life benefits:

• Flex-time
• Telecommuting
• Child care
• Elder care
• Leave (e. g. paternity, etc. )
• Job-sharing
• Employee Assistance Programs
• In-house store/services
• Gym subsidies
• Concierge services
• Vacation

Work hours In addition to the work-life balance programs listed above, primarily due to the internet boom in the mid-90s and the growth in the economy, more companies offered other “perks” as well.Items such as company cars and a set number of free flights per year were normal for many companies. A four-day work-week as well as flexible hours and casual dress were common also.

These perks were primarily instituted to attract, motivate and retain a superior quality workforce. According to a position paper published by Caux Round Table and written by David Rodbourne in 1996, “While many leading U. S. 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.

This philosophy appeared to be widespread in the 1990’s, because work-life programs were in place, however if an employee wanted to be a manager, they were not allowed to work four day weeks. In light of the recent economic conditions, there has been a dramatic change in how corporations view work-life balance programs.

Corporations are much more cost conscious about these programs, but still realize their

importance. Despite this more critical view about work-life programs, according to Jim Bird, benefits such as “Employee Assistance Programs are WORK-LIFE BALANCE considered as a standard offering. I do not see them going away. ” In the heart of the Internet bubble, work-life balance programs were an added bonus to attract and retain quality employees.

Today, the work-life benefits have switched from company cars, significant bonuses, and other perks to employee fitness centers and dry-cleaning services. Now work-life balance programs are in place as “Recession Perks” according to Challenger Gray and Christmas, Inc. 3 Many corporations can no longer afford the monetary compensation they were handing out in the 1990’s.

But with layoffs commonplace, these companies are looking to use their inexpensive “Recession Perks” as tools to build loyalty and encourage teamwork and camaraderie with coworkers. Through these benefits, along with the traditional programs such as insurance and retirement plans, managing the remaining workforce after layoffs is vital. When the struggling economy turns around, the remaining employees will be responsible for bringing their respective companies “back to life”, and back to a competitive force.

Some of the more prevalent work-life programs listed above are discussed in more details below:Work Hours America currently legally limits non-exempt workers from working more than 40 hours a week without additional compensation. This legislation is a result of some of the earliest lobbying efforts by labor unions. Exempt workers do not currently have such a restriction resulting in a wide disparity in how exempt workers are treated.

4 hours to be put in without extra compensation while at the other end of the spectrum some firms compensate exempt workers as well as non-exempt for

overtime. Paternity Leave Paternity leave is an issue that has recently received attention with the passing of the Family and Medical Leave Act. The intent of the Family and Medical Leave Act was to standardize the rights employees have to family leave.

While originally intended to protect working mothers, the scope of the law was expanded to incorporate the changing needs of the American family. As more of the population deals with elderly parental care, single parenting, etc. , the mandated leave affords a broad spectrum of demographic groups’ coverage. The current minimum in the U. S. is 12 weeks but 19 percent of companies currently go beyond the scope of the law and offer more leave.

Childcare Of conventional families (mother & father) in the U. S. , 62. 8 percent are dual-income households.As a result, many companies offer child care benefits as an enticement to workers with families. The methods used to support workers are varied and few concepts are universally accepted. In-house child care facilities, after school programs, subsidized child care, and referral services are all ways that employers use to help employees care for their children. One fairly common program is child care spending accounts. These programs take advantage of tax relief provided by the federal government and are offered by over 90 percent of employers.

Vacation Vacation time in the U. S. is one area where the federal government has not weighed in with significant legislation. While most companies offer two weeks to new employees as a standard, each company in the U. S. can determine their own vacation policy. Therefore, disparities exist between vacation policies which are a source of competitive advantage.

Typically, those employees with more seniority receive more vacation time.

Many companies offer the ability to accrue more vacation time in relation to the length of service.However, very few companies offer additional vacation time as a reward for good work. Telecommuting is a relatively new concept brought about by the widespread availability of computers and the internet. This primarily allows workers in white collar jobs to work from home by linking employees to a company’s network and completing work from home. One of the primary purposes of telecommuting is to allow employees to spend less time commuting, as well as allowing their schedule to be a bit more flexible.

These approaches depend on cultural characteristics of the various member countries and the level of development of the economies. However, the EU is trying to establish certain guidelines for all countries that aim to reduce discrepancies between the work-life initiatives of the countries. According to Cary Cooper, professor of organizational psychology and health at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, the “Americanisation of working practices in Europe, including an increase in outsourcing, hours at work, delayering and freelancing, is increasing stress levels.

This Americanization had led the EU to investigate guidelines regarding work hours, holidays, and parental/paternity leave. Telecommuting and child care are also topics of interest to the EU in relation to overall work-life health of its member countries. The European Employment Strategy8 emphasizes that member states should design, implement, and promote policies which favor the family, including the establishment of affordable, accessible and high quality child-care services.

In March of 2000, the French Presidency administered a set of questionnaires to the EU countries to gather

data about worklife balance indicators so that overall EU guidelines could be recommended.

RETURN ON INVESTMENT

The argument for or against work-life balance programs often hinges on the company’s ability to show significant financial gain as a result of these programs.Many corporate decisions rely on a positive net present value to be shown for any project to move forward. Interestingly, 18 Jim Bird, CEO of Worklifebalance. com. WORK-LIFE BALANCE for all the emphasis on such financial justification, very few hard numbers exist on the success or failure of work-life programs.

More often companies have quantified the benefits of such programs through a variety of performance measures indirectly related to financial return. The following paragraphs look at some ways companies have attempted to develop a justification for programs.Since work-life programs are a part of a company’s compensation and culture, their benefits are most often seen on the human resources front. One of the first ways that firms have shown a benefit is in recruiting. Effective work-life programs are an effective marketing method for attracting employees.

Additionally, oftentimes job seekers are drawn to “Best Place to Work”19 lists that are published in magazines such as Fortune and Working Mother. Once potential applicants are recruited, work-life programs are often a deal maker. They often sway a potential applicant’s choice of job offers to the company offering the best programs.Most importantly, effective work-life programs help forge a symbiotic relationship between an employer and employee that leads to mutual benefits. Employees who are better able to balance the demands on their time are more satisfied and content. This in turns leads to real benefits for the employer in terms of productivity gains, lowered

turnover rate, a stronger team spirit, and loyalty to the employer.

Operationally, a lower turnover rate leads to reduction in new employee training costs, as well as the more elusive costs associated with informal training that existing employees provide to new eam members. While these gains have been sporadically measured, no definitive study has been able to associate performance gains directly with financial performance gains. The trends in the data do show improvements in the areas listed 19 In fact, a study by Vanderbilt University and Hewitt Associates found the companies on the “Best Place to Work” list outperformed similar companies that weren’t on it, and also did better than the broad market, showing “substantial financial performance advances. ”Concrete measurements are difficult to get for any indirect business effort - even the impact of most technology.

For work-life balance, there have been studies which indicate a direct correlation between work-life balance programs and customer service ratings. For instance, Worklifebalance. com conducts surveys for productivity improvement due to the tools taught in their work-life balance training. Of thousands of people surveyed 85 percent to 95 percent report being more productive (on average over 20 percent more productive).

These statistics are the average of opinions and backed up by anecdotal evidence so they are not “hard numbers” (see Figure 3 in the Appendix). Even though this evidence is subjective in nature, it is important to note that the opinions and anecdotal evidence from both employees and management are strongly positive.

Generally, U. S. firms have awoken to the benefits of work-life programs and the EU is continuously evaluating work-life initiatives as part of its larger labor policies. According to Jim Bird,

the most important workplace issue in the U. S. over the next 30-40 years will be the worklife balance issue. Currently, programs are based around what an employer can do for the employee. However, for true work-life balance to occur, employees need to be responsible for adopting certain behaviors which help them balance work and the other parts of their life (e. g. family, friends and self).

Changing the habits of employees does not necessarily imply a change in “work-life balance” particularly if the culture of the work environment does not change. When both company plans and employee efforts are complimentary, true work-life balance can be achieved.

The current cultural, political, and social framework of the U. S. nd the EU leads to different rationales for implementing work-life programs. While U. S. companies generally offer work-life programs as a competitive advantage, the EU mandates them as a function of social responsibility. However, the effects of the work-life programs demonstrate that competitive advantage and social responsibility are not opposite goals but intertwined: companies gain a competitive advantage from recruiting, retention, productivity increases and better customer service while also helping the society in which they operate.Are work-life balance programs a case of social responsibility or competitive advantage? According to Jim Bird, “it is not an either or question, and looking at it as one is what has hurt both its advocates and the businesses who are trying to address it. ”