Why Should an Employer Offer Family Friendly Programs? Team One Group Project Group Members: Cassie Amundson, Sara Benda, Chrissy Boeckmann, Holly Emigh,

Why Should an Employer Offer Family Friendly

Programs?

Team One Group Project

Group Members: Cassie Amundson, Sara Benda, Chrissy Boeckmann, Holly Emigh, Shannon Felty, and Michelle Stewart

Work Life Balance Programs

What is a work life balance program?

Work-life balance is a broad concept including proper prioritizing between "work" (career and ambition) on one

hand and "life" (pleasure, leisure, family and spiritual development) on the other. Related, though broader,

terms include "lifestyle balance" and "life balance" (Work-life Balance, 2010)

Work Life Statistics

Absenteeism due to child care issues

Working caregivers absent regularly

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Work-Life Statistics, n.d.

Percentage of Workers

“I work with wonderful people who support me. And, my beliefs are that the business needs to serve the family rather than the family serve the business.”

Kathy Ireland (Ireland)

Creating Work Life Balance

• Flextime - Changing one or more elements of the workday

• Compressed work week - Completing a week’s worth of work hours in fewer than five days.

• Telecommuting - Performing your job at home on a regular basis.

• Job-sharing - Two part-time staffers sharing one fulltime job.

Creating Work Life Balance

• Additional weeks beyond FMLA • Paid paternity weeks • Before / After school care and

Back-up and sick child care• Lactation rooms • On site health and fitness center

(Lee & Palagano, 2005)

Work Life Balance Benefits

• Creating Family Friendly Programs makes good business sense.

• Employers can expect specific benefits from investing in these programs.

• Employers can expect positive differences in:• Absences• Employee Turnover• Organizational Commitment• Job Satisfaction• And more…..

Text

Job Satisfaction is Decreasing

19871995

20002005

2009

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

U.S. Satisfaction (Tortorici,2010)

Percentage

(

Consequences of Dissatisfaction

• Employees will look for other jobs• Stability and organizational

success are threatened• Lose a sense of teamwork• Repress innovation and hurt

America's competitiveness and productivity

• Could make older workers less inclined to share their skills and knowledge

Changes in Absenteeism

• Many people are absent from work due to family issues

• Absenteeism puts pressure on other employees to handle our responsibilities

• When we think about family related issues most people think children

• Most recently family elderly care is becoming more popular

Reasons for Absences

Reasons for Unscheduled Absences

(Causer, 2002)

• Work life programs can help combat these issues

Reason 1995 2001

Personal Illness 45% 32%

Family Issues 27% 21%

Personal Needs 13% 11%

Stress 6% 9%

Entitlement Mentality 9% 9%

Other 55% 68%

Additional Reasons for Absenteeism

• 72% of absenteeism is due to child care related issues

• 40% of people caring for elders also have child care responsibilities

• More than 22 million families provide some kind of unpaid, informal elder care and 64% of caregivers in these families are employed full-or part-time

(Work Life Statistics)

Absenteeism's Effect on a Company

• Loss of Profit average per-employee cost of absenteeism rose sharply from $610 per year in 2000 to $755 in 2001 (Causer, 2002)

• Loss of Productivity Companies must put projects on

hold, delay customer interactions etc.

Remaining employees are stressed covering for missing workers

TEXT

Work Life Impact on Absences

(Rouse, 2010)

Family Friendly Programs can Decrease Absenteeism

• The leading factor in employees’ commitment and loyalty to their employer is whether they believe that management recognizes the importance of their personal and family lives.

• Workers rate the ability to manage work and family as the most important aspect they look for in a job.

Family Friendly Programs can Increase Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment

• Employees will be more productive• Employees will get more

accomplished• Employees are better able to meet

personal obligations and goals• Employees will feel more satisfied• Employees will feel more rested and

energized

How will these changes benefit my company?

Creating a work life balance program will provide the following benefits to your

company.• Promote diversity

• Draw in more talent• Help employees focus on work related tasks

• Retain valuable employees• Decrease absenteeism

• Increase job satisfaction • Increase organizational commitment

(Hansen, 2002)

Bibliography

Causer, C. (2002, April 15). Absence rate still high: Work life programs combat absenteeism. Retrieved June 7, 2010, from The Free

Library: http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Absence+rate+still+high:+Work-life+programs+combat+absenteeism....-a085590912

Hansen, F. (2002, December). Workforce Management. Retrieved May 23, 2010, from Truth and Myths of Work/Life Balance:

http://www.workforce.com/section/02/feature/23/36/99/

Ireland, K. (n.d.). Quotes: Woopidoo Quotations. Retrieved May 6, 2010, from Woopidoo Quotations:

http://www.woopidoo.com/businessquotes/authors/kathy-ireland/index.htm

Lee, K., & Palagano, T. (October, 2005). Working Mother's 100 Best Companies. Retrieved May 2010, from Working Mother:

http://www.mcgraw-hill.com/careers/docs/working_mother.pdf

Press, A. (2010, January 5). Careers. Retrieved May 2010, from MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34691428/

Rouse, C. (2010, March 31). The Economics of Workplace Flexibility. Retrieved June 7, 2010, from Council of Economic Advisors:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/03/31/economics-workplace-flexibility

Bibliography

Tortorici, F. (2010, January 5). U.S. Job Satisfaction at Lowest Level in Two Decades. Retrieved May 2010, from Conference-

Board: http://www.conference-board.org/utilities/pressdetail.cfm?press_id=3820

Work-life Balance. (2010, May 29). Retrieved June 1, 2010, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work

%E2%80%93life_balance

Work-Life Statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved May 8, 2010, from Google.com: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?

q=cache:5T_37gq_qkAJ:www.e-dependentcare.net/images/Work-

Life_Statistics.doc+statistics+workplace+family+life&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

Work-Life Statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved May 20, 2010, from Google: http://www.google.com/search?

q=Work+Life+statistics&hl=en&source=hp&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=CILpw92EOTIylDp-

yMZX6pcIKAAAAqgQFT9D21QI