I’m increasingly convinced that, if work-family programs are designed as a separate, stand-alone policies, they are less likely to be successful. Instead, the values behind work-family programs need to be embedded through all of the ways in which we manage our employees. Please watch this video I recorded with World at Work, the leading professional organization for compensation professionals, for a fuller sense of what I mean.
My interview with World at Work on Work-Family Programs
If we value work-family balance for our employees, we can’t just create a stand-alone program. Instead, we need to think through how we recruit, hire, train, evaluate and compensate employees, as well as how we supervise, design work and set work schedules. For example, we need to build more flexibility into people’s work so that they can work where, how and when is best for them. We can change how we evaluate performance to focus on results, not “time on task” or “chair time.” We can build wellness programs that include the concerns of working parents. In short, we need to embed work-family programs into our overall management.
What do you think about this approach to work-family programs?