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Boston College Center for Work & Family
Family-Friendly Companies /
Flexible Work Options
CWF Mission
“Freud was once asked what he thought a normal
person should be able to do well. The questioner
probably expected a complicated “deep” answer.
But Freud simply said, “Lieben und arbeiten” (to
love and to work). It pays to ponder on this simple
formula; it grows deeper as you think about it.”
Erik Erikson
Identity, Youth and Crisis
Boston College Center for Work & Family, ©2004
CWF Mission
The Boston College Center for Work & Family is
committed to enhancing the success of
organizations and the quality of life of today's
workforce by providing leadership for the
integration of work and life, an essential for
business and community success.
Our key differentiator is the ability to bridge the
world of research with the world of practice.
Boston College Center for Work & Family, ©2004
CWF Members include …
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IBM
Merck
Intel
Price Waterhouse-Coopers
KPMG
Eli Lilly
Kraft
Booz-Allen Hamilton
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Boeing
Marriott
BP
Prudential Securities
Hewlett-Packard
Abbott Laboratories
Dell
Bristol-Myers
Boston College Center for Work & Family, ©2004
Today’s HR management issues
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The new employment relationship (or lack of)
Increased flexibility for company and the workforce
More women in professional / managerial positions
Globalization and diversity (race, gender, culture)
Aging workforce and generational diversity
Changing career patterns
These are areas of interest for CWF
Boston College Center for Work & Family, ©2004
Work / Life Definition
Actions taken by both the employer and employee
to help the workforce effectively handle the
growing pressures and responsibilities of work
and personal lives, live and work up to their full
potential, and achieve life balance and increased
productivity
Boston College Center for Work & Family, ©2004
A Work / Life Case Study
Standard career (‘77-87)
International assignment / dual-career (‘88-91)
Repatriation process / Annie’s transition (‘91)
Father’s Alzheimer's: elder care (‘91-95)
 Diagnosed immediately after we returned
 Geneva opportunity – not even considered
 Second career transition process (‘94-00)
 Doctoral program, part-time, sabbatical (‘94-97)
 Part-time role, wrote dissertation (‘97-98)
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Boston College Center for Work & Family, ©2004
A Work / Life Case Study
• Kids (Maggie ‘95, Hannah ’97, Dillon ’00)
• Working virtually and remote (‘98-00)
• Global roles, the long commute, work from home
• The critical event
• Major milestones
• Career change to Academia (‘00)
• Enormous change in “lifestyle”
• Brought positives but also new challenges
• On-going today (‘03)
• Annie’s decision to work or not
Boston College Center for Work & Family, ©2004
The Case for Flexibility
 The desire of companies / organizations to have
greater flexibility
 The desire of individuals to have more flexibility
 The rising number of working parents
 Changing demographics (workforce) and ways of
working (jobs and technologies)
 More prosperity of some leading to greater push
for more “leisure time”
Boston College Center for Work & Family, ©2004
End of the Zero-Sum Game
• For well-off, increased desire to spend time with
family but often both spouses work
• Low-wage employees need to work more to keep
up, but large concern about “How are my children?”
• Elder care a growing issue for all of us (parents live
longer, even with chronic illnesses)
• Dislocation and migration of families has led to lack
of support system
Boston College Center for Work & Family, ©2004
Flexibility Work Arrangements:
Where, when, & how much you work
• Flexible work hours
• Part-time jobs / job
sharing
• Compressed workweek
• Paid or unpaid time off
• Telecommuting
• Job redesign can make
these options work for
many roles
Boston College Center for Work & Family, ©2004
Telecommuting works when …
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Job is information based and portable
Role requires high degree of concentration
Role offers high degree of autonomy
Work can be planned in advance and performed at
varying times and places
• Involves minimal amount of oversight and access to
physical resources
Boston College Center for Work & Family, ©2004
Telecommuting: For Employees
Advantages
 Greater autonomy
 More flexibility of work schedule
 No commute time (can save 2+ hours a day in New
York, Silicon Valley, London, etc.)
 Less money spent on commuting, parking, attire
 Can lead to higher morale
 Avoid office politics
Boston College Center for Work & Family, ©2004
Telecommuting: For Employees
Disadvantages
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Blurring between work and home
Isolation from workgroup
Equipment issues
Lack of visibility with management
Co-worker resentment
Boston College Center for Work & Family, ©2004
Telecommuting: For Employers
Advantages
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Increased productivity
Lower absenteeism
Increases recruiting pool
Increased retention
Reduction in facility costs
Boston College Center for Work & Family, ©2004
Telecommuting: For Employer
Disadvantages
 Harder to monitor employees
 Need to measure output vs. activity, not many
organizations are great at this
 Can diminish teamwork, networking
 Can slow cultural assimilation
 Coordination of activities and meetings can
more difficult
Boston College Center for Work & Family, ©2004
End of the Zero-Sum Game
• Companies cope through policies and programs
• Managers who don’t equate work / life with work less
and trying new approaches
• Clarify what is important
• Establish business priorities
• Have employees clarify their priorities
• Recognize and support the whole person. Celebrate
person’s roles outside of work (paradigm shift)
• Experiment with the way works gets done (IBM)
• Leads to a virtuous cycle – employees feel greater
loyalty, commitment, more productive use of time.
Boston College Center for Work & Family, ©2004