Transcript Managing a Diverse Workforce: Managing WorkLife Relationships in Organizations Ellen Ernst Kossek, Ph.D.

Managing a Diverse Workforce: Managing WorkLife Relationships in Organizations
Ellen Ernst Kossek, Ph.D. Class Two
2009
.
Module Overview
• Class 1: Work-Life Policies: A Strategic Lever to
Manage Diversity and Workforce Inclusion.
• Class 2: Linking Work-Life Policies to
Organizational Culture and Effectiveness.
• Class 3: Managing Flexstyles and Work-Life
Relationships in a Global 24-7 World.
© SHRM 2009
2
Corporate Culture and Organizational Effectiveness
http://www.sas.com/corporate/worklife/
© SHRM 2009
3
Module Learning Objectives
• Work-life policies are a strategic lever to manage
diversity and workforce inclusion and can be viewed
from employee and employer perspectives with
competing tensions (Class 1).
• Work-life polices must be implemented and
linked to the overall human resource
management (HRM) system, organizational
culture and business objectives (Class 2).
• Flexstyles--different styles for work-life
relationships-- are tools to manage the blurring 24-7
boundaries between work and home in a global
work environment (Class 3).
© SHRM 2009
4
Class 2: Class Overview
• Many organizations have difficulties
implementing work-life policies.
• Policy adoption is not the same as effective
implementation.
• The organizational cultural stages of work-life
implementation and alignment.
• The U.S. approach to work-life is unique among
industrialized countries.
• Organizational benefits of work-life policies.
© SHRM 2009
5
Employer Work-Life Economic Challenges
• Increased workload and/or hours while reducing
staffing levels or delaying staff additions.
• Reduced labor costs by cutting headcount,
reducing benefits and slowing pay raises.
• Adopted strategies of declining job security with
increased emphasis on individual performance
over pay for seniority.
© SHRM 2009
6
Employer Work-Life Policies
• Employer response to increasing need for worklife flexibility:
 Flextime
 Part-time work
 Compressed workweek
 Telecommuting
 Job sharing
 Reduced-load work
 Technological tools (cell phones, lap tops,
BlackBerries)
© SHRM 2009
7
Think Pair Share: Implementation Pros and Cons
• What are some pros and cons of implementing
a work-life flexibility policy such as flextime or
telecommuting (or other work-life policies of
your choice) from the employer perspective?
• Identify any cultural barriers (norms and values)
that deter use.
• Identify any cultural values that could support
(effective use).
© SHRM 2009
8
Management Flexibility Challenges
•
•
•
•
•
Absenteeism
Supervision
Equity
Performance measurement
Quality and customer service
How does letting more workers use flexibility
relate to these issues?
© SHRM 2009
9
Work-Life Policy Cultural and Career Stigma
• Policies are sometimes under-utilized by
career-oriented professionals.
• Users may face stigma; career backlash; glass
ceiling effect.
• Policy use is sometimes not supported by
management.
Source: Kossek, 2005
© SHRM 2009
10
Management Cultural Barriers
• Increases manager’s work group coordination
and motivation challenges
• Meeting employees’ personal needs often not
seen as meeting customers’ or coworkers’
needs in short run.
• Work-life policies are seen as benefit or
program but not necessarily a management tool
to achieve business objectives.
Source: Van Dyne, Kossek and Lobel, 2007
© SHRM 2009
11
A Work-Life Inclusive Workplace with Effective Policy
Implementation
• Values individual and intergroup differences in the
primacy (e.g. men vs. women, parents and
nonparents, etc.) of work versus other life roles.
• Supports differences in domestic backgrounds and
the processes of blending work and nonwork
demands.
• Does not view differing nonwork or care giving
identities as barriers to an individual fully
contributing and fulfilling one’s potential at work.
• Promotes involvement of all employees regardless
of their nonwork demands and preferences.
© SHRM 2009
12
Stages in Organizational Development of Work-Life Policy
Implementation
• Stage 1: Employer adopts a few work-life
policies but they are not supported by the
organizational culture.
• Stage 2: Many policies and practices exist for
different work-life needs; professional workfamily experts are hired to develop and
implement work-life strategy and policies.
• Stage 3: Work-family issues have strong
cultural acceptance and managerial support;
work is designed with consideration for family
life.
Source: Adapted from Kossek, Secret and Sweet, 2007
© SHRM 2009
13
U.S. Approach to Work-Life Culturally Driven
• Minimalist, market-based approach to employer
work and family policy.
• Employer approach to supporting work and
family (with exception of the unpaid leave for
the Family Medical Leave Act) is voluntary and
determined by private-sector employers.
Sources: Kelly, 2006, Kossek, E. and Distelberg, B. 2009, Stebbins, 2001
© SHRM 2009
14
Organizational Benefits of Flexibility
• Enhance talent attraction and retention and avoid
skill shortages in talent:
 National surveys repeatedly show that all employee
groups are willing to trade some pay for flexibility.
Source: Kossek and Friede, 2006
© SHRM 2009
15
Organizational Benefits of Flexibility
• Employer of choice.
• Stock performance of Working Mother 100 best
companies consistently higher.
• Why? 35 percent of analysts ‘investment decision is
determined by non-financial information.
 “ability to attract and retain people”.
© SHRM 2009
16
Organizational Benefits of Flexibility
• “Best employers” typically receive twice as many job
applications per position as other organizations.
• Example: Job applications received by Edward
Jones and Company, named by Fortune as the top
best employer to work for in 2002 and 2003, had an
increase from 40,000 to 400,000 job applications
after being named to the list.
Source: Cascio and Young, 2003
© SHRM 2009
17
Productivity, Turnover, Safety and Health Effects
• A 2008 National Institute of Health study by Kossek
and Hammer shows workers with greater workfamily conflict and/or lower supervisor support for
family were more likely to state they are likely to
look for a new job in next 6 months.
• They were also more likely to comply with safety
rules and reported less depression and better
health.
© SHRM 2009
18
International – Work-Life Meeting Scheduling Case
You are the director of human resources for a global
U.S. company. You need to set up a weekly twohour virtual meeting for a global team that supports
HR clients in multiple countries. Your team
members are from New York, Dubai in UAE,
Switzerland, China and Australia. In a previous
global team in which you participated while working
in Europe, you often had to get up during the middle
of the night to participate in virtual meetings. You
resented this, especially because you had just had a
baby and had been getting limited rest. Managers
from some of the non-U.S. organizations complain
about meeting times interfering with their work-life
needs.
© SHRM 2009
19
International – Work-Life Meeting Scheduling Case
• You find an online tool
(http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.ht
ml) to figure out times and dates for different
countries.
• What time did you pick for your meetings and what
tools did you use for the meeting?
• Why?
• Discuss the criteria and process you used to set up
the meetings.
• How would you evaluate work-life effectiveness?
© SHRM 2009
20