C3 CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE 956 CREATING THE AMILY-FRIENDLY ORGANIZATION Lynn Perry Wooten lor most Americans, work has become life, and life has become work, We Fe. a nation of workaholics. Americans now work 350 more hours a year than European employees and surpass Japanese workers by two additional 40- hour workweeks a year.! Because of this, there are few boundaries between our work life and family or personal life. We can attribute this trend to technological advancements, such as personal computers, fax machines, and beepers that keep us constantly connected to work. Also, employees feel obligated to work long hours and neglect their families because of peer pressure, fears of downsizing, and intense competition in the global marketplace. This boundaryless work environment has resulted! in a perception that work and family are adversarial spheres, which symbolizes a competition between the employee's family needs and the employer's work goals." Viewing conditions in the modern workplace as a family-versus-work battle can lead to suspicion and mistrust on both sides, and organizations losing this battle are more likely to have lower productivity, higher absenteeism, and disgruntled workers, However, is the war between work and family necessary? Can we create work environments that benefit both the individual and the organization? This chapter addresses these questions. It begins by examining a strategic “business imperative” for family-friendly organizations and then discusses how organi- zations can make smart investments in family-friendly policies. The chapter concludes by identifying ways in which organizations can reap a return on their investment in family-friendly workplaces,Creating the Family-Friendly Organization 957 The Strategic Imperative for Family-Friendly Organizations sed with developing and During the last 20 years, firms have become obs implementing strategies that provide a competitive advantage. The successful formulation of an organization’s strategy entails adapting, aligning, and lever- aging a firm’s assets to fit its external environment. Often, when organizations make strategic decisions, their focus is on tangible assets, such as financial re- sources, technology, and equipment. However, today’s knowledge economy re- quires investments in human capital and the creation of a work environment in which employees can manage the demands of both work and family and thus excel at their jobs. This is because most sources of an organization’s com- petitive advantage —such as research and development, customer service, and the management of operations—are rooted in people. Today’s knowledge economy requires investments in human capital and the creation of a work environment in which employees can manage the demands of both work and family and thus excel at their jobs. Then, since people are an organization’s most valuable asset, organizations should apply the same strategic principles to understand their employees’ need to balance work and family. This requires a fundamental shift in how we think about work, so that we understand the macrocnvironment and labor-force mar- ket conditions that necessitate family-friendly organizations. Also, there is a need to understand the strategic consequences of nof investing in family-friendly or ganizations. A “Whole New World” Family-friendly organizations have cultures. policies, and practices that facilitate an employce’s efforts to balance the demands of work and the obligations of personal life so that both employer and employee benefit.’ Table 55.1 provides examples of family-friendly programs implemented in organizations. The ideal family-friendly programs take a broad view of an individual's personal life, including not just providing care to a spouse or child but also community involvement and personal interests.!958 Next Generation Business Handbook TABLE 55.1, EXAMPLES OF FAMILY-FRIENDLY PROGRAMS IN ORGANIZATIONS. Targeted Participants Examples of Programs Working parents of school-age children Working parents of infants Working parents of college-age children Employees with elder-care responsibilities Flexible work programs for the general employee population Work-life balance for the general employee population * Child-care referral service + On-site day-care centers + After-school and vacation child-care programs Reimbursement of child-care expenses Family mentorship programs Flextime Special programs for teenagers Maternity leave Paternity leave Baby-to-work program Adoption and foster-care assistance Information seminars for college planning Special college savings programs College scholarships Elder-care resource and referral service Long-term-care insurance for family members Direct financial support for local elder-care programs Emergency elder care Flexible work schedules Telecommuting Reduced workweeks Gradual retirement Job sharing Voluntary part-time work Legal aid Concierge service Handyman, electrician, and plumber referral services Health clubs in-house dry cleaner, barber, and beauty salon + Employee assistance programs for reduction of work-life stress Increasingly, these programs are needed in the workplace because of dem- ographic changes, which, in the United States, have created a “whole new world.” We are no longer a country in which the typical employee is a male with a homemaker wife responsible for child care. This traditional family con- figuration now represents only 4 percent of American households. Instead, approximately 78 percent of all married workers in this country are dual-earner