Eng Mgt 6113

Advanced Personnel Management

(Strategic Human Resource Management & Measurement)

Financial Effects of Work-Life

Programs
David G. Spurlock, Ph.D., Instructor
Remixing Rewards & Issues for Parents
Attitudes toward work & rewards vary
among Boomers, Gen-Xers, &
Millennials (Generation Y)

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Remixing Rewards & Issues for Parents
Key factors influencing these attitudes
two-income families
gender roles
time for non-work responsibilities
work-life fit
opportunities to contribute positively to society;
NOTE the importance of respect, support
from supervisors, & work-life fit for ALL
generations

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 Remixing Rewards & Issues for Parents
Stats on working parents particularly revealing
More Americans file for bankruptcy than for divorce
1 in 3 children born to single mothers
Fathers head 1 in 5 single parent households
In 1997, 72% of men had earnings 10% or more
higher than their partners; by 2008 that had dropped
to 60%
70% of men would take a pay cut to spend more time
with their families & 50% would decline a promotion if
it meant less family time

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 Work-life Programs: What are they?
Formerly known as work-family programs,
these include such aspects as
Child & dependent care benefits
Flexible working conditions
Leave options
Information services & HR programs (cafeteria
benefits; educational life skill programs;
professional counseling; etc.)
Organizational culture issues these involve
culture of support by other workers in organization
in addition to management
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 Work-life Programs: What are they?
SAS software & analytics in North Carolina
Highly regarded work-life programs
#1 best company to work for in US in 2010
In top 10 on list every year since list created in 1998
Privately held company with only one CEO (co-founder Jim
Goodnight) in companys 34 year history
Has been profitable & growing every year of existence & is
largest privately held software company in the world
Voluntary turnover is industrys lowest at 2% with 11,000
employees worldwide and 5487 in US
VERY HARD to get a job there: last year (2010?) had 26,432
applicants for 119 positions
SAS statistical software viewed by many as the gold standard
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 Logic of Work-life Programs
Figure 7-1 shows overall causal links to
desired effects
Impact of work-life programs depends upon
Range, scope, cost, quality of programs themselves
Extent & quality of communication to employees
regarding programs
Training of supervisors of how to manage these
programs
Support from supervisors and managers for the
programs
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 Logic of Work-life Programs
Burnout prevention important for organizations
trying to build hard to duplicate human capital for
competitive advantage
Family friendly policies help with retention of
key workers especially professionals
Professionals often have children later in life
and suffer from the conflict between family
obligations & heavy demands from career
Example of public accounting firm Crowe,
Horwath, LLP especially their creative travel
policies emgt6113ch7 8
 Logic of Work-life Programs
Costs of opting out
37% of professional women in a recent study chose to
take time off (one or two years usually) from career
compared to only 24% of men
For women who do this 44% cite child or elder care
duties while only 12% of men cite this reason
93% of women who do this want to return but only
74% can and the average drop in earnings is 28% for
one year lapses; women who are gone for 3 years or
more only earn 63% of those who dont take time off

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 Logic of Work-life Programs
Costs of NOT opting out
Stress, burnout, quitting, lower quality of work (more
mistakes) see some stats on page 176
Both positive & negative spillover from personal life to
work and vice versa
Negative effects of personal problems fairly predictable
Some good news though: Half of employees say
family provides energy for work

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 Logic of Work-life Programs
Enhancing success through implementation
Key factors for success:
Strategic alignment
Effective communication to employees
Management training
Management support
Top 6 reasons for NOT using work-life programs
1) lack of communication 2) high workloads
3) negative attitudes of managers 4) career repercussions
5) influence of peers (resentment) 5) clumsy administration

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 Logic of Work-life Programs
Enhancing success through implementation
Competent support by immediate supervisor can be
most important determinant of success
Supervisors may be nasty but often it may be that their
management isnt giving them the support they need to
make these programs work for their subordinates such
as training and performance goals consistent with the
programs

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 Logic of Work-life Programs
Enhancing success through implementation
NOTE the three items from the 2008 National Study of
the Changing Workforce that were strongly related to
engagement, satisfaction, and turnover intentions
My supervisor is supportive when I have a work
problem
My supervisor recognizes me when I do a good job
My supervisor keeps me informed of things I need to
know to do my job well

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 Analytics & Measures for Work-life Programs
Child care data examples from Citigroup; JP
Morgan Chase, CIBC ( a Canadian Bank)
Note that providing child care for employees can
be a somewhat complex process and care must be
taken to understand all of the logistical & legal
aspects
Employers need to have clear business case
with specific goals to justify the child care
programs (e.g., improve retention, recruitment,
reduce absenteeism)
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 Analytics & Measures for Work-life Programs
Flexible work arrangements Figure 7-2 shows
spectrum of practice from least progressive on
the left to most progressive on the right
Six major initiatives can be used
Choices in managing time
Flex time & flex place
Reduced time
Time off
Caregiving leave
Culture of flexibility
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 Analytics & Measures for Work-life Programs
Most employees (87%) at all levels want
increased flexibility at work
Note the low, middle, & high median family
income points for the study
These numbers can matter in some cases because high income
families have options low-income families dont (e.g., paying for
child care; driving alone to work vs carpooling or taking public
transportation)
Major barriers to implementing flexibility:
Face-time culture; high work loads; skeptical managers;
customer demands; fear of negative career consequences

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 Analytics & Measures for Work-life Programs
Talent management (example from IBM)
Work-life fit is 2nd most important reason after
compensation for leaving IBM
Programs at IBM to increase flexibility have had
excellent results in improving retention
Employee commitment
Example stats from Deloitte & Touche
(accounting & consulting firm) and AstraZeneca
(pharmaceuticals) show flexibility leads to higher
employee commitment to organization
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 Analytics & Measures for Work-life Programs
Client Service:
Results from GlaxoSmithKline (pharmaceuticals)
consumer health care indicated that surveyed
clients did not generally see negative
impacts of trial flexibility programs and did not
oppose permanent adoption of them

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 Analytics & Measures for Work-life Programs
Firm Performance:
Results from large study in Singapore that was unique
in that it included a large number of employers
Details of analysis in text but bottom line of this study and
another large study cited on p. 186 is that work-life programs
seem to be associated with higher overall financial
performance of firms and reduced turnover with the caveat
that there is a reciprocal relation between firm financial
performance & turnover so work life benefits, while usually a
good idea, arent the only factor
Also, work-life programs can be costly to implement
so cost-benefit analysis is important

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Stock Market Reactions & Influencing Decision
Makers
Investors typically view announcements of
these programs positively presumably because
they expect firms will have access to better talent
with the programs than without
However there seems to be little evidence that
these programs have an effect either way on
productivity even if stock market returns seem
to be higher (another correlation/causation issue)

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 Influencing Decision Makers

Three steps to getting buy-in from senior

leaders
Make the business case by using data, research, &
anecdotes (cases)
Offer to train managers
Use surveys and focus groups to demonstrate
importance of work-life fit in retaining talent
Text provides some additional details on these but main
idea is to use effective persuasion approaches that
address strategy, costs, benefits, & attitudes
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 Influencing Decision Makers

Four major steps for leaders to take to make

these programs successful
Stop defining issue as a womens issue
View efforts to humanize work as a source of competitive
advantage not a favor or one-time accommodation for special
employees
Realize progress is possible and many cases and studies support
retooling work
Make it safe to talk about these ideas at work

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END OF SLIDE SET

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