Meeting
the Work and Family Challenge: a Business Perspective
Clinton
0. Larson
Corporate Vice President - Operations (retired), Honeywell, Inc.
Board of Directors, Center for Ethical
Business Cultures
reviewed
2001
Business
and society today face many problems and not many solutions. Two important
and strongly related challenges are: the business challenge in creating
competitive, high performance organizations and the societal challenge
in patenting and education. The link between them is business policies
and practices called Work and Family or, more recently, Work/Life.
Well-designed
and effectively implemented Work/Family policies strengthen business
by boosting productivity, by lowering costs through improved retention,
reduced absenteeism, and lower levels of stress, and by enhancing worker
commitment. Similarly, effective Work/Family policies, by enabling workers
to fulfill their commitments to family, strengthen society and its capacity
for sound patenting. In turn, this improves educational outcomes and
future workforce skills.
By
recognizing and addressing this linkage, I believe that business can
improve its competitiveness and contribute to the solution of educational
and societal problems.
The
drive to improve competitiveness, financial health and shareholder value
is nothing new for business. Quality management, for example, has been
one critical strategy in this effort, and one that illustrates a key
point. At one time, quality was seen as an added cost. Today, companies
see it as an asset that generates revenue, profit, and most important,
customer satisfaction.
Work
and Family can be as significant a vehicle for improving company performance
as Quality. Getting similar results, however, requires a shift in our
thinking about employees. Restructuring or right-sizing, another widely
embraced strategy to boost shareholder value, has resulted in significant
loss of jobs. I believe we've reached the right-size point. To move
forward, we must truly see employees as assets.
Many
companies say "employees are our most important resource but too
often this is more rhetoric than reality. Pressures to cut costs divert
attention from developing employees as partners and assets. The result
we are missing valuable opportunities to grow more competitive and address
issues related to patenting and education.
For
several years, I've assisted MCCR in developing Work and Family principles
and now in developing implementation processes. My experience as an
executive at Honeywell convinces me that these ideas have a positive
impact on business. Enabling employees to balance responsibilities at
work and at home is the key. When a company helps an employee achieve
that sort of balance, the evidence is clear those employees are more
productive and more committed, and costs are reduced.
Sick
child care is one small example that employee to be productive and allows
an e not worry about staying home or leaving an ill child at home. There
are many useful programs and policies. Flexible scheduling, alternative
job arrangements, telecommuting, information and referral programs,
parental leave, and services such as child care or elder care assistance
are just a few. By no means do all focus on parents and children; many
are equally applicable in enabling workers to meet other personal or
family obligations.
The
Minnesota Center for Corporate Responsibility's primary goal is to strengthen
both sides in the stakeholder relationship. Yes, we have built a societal
case for Work and Family. Of equal value, the Center and its Task Force
from member companies is building a strong business case arguing that
effective Work/Life or Work/Family programs benefit the corporate bottomline.
More
and more companies support this view, and many have excellent progress
and policies. However, our Task Force concluded that far too often companies
the full potential of Work/Family. On paper, things look good. In practice,
only a few exceptions to-the-norm are made, and policies are underutilized.
There are numerous barriers to overcome.
Frequently,
employees fear that they will be seen as lacking commitment if they
use such options. Companies whose policies focus primarily on employees
who have ramifies with young children can trigger resentment among other
employees. In addition, managers may worry that they will lose control,
and some managers fear creating a new entitlement making the error of
seeing this as a cost instead of an investment in productivity. Inadequate
training in how to use key flexibility strategies can be another pitfall.
Most important, top leadership hasn't given this priority, and everyone
in the organization can read that signal.
MCCR's
Task Force finds that we must focus on the entire employee work force,
to look at Work/Life inclusively for all employees. Further, creating
an organization that genuinely embraces flexible work arrangements is
critical. The framework of a cafeteria benefit plan, for example, ensures
fairness and access to all. Information and referral services are likewise
a piece of the puzzle. Technology is one bright spot today because it
supports flexible Work/ Family relationships telecommuting, e-mail,
fax, virtual office. The tools are available, but it takes trust among
all parties to exploit these techniques. We should not underestimate
the difficulty of building these policies and practices into the day-to-day
operations of our businesses. It is easy to write a flex-policy; it
takes imagination and effort to build it into the organizational culture.
Committed
executives can develop many equitable and effective ways to boost competitiveness
by enabling employees to balance commitments in work and personal life
just as executives have in the past found ways to increase shareholder
value. The Task Force is not calling for a revolution; you don't need
to reinvent your workplace all at once. We know, however, that there
is substantial room for improvement. Solid progress can be made one
step-at-a-time.
Effective
Work /Family strategies think of it as promoting excellence at work
and at home offer us real opportunities to create healthy, high performance
organizations. Embedding these strategies in our businesses is a challenge,
but a worthwhile one. I urge business leaders to take a hard look at
what your company is doing in this field, how well you are doing, and
most important, what are the economic benefits to your business from
comprehensive Work/Life Work/ Family strategies. You'll find win-win
solutions for all parties at work, at home and in your community.
About
the Author
Clinton 0. Larson chairs the Task Force on Work and Family for the Minnesota
Center for Corporate Responsibility. Mr. Larson is Corporate Vice President,
Retired for Honeywell, Inc. He joined Honeywell in 1952 and served the
company in many leadership capacities. He became Vice President of Operations
in 1980, Vice President of Underseas Systems Operations in 1981, group
vice president for Honeywell's Marine Systems Group in 1985, and in
1987 Corporate Vice President for Operations. Ms responsibilities in
that capacity encompassed manufacturing, electronics, information systems,
business development and strategy, quality and human resources. Mr.
Larson retired from Honeywell in 1993.
Mr.
Larson brings a wealth of practical experience to MCCR and to the Task
Force on Work and Family. He participated in the Task Force preparation
of a report titled The Work and Family Dilemma, and he is leading the
Task Force in its effort to promote wider implementation of effective
Work/ Family policies, strategies and practices.
MCCR
The Minnesota Center for Corporate Responsibility operates on the premise
that long-term profitability depends on the strength and well-being
of the communities and society in which business operates. MCCR assists
business leaders in developing practical, productive and responsible
relationships with key stakeholders. MCCR strives to be the recognized
leader, locally, nationally and worldwide, on issues pertaining to corporate
responsibility, values and business ethics. The Center is committed
to sustaining the Minnesota tradition of exemplary corporate citizenship
that has contributed immensely to the vitality of this region.
MCCR
is an independent, not-for-profit organization affiliated with the University
of St. Thomas Graduate School of Business and supported by contributions
from over 120 member companies. For more information call: (612) 962-4120.
University
of Minnesota Children, Youth and Family Consortium. Permission is granted
to create and distribute copies of this document for noncommercial purposes
provided that the author and CYFC receive acknowledgment and this notice
is included.
