In 1996, Eddie Bauer Inc., the giant retailer of casual apparel and home furnishings based in Redmond, Wash., introduced “Balance Day,” a benefit for its 5,500 fulltime employees nationwide–whether or not they have families.
Employees refer to the extra day off a year to do whatever they want as “Call in Well Day.”
“It’s a huge hit,” said Sue Storgaard. Her title, director of work/life–rather than work/family–services, also shows Bauer’s desire to help all employees, including its thousands of part-timers, find balance in their lives.
Storgaard says “innovative benefits for workers without family responsibilities” echo the company’s early introduction of paid parental leave, child-care referrals and sick-child care.
Nationwide, there is talk of a backlash from workers without children who may resent being excluded from benefits such as flexible hours, telecommuting and job sharing that employees with families are granted.
Storgaard says her company isn’t reacting to a backlash, “it’s just that we know single people have lives, too, and any organization that wants to be successful has to meet the needs of all its associates.”
The pressure in the past decade has been to make companies more family-friendly, but workers with families actually are in the minority: There are 83,524,000 workers without children under age 18 compared with 51,343,000 with young children, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports.
That’s why it’s not surprising that resentment may be brewing. “The root of the problem is that everyone is working harder and is under stress, not just working parents,” said Mary B. Young, of Medford, Mass., a workplace consultant. “Work life issues aren’t restricted to people who have kids or other dependents. Free time is a scarce resource.”
Young, who has a Ph.D. in organizational management, researched the subject for Boston University’s Human Resources Policy Institute in 1996. She studied 750 salaried workers in two large corporations in the Northeast.
Young found some evidence of resentment: “Workers without children believed they work longer hours than those with children. But our research showed there was no difference, that both worked 42.5 hours a week.”
Her study cites companies that address the needs of a broader spectrum of employees, such as Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Massachusetts, which offers flexible work arrangements for all employees; Xerox Corp., which contributes $2,000 when workers buy their first home; and Marriott International Inc., which offers free professional advice on car buying, financial planning and home remodeling.
“We have to get past the false issue of parent versus non-parent,” said Young. “Organizations that recognize the need for benefits for parents also have to recognize those of other workers.”
Businesses indeed are grappling with the fact that single people also value quality time. Mary Ellen Gornick, president of the CPA Group, a human resource consulting firm in Chicago, says the switch to more inclusiveness began in 1994.
Gornick, past president of the Alliance of Work/Life Professionals in Herndon, Va., says “there definitely is a trend toward equity. And, it’s wonderful to see it happening.”
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Carol Kleiman’s columns also appear in Tuesday’s Business section. Watch her at 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Sundays on CLTV’s “Jobs Plus.” Send e-mail to ckleiman@tribune.com
