Here’s the latest news from the world of work/life balance.
– Managing flexibility. I don’t know if Managing Work/Life Issues 101 is a required course offered at the nation’s graduate schools of businesses, but today’s MBAs surely would profit from such instruction.
That’s because managers are the point persons when it comes to deciding whether employees get the flexible schedules they want.
At the same time, managers are the “key to employee commitment, loyalty, retention and productivity,” according to Susan Seitel, president of Work & Family Connection, a consulting and work/life training firm based in Minnetonka, Minn.
“Flexibility is the one thing employees of all ages say is most important when choosing a new job or deciding whether to stay with their current employer,” notes Seitel, a veteran work/life consultant. Seitel founded her firm in 1984, long before work/life was generally recognized as an essential employee need.
Her advice for managers trying to figure out how to decide work/life requests is textbook:
“Try an experimental period, set goals for the arrangement and measure results,” she said. “If you base your decision on the reason someone needs flexibility, you’ll end up having to decide between someone’s ailing relative and failed child care.”
Seitel has more advice smart managers can’t afford to ignore:
“When employees ask for flexible work arrangements, don’t ask why they want it. Instead, ask, `How will we meet business needs?'”
That puts the request on a professional, not a personal basis–where it should be. And when employees have a comprehensive, well-thought-out plan to show their work will get done, the manager’s answer should be “Yes.”
– Managing aging. You’ve heard of the glass ceiling, that seemingly impenetrable barrier that keeps women from advancing to the highest positions. Well, it’s still firmly in place, but now another ceiling has emerged, one that affects mature workers.
It’s called the “gray” ceiling, a term I first heard used by Dave Opton, CEO and founder of ExecuNet, a career management and recruiting resource center for executives and recruiters, based in Norwalk, Conn.
According to a recent survey of 278 executives by ExecuNet, 72 percent of the executives believe age discrimination in the workplace has increased in the past five years.
Even though age discrimination is illegal.
“As Baby Boomers move into their 40s and 50s, the workforce is growing older and age discrimination is becoming more visible,” Opton said. “Unfortunately, the highly competitive employment market of the past few years has only made matters worse for older executives.”
More than half of those surveyed say age comes into play in a negative way at age 50. And 65 percent report they hit the gray ceiling in a job search–up from 58 percent in 2001.
Whatever happened to the belief that older workers are more valuable, and that “the best is yet to be?”
– Managing communications. Women make up 47 percent of the U.S. workforce, but only 38.7 percent of the cable industry, according to a study called the PAR Initiative, conducted by Women in Cable & Telecommunications. The research focuses on pay equity, advancement and resources for work/life for female workers.
The organization studied 28 companies with 77,374 employees, representing 74 percent of the industry.
Some of the findings: Women make up 42 percent of management in the United States, but in cable 29 percent. Women of color make up 13 percent of employees, but “are far less likely to advance into management than white women and are almost entirely absent from senior management.”
And as far as those all-important work/life benefits go, 75 percent of the companies offer flextime. But only 11 percent offer on-site child care.
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Carol Kleiman’s columns also appear in Tuesday’s and Thursday’s Business sections. Hear her on WBBM Newsradio 780 at 6:21 p.m. and 10:22 p.m. Mondays and 11:20 a.m. Saturdays. Watch her “Career Coach” segments on CLTV. E-mail ckleiman@tribune.com.
