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by Renee Fellows

October 22, 2007— Developing Employee-Friendly HR Policies
As pressures increase on working families, businesses great and small are looking at ways to reduce stress, increase loyalty and build family-friendly human resource policies to help improve their bottom line. From paid maternity/paternity leave to flex scheduling and other benefits, employees and employers are trying to strike a balance between life at work and home.

According to a USA Today/Associated Press report released in February of this year, the United States lags far behind virtually all wealthy countries with regard to family-oriented workplace policies such as maternity leave, paid sick days and support for breast-feeding. The study by Harvard and McGill University researchers says that workplace policies for families in the United States are weaker than those of all high-income countries and many middle- and low-income countries. Notably, the report says the U.S. is one of only five countries out of 173 in the survey that does not guarantee some form of paid maternity leave; the others are Lesotho , Liberia , Swaziland and Papua New Guinea .

Father Time

National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI), an organization dedicated to promoting greater involvement of fathers in family life reported the results from a recent study finding that 7 out of 10 fathers would take a pay cut in order to have more time to spend with their families. So what’s holding them back? A majority of male workers hold positions of greater authority than their spouses and bear the burden of bringing home the majority of the family’s income. If these working dads were to take a pay cut, the impact on the family would be substantial. Secondly, there is a ‘Father-Knows-Best’ notion held by male workers that fathers are expected to be the primary supporter of the household and not the nurturer.

“When companies help fathers, they improve their bottom line through increased productivity and loyalty, and reduced absenteeism and health care costs,” the NFI reports, citing such evidence as a 50 percent drop in absenteeism at medical products maker Johnson & Johnson when flexible work hours and family leave policies were implemented.

“Work/Life programs help employees manage the broader and more complex challenges and responsibilities they now face on the job and at home," said Mellon HR&IS principal Allison Levin. "And for employers, they usually provide a cost-effective way to energize and support key performers, especially during periods of economic uncertainty. Our survey found the most commonly cited reasons for offering work/life programs are to enhance recruitment efforts (73%), raise morale (74%), and remain competitive (72%)."

Is your company losing the battle?

This work-life balance study finds that while their intentions may be positive, many HR executives are deceiving themselves about the value of their family-friendly benefits. In reality, such benefits are grossly underutilized at many companies because employees fear that they will be seen as less than top performers if they actually use them. According to a study by John Curtis, Ph.D. at iodinc.com, one prime example is that of 384 Fortune 500 companies offering paternity leave, only 9 of these companies have received a single request for this benefit. That's 2.3 percent.

It’s a man’s world.

Nationwide, over 70% of mothers with children younger than 18 hold down paying jobs and more than 1 in 2 mothers with children less than a year old are working continues Curtis’ study. These working mothers frequently avoid requesting flexible scheduling or parental leave because they fear that this will lower their standing for promotions or increase their likelihood of getting laid off. To be effective, these programs must be implemented, supported and most importantly, utilized by leadership throughout the organization. Employees need to understand and see first hand that there is no penalty for utilizing the benefits and that it’s actually encouraged.

All of these solutions offer a bridge between home and work and better ways to keep the two working together in tandem. Results of the programs can include increased productivity, loyalty, improved mental health and less stress.

Cost-effective Policies

Donna Klein is vice president of workplace effectiveness programs for Marriott International, which has 135,000 employees worldwide. As part of her position she has developed an array of programs to support work/family life and increase productivity for the international hotel chain. Of particular interest to Klein are the hourly workers, the largest percentage of Marriott’s workforce. They have less disposable income to help resolve problems with child care, housing, transportation and other issues that may become obstacles in getting to or staying on the job.

In the National Study of the Changing Workforce, the Families and Work Institute concludes that employees who work in environments that are broadly supportive, respectful, fair and responsive to their needs as people with lives off the job are most committed to helping their employers succeed. The Marriott chain of hotels is seeing proof of that – including a reduction in turnover, absenteeism, and tardiness.

"For every dollar we have invested in the program we are able to track a conservative 4:1 return. And that's just our ability to measure the workplace impact in turnover and absenteeism." Klein said.

Encourage Use of Vacation and Holiday Time

When employees are overworked it leads to a whole series of issues including lost productivity, errors, lack of morale and exhaustion. Allowing employees to carry over multiple weeks into subsequent years can mean a substantial hole when that employee decides to use 8 weeks of vacation all together. While you may allow for this in special circumstances, bear in mind that what you do for one employee you must do for all.

Expedia.com ®, the world's leading online travel agency, recently commissioned its seventh annual Vacation Deprivation™ survey. Once again, Americans were found to have the worst vacation privileges among all countries surveyed. Despite reporting an average of two more vacation days this year than in 2005 (14 days received on average in 2007 versus 12 days in 2005), 35 percent, or an estimated 51.2MM Americans, will not use all of their vacation days. In fact, they'll leave an average of three vacation days on the table this year, which calculates to US employed adults giving back a total of more than 438 million* vacation days in 2007.

"Spending quality time with friends and family away from the daily grind is good for all of us, and has been proven to yield incredible health and wellness benefits, as well as recharge our work batteries," said Ted Jansen, vice president, retail, Expedia.com. "Americans should take a cue from their foreign counterparts and relish the vacation they work so hard for."

A few more popular ideas:

• family sick days

• paid family leave

• on- or near-site child care centers

• on-site vaccinations, and

• credit unions.

Don’t forget about childless employees.

There is new debate on the HR front that employees without children bear the brunt of the work related to family-friendly policies. When a co-worker leaves early or works a day from home, someone in the office must pick up the slack and that’s usually the unencumbered staffer. If you’re implementing family-friendly policies be sure to include policies that will benefit all employees. Offer flex time, personal days and other in-office benefits like casual Fridays to keep all staff motivated. Facility amenities like a recreation room, work out area or massages can be just the thing to round-out those employee benefits and make those who don’t need to utilize family benefits feel like they’re an important part of the HR equation too.

Even if your employees are childless doesn’t mean that they don’t have home issues to manage such as care for an aging or ill relative. These situations can often be equally or more stressful than the employee with children, so be sure to make the employee aware of benefits that may make their circumstances easier to handle. The best way to provide support is to maintain an open line of communication with your employees and work together to develop the best possible solution to any issues that arise.

The most effective HR policies are a win-win. Employees need to feel the policies are fair and support the work at hand and employers need the policies to protect the bottom line and increase productivity. If you don’t know where to start, talk with a Fiducial Advisor by calling 866-Fiducial or visit the web site at www.Fiducial.com.

Footnote:

(*) Calculation: 3 * 146,300,000 employed Americans (Bureau of Labor & Statistics) = 438,900,000 vacation days employed adults give back

Renee Fellows is the owner of ClearPoint Marketing Communications in Derry , New Hampshire . She works with small business clients to develop marketing and public relations strategies that bring business and customers closer together. She can be reached at 603-434-9433 or via email at Rfellows@oneclearpoint.com .

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