RELATIONSHIP TIPS
BALANCING WORK AND FAMILY - page 3
First Tennessee's premise--and that of other leaders in the BUSINESS WEEK ranking--is that family concerns affect business results. Yet that thinking, while simple, escapes many companies. Typically, executives view work-family initiatives as inexpensive, politically correct gestures, easy accommodations to workers who otherwise have been slammed by stagnant wages, benefit cuts, and layoffs. Managers fail to buy in, and workers fear torpedoing their careers by appearing less than completely committed to their jobs.
Employees acknowledge their companies' wealth of family-oriented programs but say they often don't do the job. Half of the respondents, and even more of high-paid managers and professionals, said they felt ``a lot'' of stress and pressure at work. Men were more likely than women to say their employer expected long hours no matter how it affected personal life. Production and clerical workers, meanwhile, gave generally lower ratings, reflecting an undercurrent of tension distinctly at odds with the friendly cultures most participating companies say they promote. ``Most benefits are offered to managers, technical and office staff,'' wrote one worker. ``Shift employees have NO options.''
The study rated work-family policies and benefits at 37 publicly traded companies from the BUSINESS WEEK 1000, ranging in size from 1,243 to 218,000 U.S. employees. An initial survey, designed by the Center on Work & Family with Philip H. Mirvis, adjunct professor of organizational behavior at the University of Michigan, graded employers on their self-described breadth of programs, flexible work arrangements, and organizational infrastructure. A second questionnaire, delivered to 500 randomly selected employees at each company, asked workers to assess the results. (Some of the questions, and employees' responses, are found on these pages.)
The project provoked considerable curiosity and angst. Several large employers well-known for enlightened work-family strategies--notably, IBM, Corning, and Johnson & Johnson--declined to participate, as did The McGraw-Hill Companies, BUSINESS WEEK's parent. Most commonly, companies said they were wary, understandably, of exposing employees' views to the world's scrutiny. Indeed, GTE Corp. and AT&T, both known for rigorous consideration of work-family balance, were knocked off the list of leaders by relatively weak employee responses--a function, at least in part, of the seismic restructuring that has shaken the telecommunications industry and destroyed workers' sense of job security. In contrast, MBNA America Bank won the highest employee rating despite the limited group receiving its benefits. Employees cited a culture that, while formal and demanding, addressed the needs of a workforce whose average age is 28.
Other employers cited a conflict between BUSINESS WEEK's project and their own internal surveys, or said they simply had no time. ``We're in the business of making hamburgers,'' said a McDonald's Corp. executive. ``We don't do surveys.''
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