Learning Goal: I’m working on a management discussion question and need support to help me learn.
Focus on the “Work-Life Initiatives” table below. Select two of the strategies and defend the numerous initiatives in your selected strategies. In addition to the textbook, utilize at least three outside sources to support your submission.
Work-Life Initiatives
| Time based strategies |
- Flextime
- Job sharing
- Leave for new parents
- Telecommuting
- Paid time off
|
- Management consulting firm A. T. Kearney’s Success with Flex program allows for schedule adjustments, telecommuting, and “hybrid” positions.
- At biopharmaceutical firm AbbVie, 98% of employees use a flextime schedule.
- Cisco provides job-sharing and videoconferencing facilities to minimize needs for travel away from family.
- Deloitte offers employees 3-6 months sabbatical at 40% salary, and they have 40 paid days off per year.
|
| Information based strategies |
- Work-life support
- Relocation assistance
- Elder care resources
- Counseling services
|
- Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina provides networking opportunities to remote workers.
- Hallmark offers employees monthly meetings to talk about career management for women.
- Johnson and Johnson promotes weekends free of e-mail.
- Hewlett-Packard offers counselors, mentors, and $5,000 annual tuition aid.
|
| Money-based strategies |
- Insurance subsidies
- Flexible benefits
- Adoption assistance
- Discounts for child care tuition
- Direct financial assistance
- Domestic partner benefits
- Scholarships, tuition reimbursement
|
- Accenture offers a $5,000 adoption assistance benefit.
- Carlson offers employees scholarships of up to $20,000 to attend the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management.
- Citi employees can save up to $5,000 per year in pretax dependent care accounts, with a match of up to 30% from the company.
- Colgate-Palmolive provides up to $10,000 per year in annual tuition aid for job-related courses.
- Prudential employees who are caregivers can use 100 hours of dependent backup care and six hours of geriatric care management services annually.
|
| Direct services |
- Onsite child care
- Fitness center
- Summer child care
- Onside conveniences
- Concierge services
- Free or discounted company products
|
- Abbott provides a child-care center that serves 800 and discounts for 2,800 day care facilities.
- Companies like AOL and Verizon have onsite fitness centers and discounts at gyms nationwide.
- Bristol-Myers Squibb offers full-time, part-time, and backup care for kids up to age 5 and summer camps for older children.
- Turner Broadcasting offers a caregiver concierge to arrange babysitting, dog walking, and elder companions.
- REI employees can participate in a program that offers large discounts on company products.
|
| Culture-change strategies |
- Establishing work-life balanced culture; training managers to help employees deal with work-life conflicts
- Tie manager pay to employee satisfaction
- Focus on employees’ actual performance, not “face time”
|
- At American Express, employee networks have been established to address issues directly.
- Investment firm Robert W. Baird’s CEO Paul Purcell has one rule: “There are no a**holes here.”
- W. L. Gore & Associates company slogan reads, “We don’t manage people, we expect people to manage themselves.”
- Person developed a Flexible Work Options Accountability Guide that trains managers in the use of flextime for their employees.
|
Response Guidelines
Respond to the discussion question(s) no later than Thursday at 11:59 PM ET. Replies to your peers are due no later than Monday at 11:59 PM ET. Discussion responses need to be a minimum of 300 words in length. Replies to your peers need to be a minimum of 100 words in length.
