"It is useful occasionally to look at the past to gain a perspective on the present." – Fabian Linden
Economist Fabian Linden held the status of "sage" in his observations of consumer behavior and its impact on shifts in the economy. With his creation of the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index, he urged the economic elite to listen to the voice of the consumer with a new perspective. After all, they were the ones on the front lines feeling the economic shifts in their pocketbooks.
So it couldgo, with the voice of those on the front lines of managing the corporate coffers when it comes to the impact of worklife flexibility on the bottom line. That is, if corporate America cares to listen. A new study by BDO Seidman and Work+Life Fit, Inc. reveals there's interest on the part of Chief Financial Officers to explore worklife flexibility beyond the obvious benefits of employee attraction and retention.
The 2008 CFO Perspectives on WorkLife Flexibility study showed that CFO's understand that worklife flexibility has the potential to impact companies beyond employee issues. 75% of CFO's at companies that offer flexibility, said the strategy might be important to the future profitability of their organizations. Here's some other interesting findings:
- 72% said worklife flex practices differentiate a company from its competitors.
- 53% believe flex can save health care costs
- 34% said flex can help reduce real estate costs
These statistics are coming from the company financial brass, but even with the bent toward worklife flex offering potential benefits to the spread sheet, there is an indication that fear abounds in pressing the issue in the workplace. When asked about common obstacles to flex strategies:
- 76% were concerned about "face time"
- 72% were worried about "demands in the workload of a job"
- 62% were concerned about "other employees perceptions"
- 58% said it could "hurt my career"
In a struggling economy and tightening job market, it's unfortunate that the aforementioned obstacles might be enough to keep the CFO's silent on the worklife flex question. It's too bad – because just as we're entering an era where worklife flex is being acknowledged as a strategy to boost employee productivity – Wall Street has investors running scared and companies hunkering down. For now, the voice of negativity in the financial sector is louder than those on the front lines like the CFOs. CFOs are crunching those numbers and might have some insight as to how to do things differently.
