Even in the sea of an uncertain job market, a swell of interest is sending waves of awareness on the work/life merge and the way human capital – meaning people – are treated in the workplace.
Fem 2.0′s Wake up, This is the Reality radio and blog campaign stirred the pot around discussion of the “new normal” over the last two weeks. A shift is being called for to lay the foundation for better workplace guidelines, employee rights, more flexible working conditions, and sweeping work/life policy change. Fem 2.0′s informative radio programs offered a wealth of knowledge and overview on the status of work life issues, and there were a number of male voices contributing to the conversation to offer the ideas through a different lens. It’s worth heading to the site to check out the material. You’ll learn a lot about where we are – and where we’re going.
Evolution or Revolution?
The word revolution comes to mind, to describe what is needed to shift consciousness around workplace policy, but in the spirit of evolutionary philosopher Ken Wilbur, perhaps a strategy of “transcending and including” might be in order. Here’s how he explains the concept:
“Transcend-and-include means something new and higher and external to the present entity comes into being (transcendence), but the present entity is taken up, included, and enfolded in the new occasion as an internal thread or strand in its makeup.”
No one company has created systems that will allow for more flexible and non-discriminating workplace practices across the board that can be implemented in every workplace, but there are some that have instituted best practices. Check out the research of the Alfred P. Sloan Awards for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility & Families and Work Institute’s project – When Work Works. The workplace programs offered by the companies recognized in the project are not one-size-fits-all, but they offer a foundation for change. It’s from that start that we can elevate the conversation and evaluate, transcend and include the ideas presented without knocking them down if they lack weight in galvanizing sweeping change.
While we continue to debate what constitutes a “perk” and the definition of systematic change, companies and employees should take note of all initiatives emerging. New models and ideas should be examined, explored for flaws, adjusted and when warranted – expanded in provocative ways. While it might seem a revolution in needed for sweeping change, perhaps if a more organic evolutionary approach is embraced, it will take root in the three portals of work life waters that we’re swimming in with overlapping boundaries.
Inside Capitol Hill
When President Obama launched the Whitehouse Task Force on Middle Class Working Families it was a harbinger of change, of sorts, from the inside out. It came from “inside” an administration that sent a message that work life initiatives or “balance” would be high on the agenda. After all, the topic was of great interest to the President and First Lady Michelle as they are working, while bringing up two young children in the White House.
Perhaps it was a baby step toward supporting the growing call for better work life effectiveness, but it did set the tone for a potential shift in legislation regarding like family leave, paid sick days, and paid maternity leave. Is this a good or bad thing? Depends on who you ask. More legislation might benefit workers to a degree, but there’s the downside of big business concerns about being overly governed. From inside Capitol Hill, how much action should we see on this front?
Inside Corporate America
With women comprising more than half of the workforce, dual-income families, and concern about child and elder care, big business has good reason to look toward better workplace practices such as flexibility, to engage and retain – productive employees. Companies such as Cisco, Home Depot, Best Buy, Ernst & Young, KPMG, and Pitney Bowes have been at the forefront of offering work/life initiatives including flexible workplace practice. These large corporate entities did it from – the inside out – making the determination that company policy change would have a positive impact on employees and the bottom line of the company.
That short list of companies is expanding, but at a slow pace. The initiatives being offered are not governed by legislative changes, but instead by forward thinking companies which are exploring new ways to enhance the working experience for their employees without breaking the bank. What will it take for more companies to execute such policy at more Fortune 500 companies? Will a nudge from Capitol Hill do the trick? Perhaps the continued efforts and qualitative research from groups such as Workplace Flexibility 2010 or the Business and Professional Women’s Foundation. Or will big business be swayed with an emotional anecdotal dose of commentary from the average worker? Hmmm… unlikely but it’s worth a shot. What if big business made it “ok” for its workers to have a voice?
Inside the Mind of the Employee
In my opinion this is where the greatest challenges exist and the greatest evolution needs to take place. Battered by a poor economy, job loss, and continued pressure to do more with less, boosting the spirits and self esteem of the average worker seems a daunting task. Mostly because it falls upon the worker to pick themselves up by the boot straps and move forward in a sea of change. If a worker does not feel safe enough to express their voice, they will remain silent. If a worker remains silent, a company risks low morale, a less engaged or unproductive employee.
However, because of high unemployment, boomers reinventing themselves, Gen Y and Gen X looking for a better work/life balance, and an emerging desire to lead a more passion filled life with purpose, there’s a transformational shift taking place. Workers are re-evaluating their working experience, even in the face of challenges. It doesn’t mean they are quitting their jobs, but in a “career chaos economy” many are contemplating the merge of their working and living experience and at the very least – questioning it. Questioning their happiness, the value of family, the meaning and purpose of their work. That creates an opening for conversation, for the expression of lingering doubts, and for fertile soil to jump ship to a company that might offer greener pastures.
Often, the employees voice is quelled in tough economic times, but when ones disposition hits rock bottom, just like a phoenix rises from the ashes, so can the worker rise from the waters of chaos with a new powerful voice. Question is - will the guns of big business be too loud for the C-suite to listen?
In a perfect world, they might peruse the wish list written by Leanne Chase at CareerLifeConnection who recently penned a Workers Bill of Rights.
