Management August 28, 2009, 12:11PM EST

Creative Management Practices for Making Work Work

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Employers also work with community groups to screen employees for publicly funded benefits and supports (such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, Food Stamps, children's health insurance, heating assistance, and housing and automobile loans, among others). This assistance puts more money in the pockets of low- to mid-wage employees.

• New initiatives in flexibility also draw on social networking techniques and help employees help each other. KPMG has created a shared leave program. Employees with serious illnesses or other emergencies can receive up to 12 weeks of additional paid personal leave from other employees who donate their unused time off. The company reports that fully 100% of needs for donated time are met by KPMG employees, usually within minutes of an employee making an anonymous request.

• Employers are providing flexibility so that their employees can volunteer in the community and help others in need. Intel, a three-time Sloan winner in Chandler, Ariz., with 10,000 employees, celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2008 by asking employees to volunteer, with a goal of reaching one million hours for the company worldwide—a goal it achieved.

• Employers focus on health and wellness, often using social networking strategies to promote their goals. Given the increasing stress of the recession and spiraling health-care costs, leading employers want to promote prevention and wellness. What's interesting is how they are using the notion of "employees helping employees," often assisted by screenings, healthy lifestyle programs, and "coaches." For example, Rice University in Houston has an on-campus subsidized Weight Watchers program open to its 2,700 employees. Collectively, employees have lost more than 2,000 pounds. They also have access to lifestyle screenings and yoga classes, and they can shop for healthy foods at a weekly farmers' market on the campus.

• Employers have created systems to monitor overwork as a way of promoting wellness and improving employees' energy. Fenwick & West, a law firm in San Francisco with 245 employees, has created "workflow coordinators" and two "balanced hours advisers" who review attorney hours regularly to ensure that those on reduced schedules are not subject to "schedule creep" or overlooked for good assignments.

• Beyond the basics—employers have expanded the use of flexibility to ensure that all employees have access and they are providing coaches to ensure their offerings will be used. RSM McGladrey, an accounting, tax, and business consulting firm in New York, has introduced FlexYear, a program that provides a schedule similar to a teacher's. FlexCareer, another option, lets employees take up to five years off for personal reasons and provides resources, such as subsidized training, to keep participants connected with the organization and industry so they can come back to work with greater ease. Coach-on-Call gives employees free access to a professional coach offering advice and support on work-life issues. And the New Parent Coach provides resources, support, and information to help new parents navigate through pregnancy, leave, and the transition back to work.

• Employers are developing performance metrics to ensure that their programs do not discriminate, are used by employees, and yield results. Grant Thornton, an accounting and management consulting company in Dallas with 320 employees, has created Partner Performance Metrics to hold office managing partners accountable for the turnover and retention of women in their local offices, embedding metrics into the firm's partner performance management system. These efforts have paid off by increasing the number of women partners from 31 to 81 in just five years, an increase of 174%. The firm offers considerable career flexibility to encourage employees to develop and grow in the firm, whatever the changes in their personal and family lives.

The 2009 guide shares innovative approaches for creating effective and flexible workplaces. Our hope is that for employers and employees everywhere, it serves both as an inspiration for what is possible and as a detailed resource for how to get there.

Ellen Galinsky is President of the Families and Work Institute. Tyler Wigton is Project Manager of When Work Works . Lois Backon is Co-Project Director of When Work Works.