BW Online | June 26, 2000 | Finding Time When Little Is Left

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JUNE 26, 2000

WORK & FAMILY
By Pamela Mendels

Finding Time When Little Is Left
Flexible hours and comp time for community activity are two ways employers can help workers

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I've never much liked an expression popular with human-resources types: "work-life balance." I've seen it as a euphemism, an obscure way of saying that working parents feel intense time pressure and employers should do something about it.

After checking out some numbers in a recent study by the Radcliffe Public Policy Center at Harvard University, however, I'm reevaluating my scorn for the expression. Why? The study suggests that the demands of juggling work and family are not the only reason employees feel a time-bind. The fact is that whether they are parents or not, many employees are spending a lot of hours on the job and fewer hours than they would like on life.

The survey of 1,008 adults found that almost half of the respondents reported that they worked -- or had worked before retirement -- an average of more than 40 hours a week. Indeed, almost 20% of the respondents said they typically worked 51 or more hours.

So much for the 9-5, five-day-a-week regimen taken for granted by our fathers or grandfathers. (It was mostly men back then.)

LESS SLEEP. The result of the 40-hours-plus schedule shows up elsewhere in the study. On a typical night, 72% of respondents reported that they sleep less than the recommended eight hours. In fact a large chunk, 44%, sleep six hours or less. Another consequence, in my view, is found in yet another part of the 116-page report: A significant majority, 64%, of those currently employed said that if offered the choice of more money or more time, they would take the extra hours, thank you.

The survey findings should be disturbing to anyone who believes that the institution of the 40-hour work week was a great and civilizing advance in modern labor. But the study also provides some intriguing clues to business owners who not only have a heart but are looking for low-cost ways to hold onto or attract talented workers.

For one thing, employees said they like the idea of flexible hours. When asked to choose from a menu of possible changes that could make their lives easier, respondents chose flexibility over a number of other alternatives, including being allowed to work at home. Any small-business owner who fails to take advantage of this finding has, as far as I'm concerned, forfeited the right to complain about the difficulties of recruiting and retaining employees in the current tight labor market. It's a no-brainer. Flexible hours, if properly managed, cost businesses next to nothing and help employees immensely.

GOOD WORKS. Another interesting finding was that significant numbers of employees -- 46% -- working for companies offering paid time off for volunteer work take advantage of the perk. Family, it seems, is not the only laudable endeavor for which employees crave time.

Leslie G. Cintron, the project director for the study, says paid time off for volunteer work is an up-and-coming benefit. "Rather than writing a check, which was the old way of doing things, more and more businesses are sponsoring their employees to do a whole host of things in the community, from participating in walks for hunger to creating [neighborhood] gardens," she says.

Yes, the perk is a boon to the community. It also can ease the time strain on employees who want to do good works, in addition to good work. But the perk has some nice rewards for business, too. It can translate into great public relations both among potential employees and the community at large. It can also lead to employees who, in Cintron's words, "feel more fulfilled and more motivated." Read: happier and, therefore, less likely to jump ship when the guy down the street dangles an offer.

Finally, this benefit can be embraced by all employees, thereby eliminating grumbling from childless workers who resent perks that appear useful to parents alone. It is, in short, a benefit that can provide employees of all stripes with a better work-life balance.

Send your questions to frontierlife@businessweek.com.

Pamela Mendels is freelance writer based in New York City. She wrote about small business and had a workplace advice column at Newsday, and has written about workplace matters for Business Week, WorkingWoman, and the Web site iGuide.