Good-Bye Corporate Policy and Hello Individuality…

Indeedy…

It Never Hurts to Hammer home the truth…things we all know but are still making the news…

Corporations are realizing that the talent/people they have are their best resources… and are wising up that people are individuals….with individual needs and desires.

I LOVE YOU,

WorkFarce

Employees are looking for a lot more than a paycheck to keep them happy in today’s competitive work environment.

In fact, striking a balance between work and family life is one of their top priorities, according to a recent survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management in Alexandria, Va. The survey found that more than half of respondents cited flexibility to balance life and work issues as very important to their overall job satisfaction.

So if you’re looking to keep some of your most valuable players, it may be time to consider instituting family-friendly workplace policies such as flextime and telecommuting, say human resource experts. In the long run, it could mean the difference between losing and retaining some of your top talent.

“A lot of employees want and appreciate more flexibility,” said Fred Foulkes, professor of organizational behavior and director of the Human Resources Policy Institute at the Boston University School of Management. “It becomes sort of a competitive necessity in many cases.”

That’s why more and more employers are starting to offer flexible work schedules to help employees achieve a better work/life balance, he said.

Some options include job sharing, in which two workers split the hours and responsibilities of one full-time job; flextime, with an employee choosing hours outside of a traditional workday (such as 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. or 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.); and telecommuting, in which an employee works either fully or partially from home.

Finding the options that best suit your workplace must be assessed on a case-by-case basis, experts say.

Some positions just don’t lend themselves to an alternate work schedule, said David Javitch, president of Javitch Associates, an organizational-consulting company in Newton, Mass. For instance, it would be very hard for a worker on a production line in a factory to work from home.

Also, some employees don’t do well without typical managerial constraints, Javitch said.

“Some people just can’t deal with the free time,” he added. “Treat everyone as an individual. What might work for one person may not work for another.”

But if you think your employee can handle a flexible work schedule, the next step is to establish clear written guidelines of what is required of the position and of that person, said Jim Sowers, a principal at human resources consulting company Buck Consultants in Houston.

“As long as they understand what they are meant to accomplish and what they get for it, the rest falls into place,” he said.

Having it in writing helps eliminate any ambiguities or disputes if the arrangement doesn’t work out.

“This way everyone is clear on their expectations,” said Robert Micera, director of human resources at Margolin, Winer & Evens, a Long Island accounting firm. The firm offers flextime and telecommuting to its tax and audit professionals, which Micera says has helped with its retention efforts.

“It’s not an automatic that if you ask, you get it,” he said, noting that workers have to understand that they need a legitimate reason for asking.

They also need to understand that management will support a flexible schedule and that they won’t suffer any repercussions like being passed up for promotions, said Adam Schwam, president of Sandwire Corp., a Long Island company that specializes in Web-site development.

At least 25 percent of the company’s 15 employees have either a flexible work schedule or work from home, he said.

For his director of business development, Joyce Glicker, it was family and personal obligations that prompted her to ask. Between her two young children and her ailing father, she needed a more flexible work schedule.

“If this wasn’t an option for me, I would have had to leave,” said Glicker, who earlier this year switched from a flextime schedule to part time.

Schwam said that even with a part-time schedule, Glicker doesn’t miss a beat. He also notes that a boss must be able to trust employees to make this arrangement work.

“If you’ve got the right person, you do what you have to do to make them happy,” Schwam said.