Library Worklife

Work/Life

Did You Know That October Is National Work and Family Month?

In September 2003, the US Senate passed Resolution 210 to declare October as National Work and Family Month, sponsored by Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). With the passage of the resolution, a multiyear initiative grew, called the National Work-Life Initiative. According to “Families and Work Institute’s (FWI) National Study of the Changing Workforce, work-life support programs significantly affect employee productivity, retention and commitment. The study found that 70 percent of hourly and salaried employees who have managers/supervisors that are supportive of the needs they have in their personal and family lives, are significantly more satisfied with their jobs, more committed to their employers and more likely to be retained.”¹ Large and small companies, for profit and nonprofit, are citing the high return on investment for their lower paid employees, who are now able to better manage their work and personal lives with benefits like flexible hours and childcare support.² The American Business Collaboration for Quality Dependent Care (ABC) and Alliance for Work-Life Progress have collaborated on the Initiative to encourage employers to “help employees more effectively manage their work and personal lives.”

Proponents of work-life programs are not only in major corporations, like Kraft Foods and Bank of America. The Clinton-Macomb Public Library in Michigan has a fitness center. Christine Lind Hage reported during National Library Workers Day that "an employee committee selected the exercise equipment and the library installed a specially cushioned floor, a wall of mirrors with a ballet bar, TV with VCR, shower, toilet, storage cubicles, dressing room and make-up mirror/counter. Although we don’t have organized exercise classes, we have scheduled a presentation at an upcoming staff 'learning lunch’ on how to use the equipment." Nonprofits, like the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) in Kansas City, devised a low-cost, high-impact program by allowing employees to bring infants up to six months into the office.³ Mothers, fathers and parents took advantage and only one person who participated has left the company. Loyalty has increased based on this and other programs, such as offering a zero-interest computer purchase assistance and a sick-leave pool. The CEO of NAIC, Cathy Weatherford, said, “A lot of people who left us to go to a private employer, enticed by a hefty increase in salary, have come knocking on our door, wanting their jobs back,” Weatherford says. “Money is not the only motivator.” No one solution can fit all situations, but employers are encouraged to investigate the feasibility of some options.

The National Work-Life Initiative Web site has definitions of work-life, companies that have implemented programs, information about National Work and Family Month and, of course, a toolkit and ideas to commemorate the month.

If your library has great programs that help you ensure that, as Burt Woolf says, work and life are in good proportions, e-mail the Editor.

References

“‘National Work-Life Initiative’ launches in October, focusing year-long attention on critical work-life issues,” PR Newswire, Oct. 1, 2003, Financial News.
Donna Klein,“Trickle-up economics,” Barron’s 84, no. 17 (2004): 12.
Maryann Hammers, “Babies Deliver a Loyal Workforce,” Costa Mesa 82, no. 4: 52.

ABC is a collaboration of leading American companies dedicated to sponsoring dependent care and other programs to assist employees in managing their work and personal lives.

AWLP is a membership organization for individuals and organizations that want to create healthy work environments.

FWI is a nonprofit, non-partisan center providing data to help decision making in the areas of changing workplace, family and community.