workplace flexibility; the known, the unknown and the unknowable

WORKPLACE FLEXIBILITY

The Known, The Unknown, The Unknowable

KATHLEEN CHRISTENSENBC CENTER ON WORK & FAMILY

November 8, 2012

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Kathleen Christensen

Three Questions

WHAT DO WE KNOW?

WHAT DON’T WE KNOW?

WHAT MIGHT BE UNKNOWABLE – AND DOES IT MATTER?

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Trends in Availability: Overall, by Firm Size

Trends in Use: by Industry, Education, Occupation

Work Force Needs

Differential Effects of Flexibility

Workforce Segments

Business Outcomes

What Do We Know?


Day-to-Day SchedulingWhen, Where, How to

Work

Short Term, Episodic, & Extended Time Off

Career Flexibility

•Flexibility in scheduling of hours

•Flexibility in the amount of hours worked

•Flexibility in place of work

•Essential: control and predictability over schedules.

•Source: Workplace Flexibility 2010, Georgetown Law Center

•STO : Time taken off in short increments for ordinary life needs

•EPTO: Time off for recurring, predictable needs

•EXTO: Time taken off in long increments (by weeks) for any life need, whether predictable or unpredictable

•Career Exits•Career Maintenance•Career Re-entry

Careers cannot be straight line trajectories. Need built in opportunities for plateauing and leaves

Defining Workplace Flexibility


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Availability: Day-to-Day Scheduling Flexibility:2005- 2012

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Trends

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Availability: Reduced Hours and Time-Off Flexibility:2005- 2012

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Caregiving Leaves: 2005-2012

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Availability: Percent of Firms Offering Either “Some” Employees or “All or Most” Employees Day-to-Day

Scheduling Flexibility ‘

Source: Work Life Balance and the Economics of Workplace Flexibility. Executive Office of the President, Council of Economic Advisors. March 2010.

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Availability: Percent of Firms Offering Either “Some” Employees or “All or Most” Employees Work-At-Home

Flexibility


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Availability: Percent of Firms Offering Either “Some” Employees or “All or Most” Employees

Reduced Hours or Time-Off


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Availability: Percent of Firms Offering Most or All Employees Selected Workplace Flexibility Benefits,

by Firm Size


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Utilization of Flexible Time by Sex, Race, Ethnicity and Work Status


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Utilization: Percent of Workers with Flexible Hours By Industry


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Utilization of Flexible Hours by Occupation and Education


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Millennials

Older Workers

Working Parents

Low-Wage Workers

Faith-Based Communities

Disabilities

Members of the Military and Spouses

Who Wants and Needs Flexibility?

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Millennials

Flexibility : one of top three valued dimensions of career success Along with job security and earning the highest pay

possible

Trumping health care and 401k benefits, intellectually interesting work, making a difference in society

Source: Allstate and National Journal Heartland Monitor Poll 2010


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Older Workers: Only Workforce Segment Growing Increases to 2018 by those working 55-64 and >65

Source: Toossi, M. (November, 2009). Labor force projections to 2018: older workers staying more active. Monthly Labor Review. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office

Working Parents: 3 Jobs – 2 adults

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Ratio 1½Jobs: 1Adult

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Working Parents

• Multitasking• Time Famine• Less time for sleep and self• Disruption of family rituals• Intensive parenting


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Multitasking Throughout the Day

Source: Shira Offer and Barbara Schneider. “Multitasking Among Working Families: A Strategy for Dealing with the Time Squeeze.” Workplace Flexibility. Ed. Kathleen Christensen and Barbara Schneider, eds. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2010.

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Pervasive Sense of “Too Little” Time by Dual-Earner Couples Working Full Time,* 2000

*35+ hours **N = 177 ***N = 175Source: Suzanne M. Bianchi and Vanessa R. Wight. “The Long Reach of the Job: Employment and Time for Family Life.” Workplace Flexibility. Ed. Kathleen Christensen and Barbara Schneider, eds. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2010.

Frequency of sleep problems affecting job performance in last month

Source: 2002, 2008 NSCW; statistically significant differences between sample years are denoted as * (p<.05), ** (p<.01), *** (p<.001), n.s. (not statistically significant)

} n.s.

28% of the American Workforce Have Sleep Problems at Least Sometimes


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Differential Effects of Flexibility

Low Wage Workers (Corporate Voices and WFD)

MBA’s in Challenging Careers(Bain & Company)

Women and Earnings (Harvard & Beyond Study 1969-1992 classes)

On Health and Well Being (Harvard School of Public Health and Wake Forest Medical School)

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Average Stress and Burnout Index for Low Wage Employees by Their Perceived

Flexibility

Source: WFD Consulting. Workplace Flexibility for Lower Wage Workers. Corporate Voices for Working Families. October 2006.

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Average Engagement Index for Low Wage

Employees by Their Perceived Flexibility


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Percent of Low Wage Employees Who Predict They Will Leave Within Two Years by Their

Perceived Flexibility


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Dimensions of Flexibility by Family Income

Source: WFD Consulting. Workplace Flexibility for Lower Wage Workers. Corporate Voices for Working Families. October 2006 and Shelly MacDermid, Purdue University 20062002 NCSW Dataset

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MBAs in Challenging Careers >5

Unpredictable workflow

Fast paced work under tight deadlines

Inordinate scope of responsibility that exceeds more than 1 job

Work-related events outside regular work hours

Expected to be available to clients or customers 24/7

Responsibility for profit and loss

Responsibility for mentoring and recruiting

Large amount of travel

Large numbers of direct reports

Physical presence at workplace at least 10 hours a day

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As Women Age, They Tend to Opt Out at Higher Rate

Source: J Coffman, R Hagey. Flexible work models: How to Bring sustainability To a 24/7 world. Bain & Company

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Customer Loyalty Tool – Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Flexibility

NPS How likely are you to recommend your organization to a friend or colleague?

Results:

Responses to NPS question showed that employees in companies who have used workplace flexibility tend to be strong promoters of the company and are more satisfied with their jobs.

Employees who use flex, regardless of type, rate it positively: 4.2 out of 5

Viable flex jobs – those that fit firm culture and employee- could increase retention in men by 25% and in women by 40%

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Gap: Interest High – Use Low

Source: J Coffman, R Hagey. Flexible work models: How to Bring sustainability To a 24/7 world. Bain & Company

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Earnings Penalties of Job Interruptions: Harvard & Beyond

Highest MBAs, Lowest MD’s

In between Ph.D.s and J.D.s

Technology industries penalize women less than other industries-

Newer and work organizations better understand changing workforce

Needs

Women have responded to costs by gravitating to certain specialities or professions – voting with their feet.

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On Health and Well Being

Access leads to better health behaviors (exercise, cooking) (Wake Forest)

Use leads to better sleep (Harvard School of Public Health)

Use leads to more regular family rituals (UCLA)

Less stress reactivity (Pennsylvania State University)

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Ingredients for Successful Flex

Organizationally house it so has leverage - within health and well being?

Provide range of options that fit culture, job, and employee

Ensure supervisor support – training/coaching

Leveled playing field in terms of process – right to ask, manager initiated

Drive flexibility into line operation as a strategic business tool and just the way work is done – not as a perk or benefit

Find the right language – e.g., ‘smart work’

Work to remove implicit stigma or penalty

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Is the business case enough?

How could it be strengthened?

How to minimize stigma/penalty?

The relative costs and benefits of pursuing alternate organizational paths for flexibility

What Don’t We Know

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Shortens cycle times (same work, less time)

Increases productivity Improves employee engagement &

commitment Lowers turnover and absenteeism (and

reduces related costs) Enables many workers to stay employed

who otherwise might not Helps win war for talent-Economist/SHRM

Is the Business Case Enough?

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Average Absence Rates With and Without Flexible Work Scheduling


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Customer Retention Rates at First Tennessee Bank and Across the Banking

Industry


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Other Controlled Experiments

Telecommuting, Nicholas Bloom, Stanford

Multiple matched interventions, Boston College Center on Aging and Work

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How to Minimize Stigma?

Eliminate work-family requests or framing? (University of Minnesota)

Many Paths to Flexibility: Best?


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What will make workplace flexibility the standard?

Policy?

Pressure from outside – Campaign?

Enlightened Self Interest

Changing Ways Work is Done – Global, Virtual

What is Unknowable?

workplace flexibility; the known, the unknown and the unknowable

Business

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kathleen christensen

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