managing a diverse workforce: managing work/life relationships in organizations ellen ernst kossek,...

Managing a Diverse Workforce: Managing Work/Life Relationships in Organizations

Ellen Ernst Kossek, Ph.D. Class One 2009

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Module Overview

• Class 1: Work-Life Policies: A Strategic Lever to Manage Diversity and Workforce Inclusion.

• Class 2: Linking Work-Life Policies to Organizational Culture and Effectiveness.

• Class 3: Managing Flexstyles and Work-Life Relationships.

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Changing Work-Life-Family Relationships

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Source: www.fathersworkfamilyresearch.co.uk/

Module Learning Objectives

Work-life policies:

• A strategic lever to manage diversity inclusion (Class 1)

• Must fit with organizational culture and business objectives to be implemented effectively (Class 2).

• Must consider flexstyles (Class 3).

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Class 1: Overview of Work-Life as Strategic Issue

• Evolution of work-life as an HR concern.

• Diversity and inclusion trends.

• Varied access for different jobs and employers.

• Diversity challenges: gaps between policy adoption and employment laws.

• Strategic alignment challenges.

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Evolution of Work-Life as an HR Concern

“Housekeeping may still be the main occupation of American women, but it is no longer the only… source of identity…In the past, a woman’s sense of identity and main source of satisfaction centered on the husband’s job, the home, and the family. Today, there are alternatives opening to increasing numbers of the female population….half of all women between the ages of 18 and 64 are presently in the labor force, Department of Labor studies show that 9 out of 10 of women will work outside of the home at some time in their lives.”

Excerpt from Work in America 1973:179, Task Force Report to Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, Cambridge MA: MIT Press.

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Trends Making Work-Life an HR and Diversity Concern

1. Transformation of family economic household configuration: Dual earner model U.S. family (83%).

2. Increase in care giving demands: 75% of mothers with children under 18 work. 50% of children spend some time in single

parent home while under 18.

3. Growth in nontraditional families: 15% of employees sandwiched (caring for

elders and children).

Source: Kossek, 2006

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4. Growth in women’s labor market participation: Women 40% of professionals and managers.

5. Population decline in replacement workers: Fertility rates are dropping, older workers not

being replaced.

6. Work-family intensification: Increase in work loads, hours, and conflicts. 2004 OECD report : U.S. workers work

longest hours except for Korea.


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7.Technology and 24-7 global work blurring work-life boundaries: 15% of employees telework. Growing diversity of work-life cultures.

8. Changing gender and care giving roles: Need for transformed career and job

structures.

9. Increased demand for part-time work: Phased retirement, elder and child care,

personal health.


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Definition: Work and Family as Employment Policy

Three-Legged Stool:

1) Formal work-family HR policies and practices (e.g. child care, elder care, health benefits and career systems).

2) Job conditions; the structure of work, namely job design, work schedules, and employment terms (job security, pay).

3) Informal occupational and organizational culture and norms.


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Work-Family Policies Defined

• Work-family policies enhance the ability to engage in paid employment while managing family demands.

• Examples: Flexibility in working time, place or load. Information and resource and referrals, Direct or subsidized services for child care,

elder care, illness or self care.

Source: Kossek and Distelberg, 2009

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Gap Between Work-Family Policy Adoption and Implementation Practices

• Employers often find it difficult to implement work-life policies (especially flexibility) because they can disrupt work traditions.

• Policy implementation gap: Use conflicts with culture and work values. Supervisors are not rewarded to support use. Work-family policies are not well linked to

other policies.


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Employee Access to Work-Family Policies Overstated in Media

• Most surveys measure whether work-family policies simply exist instead of: The extent of actual use. Whether all workers can use the policy. Whether managers see the business value of

work-life support. Employee satisfaction.

• Emphasis should be on effective policy implementation rather than mere availability.


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Varied Access to Work-Life Flexibility Programs

• Access to work-life flexibility systematically varies depending on employer and occupation.

Small employers give greater access. Mid-level workers have more flexibility. Full-time workers, white collar workers and

workers earning more than $15 an hour have greatest flexibility access.


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Limited Policy Availability

• BLS Compensation Survey which includes small employers not always studied by media shows that 85% of workers lack access to any form of child care assistance.

• Information is the most common assistance: resource and referral -11%.

• On-site/near-site employer-sponsored care-5%.• 4% of all workers have formal telecommuting

policies.


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U.S. Work-Family Laws: Diversity Gaps

Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978:

• Amendment to Title VII of 1964 Civil Rights Act.• Clarifies how employers should treat pregnant

workers, e.g. not firing during pregnancy; viewing pregnancy as temporary disability; discourages arbitrary dates for unpaid leave.

• Diversity gaps: Does not protect discrimination against parents, doesn’t enable flexible or part- time hours, barriers to filing suit, career-oriented employees are afraid to use.


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Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938:• Must pay non-exempt employees 1.5 times

wages for overtime.• Diversity gaps: Does not allow workers to

control work hours, place a cap on hours they work, or to refuse overtime.

• The number of workers exempt from overtime pay is increasing.

• Does not require payment for time not worked, such as vacations, sick leave, or holidays (federal or otherwise), or health and family benefits.


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Employee Income Retirement Security Act (ERISA) of 1974:

• Regulates minimum standards for most voluntarily established pension and health plans in private industry.

• Diversity gaps: Has a threshold of at least 1,000 hours that prevent part-time employees from receiving pensions. Only 21 percent of part-time workers are included in their employer’s pension plan.


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Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993:

• Amended to allow most individuals at organizations with at least 50 employees to request up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period.

• Diversity gaps: Many workers cannot afford to take unpaid leave;

often stigma for use. Reviewing DOL surveys, Canter et al. (2000) found

the most frequent reason for taking a leave during last 18 months was due to one’s own health, not for care giving.


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HR Strategy: Work-Life Diversity Mismatch

• Traditional human resource management (HRM) models assume workforce similarity, an approach that hinders an employer’s ability to respond to workforce changes and fostering greater work-life diversity.

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Source: Kossek and Lobel, 1996

Work-Life Issues and Strategic HR

• Work-life issues must be included early in strategic HR decision making and better linked to culture and varied employee preferences so that work-life diversity can be more effectively integrated with design and implementation of employment policies and strategies.

Source: Kossek and Lobel, 1996

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Three Main Work-Life Alignment Objectives

• Strategic alignment with external environmental trends.

• Cultural alignment between formal work-life policy and informal cultural practice .

• Stakeholder alignment among employee, employer, customer perspectives and preferences for different ways of working (flexstyles).

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managing a diverse workforce: managing work/life relationships in organizations ellen ernst kossek,...

Documents

worklife relationships

changing worklife

overview of work

parttime work

work loads

growing diversity of

workfamily intensification

formal workfamily hr