Working smarter, with more time for family life
The latest insights

By: Carol Kleiman
From: Chicago Tribune – February 16, 2004

Here are the latest insights from the world of work/life balance:

The family way: "How's your family? Is anyone complaining about not seeing enough of you?" Those are the questions asked by authors Beverly Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans in their book, "Love It, Don't Leave It: 26 Ways to Get What You Want at Work" (Berrett-Koehler, $17.95).

And they have some "creative strategies" that workers have told them about that may help you find a better balance between doing your job and having time for your family. Especially if you feel trapped.

Here are some that might work for you:

"My boss agreed that a colleague and I could try job sharing [each working half-time]. That was 10 years ago and it has worked great! What a win-win for all of us!"
"I took a management course and have carved four hours out of my workweek. I'm now working smarter, not longer."
"I bought a home computer and then approached my boss to consider my telecommuting one day a week. He said it was OK, as long as my productivity didn't drop. It actually went up 20 percent. My boss is thrilled and so is my family."

And here's one of my favorite solutions--and definition of "family." "My dog is my family. She's well behaved, so my boss agreed that I could bring her to work on Saturdays when I came in to `catch up.' She's not alone and neither am I."

The authors suggest the way to live the life you want to live is to "try something innovative or nontraditional. Creativity will help you solve the balance issue."

Tracking family leave: Trying to keep abreast of what's going on in connection with efforts to transform the federal Family and Medical Leave Act to paid leave from unpaid leave is a challenging task.

But the task was just made easier:
The National Partnership for Women and Families, a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy group based in Washington, has created a Web site to track the progress of paid leave.

The new Paid Family and Medical Leave Clearinghouse (www.paidleave.org) contains information on paid family and medical leave initiatives around the country--all in one place.

The FMLA, which is now a decade old, guarantees workers at companies with 50 or more employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a newborn or adopted child, to take care of sick family members or to recover from their own illnesses.

However, a 2000 U.S. Department of Labor survey found that from 1993 to 2000, there were 3.5 million workers who needed time off but couldn't afford to take unpaid leave.

"Today's workplace policies are out of sync with working families," said Judith L. Lichtman, president of the National Partnership. "Paid leave is the next step."

Family-friendly benefits: While some studies indicate a decline in the number of companies offering work/life benefits, a recent survey shows the exact opposite--a finding I much prefer.

According to a survey of 341 members of the Employee Services Management Association, based in Oak Brook, the news is upbeat:

"... Companies plan to maintain or improve upon convenience services--such as on-site dry cleaning, discounts on tickets and products and film processing--to help employees balance their work and personal lives," the association concludes.

In fact, the survey shows that "56 percent of companies offering convenience services plan to improve upon them in the next year." Here's what they plan to add: concierge services, child-care services and referrals, gift-wrap services, on-site sales of jewelry and books; and automobile services.

And more good news: Ninety-eight percent of companies "not planning to improve upon their services say they will retain their current offerings." And for many workers, that means a very family-friendly 2004.

Carol Kleiman's columns also appear in Tuesday's and Thursday's Business sections. Hear her on WBBM Newsradio 780 at 6:21 p.m. and 10:22 p.m. Mondays and 11:20 a.m. Saturdays. Watch her "Career Coach" segments on CLTV. E-mail ckleiman@tribune.com.