The new Working Mother Top 100 list was released last week. We certainly commend Working Mother for spotlighting the importance of family friendly workplaces and we congratulate all those who made the list.
We do, however, encourage Working Mother to consider updating their selection process to include an employee interview or survey component. This is the formula used by Winning Workplaces for its Top Small Workplaces award and by the Alfred P. Sloan Awards for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility.
We believe that employee evaluations should be used to validate any company-supplied reporting. For the public, it’s a matter of veracity. For the corporation participating, it’s a measure of effectiveness.
Because while many companies may have developed what is “officially” a flexible workplace, the honest reality is that often times those well-intentioned corporate policies are not sufficiently communicated and/or carried out by all managers throughout the organization.
Significant gaps exist between availability of corporate work/life programs and the rate of employee awareness and usage. In our study of Work Life Issues in America, we also found that employee perceptions of flexibility didn’t match corporate perceptions.
And the truth is that employee perceptions matter most. If employees don’t feel they have a flexible workplace, then the corporation is missing out on myriad benefits they could (should) otherwise be realizing.
Pick your favorite version of this old measurement adage:
- What doesn’t get measured, doesn’t get done.
- You don’t get what you want, you get what you measure.
- What gets measured, gets managed.
Either way, they all apply.
Posted by Jaime Leick
Tags: lists, measurement, perceptions, Winning Workplaces, Working Mother
We agree completely. IF you look closely at the Top 100 list you see that very few companies actually allow what working women want most — flexible work arrangements, meaning the ability to leave the office and work remotely, anywhere, anytime. ANd if you look at the companies that actually permit flexible hours, which includes telecommuting, the list only shows the companies that PERMIT it, that how many are actually doing it. Because we know that whatever family friendly policies are “on the books” it depends upon the manager as to whether flexibility will be allowed — and most won’t permit it. So lactation rooms, massages, back-up childcare and “mentoring” programs are actually fairly meaningless and most of these types of perks only ensure that the woman will stay in the office even longer. We have been in business for 20 years creating flexible work arrangements at the professional level and we know that most of the companies that really permit true flexibility are small businesses, and those large ones that do are allowing them on a purely ad hoc basis entirely at the discretion of managers.
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Joyce,
Kudos to you, Nadine and the crew for pioneering the flexible staffing business so long ago.
If I had a dollar for every time I’ve spoken with an employee of one of these award winning companies who was distraught, disgruntled, or on their way out the door because of the disconnect between what the company said and the company did, I could retire.
Instead I committed myself and my company to work with companies to close that gap. And I’m energized by the growing number of companies who recognize these challenges and are re-launching their flexible work initiatives, training department managers, and communicating the business imperative–throughout the organization–in an effort to change the culture.
Are there companies in the list that have embedded flexible work into their culture and have worked tirelessly to close the gap in their own organizations? Yes. Is the award window dressing for others? Probably. But for some, the stories of transformation are real and the momentum to close the gap is growing. Those are the organizations we’re working with (both big and small) and it renews my hope that one day flex really will be a mainstream reality in America.
For readers who want more information about the strategies these companies are using to close the gap, reach out to us: http://www.lifemeetswork.com/contactus/default.asp