Planning ahead is key to work/life evaluation
Focus study on absenteeism and turnover rate
Evaluating your work/life programming can be much more challenging than, say, evaluating your fitness programming. Some work/life factors don’t readily lend themselves to quantification — productivity most prominent among them.
That doesn’t mean, however, that you shouldn’t evaluate your work/life programs. If anything, say observers, it makes such evaluation even more important.
"From a budgeting standpoint, someone is going to ask you somewhere along the way, Is this working?’" says Bonnie Michaels, president of Managing Work & Family Inc., an Evanston, IL-based work/life consulting and training company. "If you don’t have [proof of success] the program could be taken away."
Evaluation can also be used to find out if your work/life program is in need of improvement. "Maybe your communication hasn’t been clear, or maybe you need to make more events available; but you won’t know without the evaluation," says Michaels.
Get the baseline data
Whatever the reason, it’s critical that you begin your evaluation process early, says Robin Hardman, director of communications for the Families and Work Institute in New York City.
"The ideal scenario, if you can plan this far ahead, is to collect baseline information," she advises. In other words, look at absenteeism, employee turnover, employee recruitment. For example, how many first-choice candidates take jobs — before you initiate a particular program or policy? If you are initiating a prenatal wellness program, look at health costs before the program. Then, of course, collect follow-up information after giving the program some time to get going."
If you haven’t begun your programs yet, consider pilot programs first to help lay the foundation for later evaluation — and focus on results.
"In other words, if you are trying out a telecommuting program, set productivity goals for the participating employees," suggests Hardman. "They should be no different than your productivity goals for on-site employees, although some of the check-in processes may be different [i.e., by phone instead of in person.] Then, see if those goals are met."
"You need to know if you’ve changed what you intended to change," adds Michaels. "If you’re concentrating on stress, has your program improved people’s ability to maintain balance in their lives? Are they more productive? Are they happier? Will they stay at the company? Unless you go back and see the satisfaction and usage levels associated with the program, you won’t get a clear picture."
Surveys can be helpful
Employee surveys can be an important evaluation tool, says Hardman.
"Ask employees why they came to the company," she suggests. "If you can manage it with credibility — that is, with absolute anonymity — ask if they are thinking of leaving; and if not, what keeps them with the company. Use multiple-choice questions, but be sure employees understand the choices; someone who stays because of good flextime policies may not think to check the work/life box. Or, use open-ended questions, again being sure the person evaluating the surveys understands the many programs and policies that may mean work/life in your organization. Make use of exit interviews — which you probably do already — in the same way."
You should also survey yourself, to make sure you’re on track. (See box at left.)
"You can certainly conduct small focus groups at random," adds Michaels. "Find out employees’ knowledge of the program — if they used it — and what suggestions they have for improvement."
If your company has an Intranet, that could be another cost-effective evaluation tool." Have people answer maybe 10 questions about how the programs are working, and then more detailed questions about themselves," Michaels advises. "Then, you can obtain information about demographics as well as about how effectively you are communicating." (A recent survey has shed more light on trends in work/life programs. See story below.)
Sources
• Robin Hardman, Families and Work Institute, 330 Seventh Ave., New York, NY 10001. Telephone: (212) 465-2044. Web site: www.familiesandwork.org.
• Bonnie Michaels, Managing Work & Family, Inc., 912 Crain St., Evanston, IL 60202. Telephone: (847) 864-0916. Fax: (847) 475-2021. E-mail: [email protected].
Additional Resources
• Cascio WF. Costing Human Resources: The Financial Impact of Behavior in Organizations. Boston: Kent Publishing Company; 1987.
• Fitz-Gibbon CT, Morris LL. How to Design a Program Evaluation. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications Inc.; 1987.
• Fitz-Gibbon, CT, Morris, LL. How to Analyze Data. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications Inc.; 1987.
• Henerson ME, et al. How to Measure Attitudes. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications Inc.; 1987.
• Herman JL, et al. The Evaluator’s Handbook. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications Inc.; 1987.
• Morris LL, et al. How to Communicate Evaluation Findings. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications Inc.; 1987.
• Morris LL, et al. How to Measure Performance and Use Tests. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications Inc.; 1987.
• King JA, et al. How to Assess Program Evaluation. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications Inc.; 1987.
• Levin HM. Cost-effectiveness and education policy. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 1998; 10:51-69.
• Patton MQ. How to Use Quantitative Methods in Evaluation. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications Inc.; 1987.
• Perkins DNT. Evaluating social interventions. Evaluation Quarterly 1997; 1:4.
• Phillips JD. The price tag of turnover. Personnel Journal 1990; 58-61.
• Stecher B. How to Focus on Evaluation. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications Inc.; 1987.
• Weiss RS, Rein M. The evaluation of broad-aim programs: A cautionary case and a moral. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 1969; 385:133-142.
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