Just how family-friendly is your company?
Terms such as "work/life" and "family-friendly" have become part of the wellness lexicon. Although most health promotional professionals are comfortable with these terms and could give you a good working definition for each of them, measuring success in these areas might be a different story. After all, how friendly is friendly?The Radcliffe Public Policy Institute in Cambridge, MA, has come up with a set of 10 benchmark questions designed to help you measure your progress in such programming and to see where your company stands on the "family-friendly" scale:
1. Does your workplace offer all employees a livable wage that enables them to meet the physical needs of their families?
2. Does your workplace allow all employees of the organization to participate through committees/teams or unions in decisions on how, when, and where to do their work?
3. Does your workplace offer paid or unpaid family leave policies to enable all employees, men and women, to care for children, elderly relatives, and/or disabled spouses?
4. Does your workplace offer flexible schedules that help all employees meet outside responsibilities?
5. Does your workplace provide opportunities for employees at all levels of the organization to participate in community activities?
6. Does your workplace allow all employees to have access to portable health insurance and retirement plans?
7. Does your workplace provide educational and training programs to allow each worker to develop and maintain knowledge and skills essential for the changing economy?
8. Does your workplace offer attractive alternatives to full-time jobs — such as job-sharing, reduced hours, or working at home — that come with benefits and options for promotion?
9. Does your workplace provide an environment that is safe and secure and free from discrimination for all employees?
10. Does your workplace encourage people at all levels of the organization to put into action work/family/community policies?
[The checklist was produced as part of Radcliffe Public Policy Institute’s New Economic Equation Project, an ongoing series of conferences with national leaders, focus groups with workers, forums with the media, and legislative outreach designed to help relieve family and individual stress through changes in the workplace. For more information about the checklist or a copy of the full project report (the cost is $5.00), contact: Radcliffe Public Policy Institute, 69 Brattle St., Cambridge, MA 02138. Telephone: (617) 496-3478. Fax: (617) 496-2982. E-mail: [email protected]. World Wide Web: http://www.radcliffe.edu/pubpol/.]
Reprinted with permission of the Public Policy Institute at Radcliffe College, © 1996
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