Washington (March 13) -- With the U.S. business community facing the growing problems of attracting and retaining qualified workers, flexible work strategies continue to provide a solution that benefits employees and contributes to long-term business success.
Still, while business executives say that they view flexibility as a strategic solution to workplace issues, they report that their companies in practice use flexible work strategies as a way to accommodate individuals on a case-by-case basis.
That’s one of the key findings in a study sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and conducted by Corporate Voices for Working Families, the leading national business membership organization representing the private sector voice in the dialogue on public policy issues related to working families. For the study, Harris Interactive between September and December 2007 conducted phone interviews with 150 executives at Fortune 1000 companies.
“Despite the proven benefits of flexible work strategies, there remains the opportunity to continue to demonstrate to senior management that flexibility should be viewed as more than an accommodation that only helps individual employees,” Donna Klein, president and founder, Corporate Voices for Working Families, said. “Businesses need to look at flexibility as a driver of financial performance and long-term success.”
Key findings in the study include:
- Respondents reported an overwhelming positive experience with flexible work strategies.
- More then 75 percent of the business executives interviewed define flexible work strategies as an alternate time or location arrangement; for instance, a nonstandard 40-hour workweek or working from home.
- The respondents, by a ratio of 9-to-1, report that flexible work strategies have a positive effect on helping organizations reach business goals.
- However, in practice, the respondents said that the primary reason that their organization provided flexibility was to help employees achieve a better balance between work and family – and that various accommodations were made available to some employees on a case-by-case basis.
- From the standpoint of their organizations, those interviewed said flexible work strategies are not recognized as being the most important contributor to attracting and retaining qualified employees or for being the most effective option for driving business results.
- Very few of the businesses represented in the survey offer flexible work strategies as a recruiting tool; none view flexibility as a way to save money.
“Clearly, more needs to be done to continue to demonstrate to chief executive officers and other business leaders that flexible work strategies are important to hiring and retaining the qualified workforce that is vital to financial success and competitiveness,” Klein said.
To that end, she said Corporate Voices for Working Families will continue to communicate with business executives and others to keep the spotlight on how flexibility when viewed as a strategic objective is directly linked to business success. At the same time, Corporate Voices for Working Families plans to conduct additional research to examine how business executives view flexible work strategies within the context of recruiting and retaining employees and to demonstrate the bottom-line benefits of flexibility.
This most current survey builds on research conducted by Corporate Voices for Working Families in 2005 that examined flexible work strategies implemented by many of its 50 member companies. Highlights of both surveys are available by contacting Corporate Voices for Working Families at 202-333-8924 or lkearney@cvworkingfamilies.org.
