Community Corner
Poll: What's Your Biggest Work/Life Challenge?
Ahead of Father's Day, new poll finds most dads say it's finding time for family.
WorldatWork's Alliance for Work-Life Progress, an advocacy group aimed at getting more employers to include work/life balance considerations in company policies, recently conducted a study on the topic—and found men and women both cite having time for family as a top concern.
The group issued a press release Monday, noting that most men responding to their polling said “finding time to spend with family” is their top work-life challenge.
“The notion that men care less than women about work-place flexibility needs to be debunked,” said Kathie Lingle, executive director, WorldatWork’s Alliance for Work-Life Progress, said in the release. “As we celebrate Father’s Day, men across the world struggle balancing work and family responsibilities. The data shows that men and woman share the same challenges and face the same barriers to managing their work-life effectiveness. It’s time to recognize that men, and dads in particular, need businesses to adopt and promote flexible work arrangements to help them succeed in the workplace and at home.”
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Other key findings included:
- Both men and women ranked “Flexible start/end times” as their preferred solution for work-life challenges
- In developed countries men are significantly less likely than women to take advantage of flex start/end, compressed work weeks, remote work, and telework
- 12 percent of men in developed countries have experienced receiving negative performance reviews for using flexible work-life programs; 20 percent believe they would experience a negative review if they took advantage of a flexible work-life program
- 37 percent of men in developed countries either have experienced or believe they would have their commitment to their job questioned for using work-life programs
“In honor of Father’s Day, WorldatWork urges employers to communicate with their workforce to let dads know that taking advantage of work-life support programs is encouraged not frowned upon,” said Lingle.
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The complete study can be downloaded here.
What do you think? Is flexibility a major concern for you—or is work just taking over your life?
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