Is Work/Life Balance a Global Issue - or has the U.S. Culture Simply Exported the Issue?

(Article originally published by WFC Resources, July 2003, as a Guest Column written by Ted Childs, vice president of global workforce diversity for IBM)

Around the world, companies find themselves on a competitive treadmill as they cope with a weak economy and look for ways to meet shareholder and analyst expectations. Some company leaders are tackling this economic environment by taking a straight business approach to compete - - finding ways to boost profits, creating new markets and revenue streams, trimming costs or delivering new products to customers.

Other company leaders choose to take a more holistic approach, melding the business view with a work/life view - - finding ways to help employees work more effectively, tuning the workplace so employees have more flexibility in deciding where and how they want to work, and providing access to services and tools that allow employees to take care of their personal-life needs while minimizing the anxiety that sometimes accompanies these activities.

Does it work? We think so.

The strong correlation between work-life programs and greater productivity, as well as the importance to quality of life, has been documented in a number of studies, including global surveys done by IBM. Statistics in a Watson Wyatt study show that flexibility in work arrangements can drive a 3.5 percent increase in shareholder value. A recent study by WFD Consulting, a firm that helps companies improve their work environments and enhance employee commitment, found that some 83 percent of US corporate employees work in different locations from their coworkers, and those who work from home are significantly more likely to be more committed to the company, productive and successful at work-life integration than their on-site colleagues. According to a recent Harris poll, nearly 80% of men and women ages 24 to 34, said that time with family was more important than earning a higher salary.

Work/Life at IBM

At IBM, our first Work/Life Issues Survey was conducted in 1986. The survey provided information about the effectiveness of existing programs and suggestions for future programs. Surveys were repeated in 1991 and 1996 in the United States, 1998 in Europe and Latin America, and 1999 in our Asia-Pacific region. In 2001, the first IBM Global Work/Life Survey was conducted. This was the largest, most complex single-focused work/life survey by any corporate, academic, or government entity, which was conducted in 20 languages and 48 countries. More than 25,000 employees took the survey, which yielded a 44% participation rate, and provided us with 59,000 written comments from employees - here’s a sample of what they told us:

• "My 18-month-old lives with my parents and is cared for by an aiya."
• "My son is 8 years-old and I don’t know where to send him to summer camp."
• "It’s hard to find a baby sitter … we are always worried ours will quit."
• "There are 30 days of vacation at work, yet 78 days of school vacation – if my wife and I both take all of our vacation, we still have 18 days left to find care."
• "We need after school programs – that is our biggest problem."
• "I need to find care for my elderly parents."

Are these statements similar to those made by employees in the United States? They do, but they are actually comments from IBM employees in Italy, Singapore, Mexico, Sweden, France, India and Japan!

Through the global survey we also learned that many IBMers around the globe have significant work/life care responsibilities - - 69% care for dependents (either children, elders, or both); 54% care for children; 30% care for elders or other adult dependents; 15% care for both children and elders or other adult dependents. And we learned that around the world, employees were struggling with how to balance their work and family lives.

In addition, our work/life programs are strongly linked with IBM’s ability to motivate and retain the best talent in our industry. Employees report they have greater job satisfaction, are more optimistic about the company’s future, put in more work-related hours and indicate that work/life issues would be the first or second reason for potentially leaving IBM.

IBM’s work/life programs are constructed to allow employees to be productive, serve our customers and meet their personal and family needs. Our strategy is divided into three parts:

• Refine and reform IBM’s work/life culture.
• Respond to employee needs for expanded flexibility in working hours and work delivery.
• Support employees’ needs for Child/Elder care assistance.

While IBM’s work/life programs benefit all employees, they are especially important to women, who typically have greater need for flexibility and responsibilities for dependent care. Part of IBM’s focus over the years has been to create both an environment and leading industry programs that appeal to the needs of women employees so that IBM can continuously attract and retain key talent from this important constituency.

Another outgrowth of our work/life strategy is the IBM Global Work/Life Fund. In 1998, IBM began evaluating the global need for dependent care and conducted a series of Dependent Care Assessments in 20 countries to determine the course of action for each IBM region. As a result of that work, in 2001, the Global Work/Life Fund (GWLF) was developed, which is a $50M fund to be invested over the years 2001-2005.

The GWLF is designed to address the dependent care and work life needs of IBM employees worldwide. Year-to-date, IBM has had active child care and elder projects in 18 countries, in other words, to support work/life programs in communities where its employees live and work - - one of the first funds of its type to address such employee issues globally. Sixty percent of the fund is earmarked for programs outside the United States. Although the fund will address a variety of work/life issues, the primary focus will be dependent care programs that help employees and their communities respond to the child and elder care responsibilities of working families.

There’s Always More To Do

We believe that work/life is critical to our business strategy, and so do other global companies. One group of companies came together to form The American Business Collaboration (ABC), an organization of leading U.S.-based companies that have partnered to ensure that their employees have access to quality dependent care programs and services to help them manage their work and personal responsibilities. Current ABC members are: Abbott Laboratories, Allstate Insurance Company, Deloitte & Touche, Exxon Mobil Corporation, General Electric, IBM Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Texas Instruments.

The basic principle guiding the ABC is the belief that companies can accomplish more by working together than by working alone. By improving dependent care issues to enhance the work/life balance for employees, ABC Champions impact their corporate bottom line and experience measurable business results. During the first nine years, the goal of the ABC was to improve the quality and supply of dependent care programs in the United States. As ABC enters its 11th year, it has expanded its vision of collaboration to include new ways to support employees in the evolving workplace.

Over this timeframe, more than 1,600 childcare and eldercare projects were funded through ABC's efforts, impacting more than 165,000 children and elders. Innovative programs for backup care, elder care services, intergenerational programs and school-age programs were developed to alleviate gaps between the needs of working families and available services and programs in identified communities across the country. In addition, quality curricula were developed to train caregivers and improve the quality of child-care, school-age care and elder care programs and services. These innovative programs and services exemplify the ABC's belief that through collaboration, companies can accomplish more to improve and expand dependent care resources for employees and make a positive contribution in local communities.

Conclusion

There are still some who believe work/life is a U.S. phenomenon and that U.S.-based corporations are pushing their issues overseas. The work IBM has undertaken clearly tells another story. You will see IBM respond to employee needs globally - - through increasing the quality of care in a center in the Philippines, providing elder care seminars to employees in Italy and Canada, introducing children in China to new computers, building a childcare center in Ireland and Korea, or expanding existing care in Mexico.

All of our 316,000 employees around the world are facing work/life challenges. And, we are using the knowledge gained from 30 years of experience to help design programs and initiatives that work for their lifestyles, no matter where they are located around the world.