Working Mother's 100 Best causes a flurry of interest – but only once a year!

(Article originally published by WFC Resources, October 2003, as an UpDate Column)

Sept. 22, 2003. Our phone rang off the hook today. And these days, when most of our communication is by e-mail, that's a little unusual. But it happens every year in late September, when Working Mother's "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers" are revealed to the press. In just one day we have been asked for interviews about work-life by our local newspaper, a national news service, a national magazine, two local radio stations and a TV station. It especially happens if companies in our area – Minneapolis/St.Paul – make the list, and this year there are three: General Mills, Target and Thomson West. General Mills made the top ten for the second year in a row, and that really stirred interest in the local press.

We're not complaining. We like the publicity for our company, of course – and we very much like it for the field of work-life. It's a chance to tell readers and listeners, some of whom, we hope, are decision-makers for their companies, about the recipe for being an employer of choice. Here – generally speaking – are some of the questions we were asked today, and what we said.

What are companies doing differently to address work-life issues today than they did ten years ago?

Ten years ago, if companies were putting a foot in the water at all, they were strictly into programs. In about 1994 we began to recognize that a good work-life program also included policies that treated people like responsible adults. In 1995, with the help of a study sponsored by the Ford Foundation, we caught on to the fact that work practices could be adjusted to make them more flexible, jobs could be split and tasks reassigned to make them more appropriate for telework or flextime. And finally we saw that without a supportive culture nothing we did would make any difference, and that most of that culture was in the space between employee and line manager.

What's the most important thing a company can do to help working mothers?

First, if they don't want backlash from child-free employees, they'd probably be better off not singling mothers out for special treatment. What they can do is create a commitment to treat all employees as whole people with important personal responsibilities, no matter what those responsibilities are. They can let managers know in no uncertain terms about that commitment, train them in the way to manage flexibly, hold them accountable, measure their performance, reward them for doing the job well and remove them from supervisory positions if they don't.

What we now know is that control over how, when and where the work is done is the single most important quality, the thing that really makes a difference in employee satisfaction, commitment, and that elusive "discretionary effort" every employer is looking for.

What is driving the trend for more mothers to work from home?

Of course there are a host of reasons (control, flexibility, less drive time, less clothes cost, etc. etc.) but brand new research puts it all in one sentence. Our October Newsbrief includes news about a study by Susan Madsen of Utah Valley State College, who found that people who worked from home had lower levels of every kind of work-life conflict.

With the rise of the feminist movement, women went through the "I can have it all" stage, believing they could stretch themselves thin enough to do two full-time jobs. Now more and more are seeing the need to make tough choices and set boundaries. But for caregivers, working from home, whether it's for one's own business or telecommuting for an employer, is about as close as we can come to having it all.

What do you see for work-life – and working mothers – in the future?

The economy has dictated that some of the more costly programs have been lost, shelved or kept on the drawing board. Everyone, working moms included, have been under great pressure to produce. But there are other important factors at play, and they will make a difference.

1. The latest survey from the Conference Board shows that workers are growing more dissatisfied, and other recent research has found what one expert referred to as a "pent-up demand" among workers to change jobs. This means that when the job market improves, companies will have to ease up on demands, will find they have to offer flexibility and a more supportive culture if they want to keep their employees, and will be more amenable to adding back programs they've taken away.

2. Rising health care costs are on every company's radar screen. And there is no doubt about the connection between workplace stress and health problems. While the bad news is that workers are bearing more of the cost of health care, the good news is that every day we see stories about companies that are trying hard to reduce stress in order to reduce health care costs.

3. As our companies get increasingly global they'll be forced to follow European and British mandates, all of which are much more focused on family than U.S. national or company policies. New laws in the UK are forcing companies to offer flexible work arrangements, and fining them if they don't reduce employees' stress.

4. Finally, we believe (or is it wishful thinking?) that it is only a matter of time before our nation's leaders "get" what we're doing to our future by robbing children of good care. To force welfare recipients off welfare without providing quality childcare, and to keep mothers at work and children in daycare long hours, will have an indelible impact on our future.

As I said, the wonderful attention this subject gets when Working Mother holds its yearly competition helps. This publicity is good for the field of work-life, good for employees, and good for the companies they work for. We just wish this attention-getter took place a little more often.