Mass Customization in the Workplace

Flexible work schedules are increasingly used by companies to retain valuable workers and respond to a changing work environment and demographic.

Cathleen Benko and Anne Weisberg call for a complete overhaul of modern careers and the way they are organized in their book “Mass Career Customization: Aligning the Workplace With Today’s Nontraditional Workforce.” Benko and Weisberg specialize in talent management for Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, a consulting, accounting and tax firm.

In their book, Benko and Weisberg relate the forces that they see affecting the modern workplace: an aging workforce, more working women, changing family structures, more men struggling with work-life balance, and a new generation of workers focused on career variety and accomplishing personal goals.

The book shows how the United States Deloitte started the idea of “mass career customization” as an alternative model to offering flextime. With this form of customization, all employees were able to tailor their work and careers to their own and their company’s needs over time.

This new model encourages employees to choose from advanced options in four different areas: pace of career progress (“accelerated” to “decelerated”); workload (“full” to “reduced”); location and schedule (“not restricted” to “restricted”); and role (“leader” to “individual contributor”).

While this may sound complicated, Benko and Weisberg say it simply formalizes what other companies are already doing informally. If employers and employees can maintain this dialogue then loyalty and lifetime contracts will follow.

Benko and Weisberg found no negative effect on careers and no decline in client-service standards. Career discussions improved, employees enjoyed knowing what options were available for them, and productivity increased.

National Work and Family Month

In 2003, Fortune Magazine predicted that work-life effectiveness was going to be one of the most important business growth trends of the decade. In collaboration with the Alliance for Work-Life Progress, the National Work-Life Initiative (NWLI) was formed. In addition to publishing an annual work-life special section in Fortune Magazine, the goal of the NWLI was to pass a Congressional resolution instating an official work-life month.

 

On Sept. 5, 2003 the U.S. Senate unanimously passed Resolution 210, designating October as National Work and Family Month. This was a great step toward raising awareness about the importance of maintaining work-life balance. The resolution states that the ability to successfully manage work, family, and personal responsibilities affects the well-being and productivity workers and their workplace.

 

At Needlestack Jobs, we are celebrating National Work and Family Month by offering free access to our online employer center and online job seeker center. Flextime employers will receive full access to the resume bank as well as five job postings for professional flextime jobs on the Needlestack Jobs job board. Flextime job seekers who sign up during October will receive a free three month membership with full access to all job postings, job contact information, unlimited job applications, five resume postings, and unlimited cover letters.

 

National Work and Family Month is a great chance to help connect flextime professionals and employers. Flexible work schedules help working parents manage work-life balance by giving them time to fulfill their family and personal needs while still maintaining work obligations.

 

The Work and Family Connection has a list of ways employers can celebrate National Work and Family Month:

 

- Launch a work-life survey to solicit employee opinion on programs/ offerings that your company should expand upon, add or discontinue.

 

- Solicit real-life stories from employees on how they successfully manage work and family challenges for inclusion into an article to be posted on the corporate Web site.

 

- Have a guest speaker on work and family at the next all staff meeting.

 

- Hold an art contest for the children of employees to participate in depicting work and family together. The art can be displayed on the meeting room walls at an all staff meeting and the top three winners (or their parents) can be presented with a prize.

 

10 Steps Towards a Better Work Life Balance

Balancing work and life is a personal struggle for all of us.  Figuring out how to manage the two worlds is the key to a happy work life and a happy family life. Here are a few tips that could help you with your own struggle to balance work and home.

1.    Schedule your work time and stick with that schedule.  We can all get carried away with a project and it ends up interfering with our home life.  Set aside time for work and stick to your schedule.

2.    Schedule down time and family time as well.  Just as you would schedule a work meeting, set aside time for your family and put it on the agenda.

3.    Have a daily plan for what you want to do each day.  Starting the day with a to-do list of hundreds is impractical and ineffective.  Make a list of the most important tasks to focus on each day and set about accomplishing those things first.

4.    Ask for help and support.  Whether this is moral support or assistance on a difficult work or home project, never be afraid to ask a friend or colleague for help.

5.    Don’t be afraid to say no.  Be clear to your boss and colleagues about your boundaries.  Maintaining your strict schedule is important to you and your co-workers will respect that.

6.    Take time to breath.  Rushed work only leads to stress and sloppy results.  Focus on the most important tasks and allow yourself to slow down and pay more attention to your actions.  This will make life and work much more enjoyable for you –and make you more pleasant to be around!

7.    Shut off your phone and unplug the computer.  You don’t need to be connected to work 24/7.  When you step out of the office or away from the computer remove the distraction by pulling the plug.

8.    When you are done with work for the day have fun.  This is your time to relax and enjoy your family and friends.  Let loose!

9.    Give your hobbies and interests a priority over work.  Don’t let work get in the way of the things you love to do – reading, exercise, enjoying a good movie.  Make time for the things that make you happy and then focus on work.

10.    Stay healthy and eat the right foods.  Don’t let the stress of work affect what you eat.  Having a healthy diet will make you more efficient, help you stay calm throughout the day, and assist in your recovery time after a long day.

Tips on Asking your Employer about Flextime Options

Flextime is great for working parents with young children, employees who are at the age of retirement but not ready to retire, and full-time employees who are going to school.

However, a recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report shows that only about 28 percent of full-time and salaried employees in the USA had flexible work schedules.

If your employer does not currently offer an alternative work schedule, here are five tips on the best ways to go about asking.

1.    Be the best employee you can be. Companies are going to offer flextime to good employees and not to slackers

2.    Outline your job responsibilities and ways to measure productivity with your boss. Your boss will be impressed if you have established goals for yourself and let him know what to expect from you.

3.    Address possible concerns and objections your boss may have right away. One of the biggest concerns is that companies cannot afford to offer flextime to all employees. What your employer should know is that, for financial or personal reasons, not all employees are interested in or would utilize flextime.

4.    Make the proposal about the company and highlight ways flextime will benefit them. Increased productivity, employee satisfaction, and reduced stress are great examples. Focus on how flextime is great for your employer.

5.    Start out small and on a trail basis. Suggest to your boss that you could use some flexibility during your daughter’s track season or while you are taking an extra class at school. If things work out during the trial period your boss may be more open to a flexible schedule in the future.