by To create an environment that encourages the realization of diversity and inclusion, Need to promoting work-life balance in two core ways: Enriching our Family-Friendly System and Working to transform work styles.
The globalization we’ve seen over the last two decades has led to a profound transformation of society at every level we imagine. It has also had major repercussions on the present in economic, social, technological, and legal dimensions, to name a few.
These social changes have prompted companies to modify their way of relating to their environment, including their own employees.
Diversity and inclusion (D&I) management at organizations has been on every company’s management and talent management agendas for years. Beyond the fact that these concepts are in vogue.
Workplace diversity has become a growing concern within organizations. Managers are now challenged with learning new ways to effectively communicate the importance of embracing different races and ethnicities. Diversity encompasses many different characteristics including age, gender, ethnicity, religion and disabilities (Robbins). As of late, age has become more of a concern as the baby boomer generation begins to reach retirement age; many are not retiring early but instead are working well into their seventies.
Unfortunately for those baby boomers, the number of retirees decreased during the 2008-2009 recession mostly due to economic struggle. People cannot afford to retire, perhaps because they did not save enough for retirement or had to dip into their retirement fund to survive earlier in life. In addition to age discrimination, gender discrimination is another common diversity issue. According to “Organizational Behavior,” as of 2000, more women are working full time, have more education, and have started to close the earning gap between men and women.
Adjust performance expectations and be mindful that well-known biases in performance evaluations could be exacerbated in this crisis. What are appropriate criteria for evaluation in this “new normal”? If the answer is ambiguous, research suggests that the probability of bias will increase and further disadvantage women, people of color and others. If organizations are continuing with their performance review cycles, they should be especially mindful of providing clear criteria for managers. Several companies we talked to in our focus group are simply delaying or canceling performance review cycles.
Paying attention to the role of managers, and providing them with the right resources and skills to support employees is critical. In our research, we see that managerial decisions and behaviors are at the crux of inclusion and equity. Managers may not be used to leading a remote team and being in charge of crisis management, so they need access to frameworks and research-based insights. Providing tools and infrastructure to work from home safely is also important. At Stanford, trainings on using telework software, for example, have been useful.
If you are don’t know what work life balance is, you won’t be able to realize why it’s so important. A common assumption is that individuals who would like more “balance” aren’t necessarily as driven or interested in building a career. Many people who want more balance, enjoy working hard, have ambitions, and even want to achieve high levels of success. While it’s not likely to have a balance or an equal equation between work and life. It’s much more about:
- Feeling like work has an impact on the workplace as well as in personal life. These feelings do more to connect with other and provides more fulfillment
- Having the ability to make time for important things; work and personal priorities
- Feeling calmer and more focused instead of scattered and out of control
- Leaving work with energy to spend on other things.
Employee Engagement
According to Gallup, around 34% of U.S. workers are engaged, which is described as those who are involved in, enthusiastic about and committed to their work and workplace. Happy employees are more engaged and loyal. Workplace morale in general increases and that results in improved communication and better teamwork. Employers can see:
Performance and Increase in Productivity
By reducing stress-levels it increases the ability to focus, be attentive and offer new ideas and solutions. Higher levels of satisfaction increase productivity.
Cost Reductions / Savings from lower employee turnover
Retention is higher because employees are more likely going to want to stay where they are happy and engaged.
Lower absenteeism
Time to take care of one’s self results in improved mental, physical and spiritual health. Employees are not as likely to take off as much time for sickness or workplace injuries.
Positive Branding
Many companies offer employees incentives to recruit good employees from people they know. Those companies who value work life balance for their workforce will become known as a great place to work. More people will be interested in working for a company that values and cares for their employees.
Flexibility and/or Virtual Work Arrangements
Many companies are offering the opportunity for employees to work outside of their place of business. For many reasons, “Smart Offices” are becoming more common and employers are more in favor or employees off-site work arrangements. In addition, company benefits have to align with values that demonstrate we are, “taking care of our people”. Here are some of the ways in which employers are responding:
- Meditation, yoga, etc. Workshops
- On-site or childcare voucher programs
- Free or highly discounted gym memberships
- Sabbaticals; paid or unpaid
- Generous maternity, paternity, adoption, and paternal leave benefits.
Workplace Culture
- Model appropriate behavior. Ensure employees that it is really o.k. to take advantage of the work life policies. Telling employees to enjoy their evening, weekends or vacation is great. What is better is to “walk the talk” and constrain yourself from sending emails and calling employees during these times away from work.
- Avoid sending mixed messages. Don’t talk about policies or have them in an employee handbook when they aren’t true. If you demonstrate that vacations are truly vacations, then be sure not to make employees feel like they are doing something wrong or that they should feel bad about taking a vacation.
- Create guidelines and expectations. Train management and employees on these policies and expectations. While managers may communicate in some way or another with employees after work hours without needing an immediate response, employees are more likely to feel pressured to respond to after work hours calls or emails.
