This document summarizes research on workplace flexibility policies and trends. It finds that: 1) The availability of flexibility has increased over time, though use remains lower, varying by factors like industry, occupation, and demographics. 2) Flexibility is associated with benefits like reduced stress and higher engagement for employees, as well as lower turnover and absenteeism for businesses. 3) While the business case for flexibility is strong, further research could help minimize stigma and better quantify the costs and benefits of different organizational approaches to flexibility. 4) It remains unclear what will drive flexibility to become standard practice in more workplaces, whether through policy changes, social pressure, companies acting in self-interest, or

1. WORKPLACE POLICIES
TO DRIVE CHANGE
KATHLEEN CHRISTENSEN
Sister Republics: Building Bridges Committing to a
Stronger Economy with Women’s Leadership
April 23, 2013

2. Three Questions
 WHAT DO WE KNOW?
 WHAT DON’T WE KNOW?
 WHAT MIGHT BE UNKNOWABLE – AND DOES IT
MATTER?

3. Trends in Availability: Overall, by Firm Size
Trends in Use: by Industry, Education,
Occupation
Work Force Needs
Differential Effects of Flexibility
Workforce Segments
Business Outcomes
What Do We Know?

4. Day-to-Day Scheduling
When, Where, How to
Work
Short Term, Episodic, &
Extended Time Off
Career Flexibility
•Flexibility in
scheduling of hours
•Flexibility in the
amount of hours worked
•Flexibility in place of
work
•Essential: control and
predictability over
schedules.
•Source: Workplace Flexibility
2010, Georgetown Law Center
•STO : Time taken off in
short increments for
ordinary life needs
•EPTO: Time off for
recurring, predictable
needs
•EXTO: Time taken off in
long increments (by
weeks) for any life need,
whether predictable or
unpredictable
•Career Exits
•Career Maintenance
•Career Re-entry
Careers cannot be
straight line
trajectories. Need built
in opportunities for
plateauing and leaves
Defining Workplace Flexibility

5. Availability: Day-to-Day Scheduling
Flexibility:2005- 2012

6. Trends

7. Availability: Reduced Hours and Time-
Off Flexibility:2005- 2012

8. Caregiving Leaves: 2005-2012

9. Availability: Percent of Firms Offering Either “Some”
Employees or “All or Most” Employees Day-to-Day Scheduling
Flexibility
„
Source: Work Life Balance and the Economics of Workplace Flexibility. Executive
Office
of the President, Council of Economic Advisors. March 2010.

10. Availability: Percent of Firms Offering Either “Some”
Employees or “All or Most” Employees Work-At-Home
Flexibility
Source: Work Life Balance and the Economics of Workplace Flexibility. Executive Office
of the President, Council of Economic Advisors. March 2010.

11. Availability: Percent of Firms Offering Either “Some”
Employees or “All or Most” Employees Reduced Hours
or Time-Off
Source: Work Life Balance and the Economics of Workplace Flexibility. Executive Office
of the President, Council of Economic Advisors. March 2010.

12. Availability: Percent of Firms Offering Most or All
Employees Selected Workplace Flexibility Benefits, by
Firm Size
Source: Work Life Balance and the Economics of Workplace Flexibility. Executive Office
of the President, Council of Economic Advisors. March 2010.

13. Utilization of Flexible Time by Sex, Race,
Ethnicity and Work Status
Source: Work Life Balance and the Economics of Workplace Flexibility.
Executive Office of the President, Council of Economic Advisors. March 2010.

14. Utilization: Percent of Workers with
Flexible Hours By Industry
Source: Work Life Balance and the Economics of Workplace Flexibility. Executive Office
of the President, Council of Economic Advisors. March 2010.

15. Utilization of Flexible Hours by
Occupation and Education
Source: Work Life Balance and the Economics of Workplace Flexibility. Executive Office
of the President, Council of Economic Advisors. March 2010.

16. Millennials
Older Workers
Working Parents
Low-Wage Workers
Faith-Based Communities
Disabilities
Members of the Military and Spouses
Who Wants and Needs Flexibility?

17. Millennials
 Flexibility : one of top three valued dimensions of career
success
 Along with job security and earning the highest pay possible
 Trumping health care and 401k benefits, intellectually interesting work,
making a difference in society
Source: Allstate and National Journal Heartland Monitor Poll 2010

18. Older Workers: Only Workforce Segment Growing
Increases to 2018 by those working 55-64 and >65
Source: Toossi, M. (November, 2009). Labor force projections to 2018: older workers staying more active. Monthly Labor
Review. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office

19. Working Parents: 3 Jobs – 2 adults
Ratio 1½Jobs: 1Adult

20. Working Parents
• Multitasking
• Time Famine
• Less time for sleep and self
• Disruption of family rituals
• Intensive parenting

21. Multitasking Throughout the Day
Source: Shira Offer and Barbara Schneider. “Multitasking Among Working Families:
A Strategy for Dealing with the Time Squeeze.” Workplace Flexibility. Ed. Kathleen
Christensen and Barbara Schneider, eds. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2010.

22. Pervasive Sense of “Too Little” Time by Dual-
Earner Couples Working Full Time,* 2000
*35+ hours **N = 177 ***N = 175
Source: Suzanne M. Bianchi and Vanessa R. Wight. “The Long Reach of the Job: Employment and
Time for Family Life.” Workplace Flexibility. Ed. Kathleen Christensen and Barbara Schneider, eds.
Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2010.

23. Frequency of sleep problems affecting job performance in last month
Source: 2002, 2008 NSCW; statistically significant differences between sample years are denoted as * (p<.05),
** (p<.01), *** (p<.001), n.s. (not statistically significant)
} n.s.
28% of the American Workforce Have Sleep
Problems at Least Sometimes

24. Differential Effects of Flexibility
 Low Wage Workers (Corporate Voices and WFD)
 MBA’s in Challenging Careers(Bain & Company)
 Women and Earnings (Harvard & Beyond Study 1969-1992
classes)
 On Health and Well Being (Harvard School of Public Health
and Wake Forest Medical School)

25. Average Stress and Burnout Index for Low
Wage Employees by Their Perceived Flexibility
Source: WFD Consulting. Workplace Flexibility for Lower Wage Workers.
Corporate Voices for Working Families. October 2006.

26. Average Engagement Index for Low Wage Employees
by Their Perceived Flexibility
Source: WFD Consulting. Workplace Flexibility for Lower Wage Workers.
Corporate Voices for Working Families. October 2006.

27. Percent of Low Wage Employees Who Predict They
Will Leave Within Two Years by Their Perceived
Flexibility
Source: WFD Consulting. Workplace Flexibility for Lower Wage Workers.
Corporate Voices for Working Families. October 2006.

28. Dimensions of Flexibility by Family Income
Source: WFD Consulting. Workplace Flexibility for Lower Wage Workers.
Corporate Voices for Working Families. October 2006 and Shelly MacDermid, Purdue University 2006
2002 NCSW Dataset

29. MBAs in Challenging Careers >5
 Unpredictable workflow
 Fast paced work under tight deadlines
 Inordinate scope of responsibility that exceeds more than 1 job
 Work-related events outside regular work hours
 Expected to be available to clients or customers 24/7
 Responsibility for profit and loss
 Responsibility for mentoring and recruiting
 Large amount of travel
 Large numbers of direct reports
 Physical presence at workplace at least 10 hours a day

30. As Women Age, They Tend to Opt
Out at Higher Rate
Source: J Coffman, R Hagey. Flexible work models: How to Bring sustainability
To a 24/7 world. Bain & Company

31. Customer Loyalty Tool – Net
Promoter Score (NPS) and Flexibility
NPS How likely are you to recommend your organization to a
friend or colleague?
Results:
 Responses to NPS question showed that employees in
companies who have used workplace flexibility tend to be strong
promoters of the company and are more satisfied with their
jobs.
 Employees who use flex, regardless of type, rate it positively: 4.2
out of 5
 Viable flex jobs – those that fit firm culture and employee-
could increase retention in men by 25% and in women by 40%

32. Gap: Interest High – Use Low
Source: J Coffman, R Hagey. Flexible work models: How to Bring
sustainability To a 24/7 world. Bain & Company

33. Earnings Penalties of Job
Interruptions: Harvard & Beyond
 Highest MBAs, Lowest MD’s
 In between Ph.D.s and J.D.s
 Technology industries penalize women less than other
industries-
 Newer and work organizations better understand changing
workforce
 Needs
 Women have responded to costs by gravitating to certain
specialities or professions – voting with their feet.

34. On Health and Well Being
 Access leads to better health behaviors (exercise, cooking) (Wake
Forest)
 Use leads to better sleep (Harvard School of Public Health)
 Use leads to more regular family rituals (UCLA)
 Less stress reactivity (Pennsylvania State University)

35. Ingredients for Successful Flex
 Organizationally house it so has leverage - within health and well
being?
 Provide range of options that fit culture, job, and employee
 Ensure supervisor support – training/coaching
 Leveled playing field in terms of process – right to ask, manager
initiated
 Drive flexibility into line operation as a strategic business tool
and just the way work is done – not as a perk or benefit
 Find the right language – e.g., ‘smart work’
 Work to remove implicit stigma or penalty

36. Is the business case enough?
How could it be strengthened?
How to minimize stigma/penalty?
The relative costs and benefits of pursuing
alternate organizational paths for flexibility
What Don‟t We Know

37.  Shortens cycle times (same work, less time)
 Increases productivity
 Improves employee engagement &
commitment
 Lowers turnover and absenteeism (and
reduces related costs)
 Enables many workers to stay employed who
otherwise might not
 Helps win war for talent-Economist/SHRM
Is the Business Case Enough?

38. Average Absence Rates With and Without
Flexible Work Scheduling
Source: Work Life Balance and the Economics of Workplace Flexibility. Executive Office
of the President, Council of Economic Advisors. March 2010.

39. Customer Retention Rates at First Tennessee
Bank and Across the Banking Industry
Source: Work Life Balance and the Economics of Workplace Flexibility. Executive Office
of the President, Council of Economic Advisors. March 2010.

40. Other Controlled Experiments
 Telecommuting, Nicholas Bloom, Stanford
 Multiple matched interventions, Boston College Center on
Aging and Work

41. How to Minimize Stigma?
 Eliminate work-family requests or framing? (University of
Minnesota)

42. Many Paths to Flexibility: Best?

43. What will make workplace flexibility the standard?
Policy?
Pressure from outside – Campaign?
Enlightened Self Interest
Changing Ways Work is Done – Global, Virtual
What is Unknowable?