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Balancing the Demands of Work and Home: Opportunities for Employee Engagement . Caryn Medved, Phd . Baruch College – City University of New York . To understand employee engagement in the workplace , you must also understand its connections to engagement to life outside of work. .
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Balancing the Demands of Work and Home: Opportunities for Employee Engagement Caryn Medved, Phd. Baruch College – City University of New York
To understand employee engagement in the workplace, you must also understand its connections to engagement to life outside of work.
Understanding Engagement(s) Family/LifeEngagement Work Engagement
3 Aspects of Employee Engagement1 • Enjoyment of Work • Belief in Contribution • **Value = employees recognized and rewarded as a ‘whole person,’ including relationship and needs outside of work. 1Development Dimensions International, Inc. Employee Engagement: The Key to Realizing Competitive Advantage.
Work-Life Conflict Vs. Work-Life Synergy
Work-Life Business Case • Recruiting the Best • Retention of Talent • Health Care Costs and Employee Wellness • Reduction of work-life conflict Productivity
Critical Issues Today • Life Stages and Work-Life Needs • Generational/Cohort Differences • Changing Family Demographics
Life Stages • Varying employee work-life needs depending on life-cycle stages: Caring for Young Children Caring for Older Children Caring for Elderly Parents • Work-Life policies must include a range of options **Don’t assume . . .
Cohort/Generational Differences Robert Half poll of 1,800 HR and finance professionals in 11 countries found: • Recent graduates were “particularly driven” by the desire for work-life balance. • Want flexible work hours and clear career development programs; didn’t grow up with lifetime employment.
Changing “Family” Demographics • ‘Traditional’ two parent, dual career only 24% • Only 1 in 4 ‘fits’ traditional family image • Increasing single parent households (both mother-child & father-child) • Changing definitions of ‘family’ vs. ‘life’ • Partner Benefits • Unmarried or Childfree Employees • Challenging breadwinner/homemaking norms • 24% of dual-career, women are primary earners • 142 thousand Stay-at-Home Fathers; 200% increase since 1994.
Closing Up • Employee engagement must consider employees varying needs and stages of life-family engagement; • Business Case = • recruiting top talent, • retaining high performers, • reducing related work-life conflicts and the absenteeism, stress, and decreased productivity.