Work and Family Month Underscores Importance of Work-Life Effectiveness

"Reducing the conflict between work and family life should be a national priority." – Senate Resolution 210, passed unanimously, September 5, 2003. The growing need to achieve work-life effectiveness has become a public concern on the national level.

Scottsdale, Ariz. (PRWEB) October 5, 2006 -- The growing need to achieve work-life effectiveness has become a public concern on the national level. Pressures on employees to meet increasing demands at home and at work directly impact employers. Rising absenteeism, increasing health care costs, and higher rates of employee turnover ultimately result in lower productivity, lower employee morale, and decreasing company profits. That's why the U.S. Senate voted unanimously in 2003 to declare October National Work and Family Month.

“People work an average of one month more today than workers of two decades ago, and three quarters of them have no one at home during the day to take care of the household,” said Kathie Lingle, director of the Alliance for Work-Life Progress. There is also less administrative support at work, which forces everyone to fend for themselves, expanding the tasks to be accomplished exponentially. “These new workplace realities require new ways of working, managing, responding, and motivating.”

WorldatWork conducted a Web poll during the month of September 2006 to gauge where work-life ranks as a differentiator for employers. The chart below shows that work-life outranks compensation.

Which of the five total rewards elements do you believe is your biggest differentiator as an employer?

Benefits 30.6% (45 votes)

Work-Life 25.2% (37 votes)

Compensation 20.4% (30 votes)

Development and Career Opportunities 15.0% (22 votes)

Performance and Recognition 8.8% (13 votes)

Total votes: 147

Work-life programs typically address:

-Workplace Flexibility

-Paid Time Off

-Health and Wellness

-Caring for Dependents

-Financial Support

-Community Involvement

-Culture Change Initiatives

For additional information on Work and Family month, visit www.awlp.org/workfamilymonth.

QuickQuestion is a poll conducted on the WorldatWork home page on a hot topic in the field of total rewards: compensation, benefits, work-life, performance and recognition, development and career opportunities. Although the poll is non-scientific and respondents self-select, only WorldatWork members can access the poll and they are electronically prevented from voting more than once per poll. A typical WorldatWork member is a senior HR practitioner (i.e. employed at the manager/assistant director level and above, and has at least five years of experience in human resources or compensation). In addition, he or she is most frequently employed at the headquarters of a large company; 95 percent of the Fortune 500 companies employ a member of WorldatWork.

About WorldatWork®

The Total Rewards Association

WorldatWork (www.worldatwork.org) is the association for human resources professionals focused on attracting, motivating and retaining employees. Founded in 1955, WorldatWork provides practitioners with knowledge leadership to effectively implement total rewards – compensation, benefits, work-life, performance and recognition, development and career opportunities – by connecting employee engagement to business performance. WorldatWork supports its 30,000 members and customers in 30 countries with thought leadership, education, publications, research and certification.

The WorldatWork group of registered marks includes: WorldatWork®, workspan®, Certified Compensation Professional or CCP®, Certified Benefits Professional® or CBP, Global Remuneration Professional or GRP®, Work-Life Certified Professional or WLCPTM, WorldatWork Society of Certified Professionals®, and Alliance for Work-Life Progress® or AWLP®.

Contact:

Marcia Rhodes, APR

Media Relations

Phone: 877/951-9191 (toll free)

Direct: 480/348-7285

This press release was distributed through eMediawire by Human Resources Marketer (HR Marketer: www.HRmarketer.com) on behalf of the company listed above.

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