Tips For Energizing Others (as well as the bottom line)

Human Resource Magazine reported some time ago a direct correlation between business benefits of work & family programs and increased customer retention. First Tennessee Bank surveyed employees and customers at their branches and found that by meeting employees' needs, it encouraged employees in turn to provide more value to the customers. To assure the effectiveness of work/life programs, address issues with a systemic culture-change focus rather than as a benefit. Examine traditional assumptions such as:

• hours worked are the only indicator of commitment and productivity;

• part-time workers aren't as committed;

• single people can give more time to work;

• men have at-home wives;

• numbers of meetings attended equate to how you value the company.

Involve everyone in the organization. Management might change the assumptions but a co-worker could hold that a part-time peer is "shirking". Examine workflow. Does the system reward people for working all night, even though the rest of the workweek suffers from sleep deprivation?? If work is cyclical, can there be flexibility built into the schedule? Can work be realigned to accommodate a task that needs uninterrupted, focused time? Something to consider.