Policies Should Mirror Change in Work Force

One of the tasks facing U.S. business is to recognize changes taking place in the nation’s work force and to establish policies that make the most of these changes instead of operating at odds with them.

Although the changes have been written about frequently, many executives still believe that things are much the way they were when they started out. Unlike the days when most workers were the only family breadwinner, more than 60% of the average payroll now is made up of individuals from two-career families. More than half of all women with children under age 6 now work.

Those two statistics alone say a great deal about what the people in the offices and on the factory floor may be facing in the way of new pressures away from the job. Add to that the higher educational level of the labor force, and there’s a vast change in work attitudes from the days when the current top executives got their start in the mail room. Employees seek more challenge and are less inclined to commit to a lifetime at one company.

More companies recognize the change and are tailoring jobs accordingly. A good example is Transamerica Occidental Life in Los Angeles, which employs about 3,800 persons in its home office and has a good dozen years of experience with some parts of its program already.

Firm Offers Flextime

Women make up a large portion of the company’s payroll. Hence, at the heart of its program is so-called flextime. This permits employees at all levels to choose a work schedule beginning as early as 7 a.m. or as late as 9 a.m. Lunch breaks can run 30 minutes up to 60 minutes, letting employees determine when their 7 3/4-hour day will end.

One mother saves the cost of a sitter by starting late enough to drop her child at school. She is able to arrange day care for after school until she gets home.

The plan requires some scheduling with supervisors to see that desks are covered throughout the day. A few employees also must stick to rigid schedules tied to the company’s computer operations.

The overall program, however, involves a philosophy that “we want to be a quality provider (of insurance) and to do it in a way that respects the dignity and contribution of each person in the company,” explains Sandra Comrie, human resources vice president.

The company now backs its longstanding flexible hour plan with a year-old child-care referral program for mothers. Comrie believes that this has kept many women on the payroll who might have been forced to leave. An average of about 30 employees a month take advantage of the program, which keeps track of care facilities around the city and the number of vacancies at any given time. The company believes that the cost of the referral system is more than offset by reduced employee turnover.

Child-Care Study

Transamerica Occidental is one of a number of downtown employers currently looking into a program through United Way to try to increase child-care capacity in the city.

One added benefit offered by the company is an early Friday quitting time that operates in the warm-weather months from May 1 to Oct. 31. Employees are required to work only 5 1/2 hours on those Fridays.

How much does that cost? Probably nothing, Comrie says. People simply work harder during a shorter work period.

The company also has a limited job-sharing program in which a couple of part-timers can be used to make up a full day or week. Job sharing is one of those programs that only a few companies have tried so far but that fits nicely into the two-career profile of the modern work force. With family incomes bolstered by two jobs, job sharing allows a couple to adjust its work day to accommodate the need for time at home with children or simply for more leisure. It’s also a way to tap some talented retired people not eager to work full time.

Innovative personnel policies such as these got a high-level boost last week when Labor Secretary William E. Brock III called for legislation that would give workers the right to flextime. Corporate leaders can’t resist for long the need and logic of such programs.