Why Working Fathers - CAN Help Moms Too?

Body: Why Help Working Fathers?



Working parents want to spend time with their families and show their commitment to their employer! A 2002 USA Today (12/9/2002) poll (taken during a recession) found that “finding time with family was a more pressing concern than layoffs.” It's not just women that are seeking work/family balance in their lives. Dads are too!



Helping Working Fathers Leads to Successful Businesses



Today’s working father cares deeply about succeeding at work and at home. Men report higher levels of interference between their jobs and family lives than do women in the same situation.[1] More than half of fathers, in fact, report that they are under a great deal of stress dealing with the pressures at work and the demands at home.[2] One factor that has undoubtedly led to this stress is that fathers have increased the time they spend on doing household chores by more than 42 minutes a day. [3] Mom’s share of the housework, while certainly more than dad’s, has not increased in recent times.



But, why should a business care about helping fathers balance work and family?

Here are just a few reasons:

Fathers are more likely to have career success, as well as happy marriages… devoted dads on average are more likely to thrive in their careers.[5]

Fathers who care for their children’s intellectual development and their adolescent’s social development are more likely to advance in their occupations.[6]

Well-adapted fathers more successfully learn and master leadership skills.[4]

When companies help fathers balance work and family, they help themselves!



In other words, they improve their bottom line through increased productivity and loyalty, and reduced absenteeism and health care costs!



Need some evidence?

A study by IBM, for example, found that the highest performers in the company are more likely to focus on balancing work and family than employees who performed at a lower level.



Johnson and Johnson enjoyed a 50 percent decrease in absenteeism among employees who use flexible work options and family leave policies.



Employees at DuPont who use work-family balance programs are more likely to “go the extra mile” for the company.

Struggling with High Turnover?



Offering work-family policies and programs helps businesses realize tangible gains! Plus, increased employee loyalty (a bi-product of helping employees balance work and family) reduces the costs associated with turnover! The Society for Human Resource Management reports that it costs an average of $2,328 to hire and train a new non-exempt employee and a whopping $9,328 to hire and train a new exempt employee. Wouldn’t you rather be spending that money somewhere else?



Need Good News for Shareholders?



Helping employees balance work and family can also provide a positive return to shareholders. In 2004, for example, Fortune magazine’s List of Best Places to Work placed Smuckers in the top spot. The company boasts a workplace culture that celebrates its employees and promotes respect for all as if employees were family. The company has not only posted incredibly high worker satisfaction, but its stock has had a total return of 100 percent over the past five years.



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[1] The National Study of the Changing Workforce 2003 (Families and Work Institute)

[2] CareerBuilder.com (June 2003)

[3] The National Study of the Changing Workforce 2003 (Families and Work Institute)

[4] William Pollack, Ph.D., Harvard University

[5] John Snarery, Ph.D., of Emory University in “How Fathers Care for the Next Generation”

[6] Erik Erikson, Ph.D., in “Childhood and Society”

[7] The term “work and family balance” is now considered part of “work/life fit” or “work/family effectiveness,” a movement within business to help all employees, whether parents or not, to find balance between their work and their lives outside of work.

[8] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

[9] U.S. Department of Commerce

[10] Entrepreneur Magazine (June 2003)