April 18, 2006
Articles
Lightening Workload Heightens Job Satisfaction, Productivity
"The popular practice of telecommuting merits its place as a milestone in job flexibility. So what's the next step in the work-life balancing act? Some experts think that ‘reduced-load work’ - working less than full-time in traditional full-time positions for a commensurate cut in pay and benefits - may be the next rung on the evolutionary ladder of the modern workplace.” Mentions Kathleen Christensen, Ellen Kossek and Mary Dean Lee.
The Call of the Child
"Tax season for accountants: It can't get much harder than this to balance work and the rest of life. It's one big reason for the stubbornly low rates of retention and promotion among female CPAs -- who now make up 56 percent of all newcomers to accounting firms but only 19 percent of partners, according to an industry report…”
Nine to Five, and Then Some
A Q&A on work-life balance. Mentions the work of Ellen Kossek.
A Guide to Womenomics
"The future of the world economy lies increasingly in female hands.... In 1950 only one-third of American women of working age had a paid job. Today two-thirds do, and women make up almost half of America's workforce (see chart 1). Since 1950 men's employment rate has slid by 12 percentage points, to 77%. In fact, almost everywhere more women are employed and the percentage of men with jobs has fallen--although in some countries the feminisation of the workplace still has far to go: in Italy and Japan, women's share of jobs is still 40% or less. The increase in female employment in developed countries has been aided by a big shift in the type of jobs on offer. Manufacturing work, traditionally a male preserve, has declined, while jobs in services have expanded. This has reduced the demand for manual labour and put the sexes on a more equal footing."
Sabbaticals Benefit Companies as well as Employees
"Done right, sabbatical programs have positive effects on companies as well as their employees. Sabbaticals can help prevent costly employee burn out and attract the best workers, say Andrew E. Carr and Thomas Li-Ping Tang, professors at Middle Tennessee State University, whose study, ‘Sabbaticals and Employee Motivation: Benefits, Concerns and Implications’ was published last year in the Journal of Education for Business.”