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"The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook." - William James

Working Parents Want Flextime

Flextime - the ability to alter the time at which they start and end their workday - would have the most impact on their ability to handle both their work and home life responsibilities, said a staggering 80% of respondents to our recent homepage survey. Being allowed to work from home was second, with 70% of the more than 100 respondents checking that option. And 56% opted for having more control over how their job was done. Nearly 40% opted for more paid leave options and the same number said what would help the most was training or encouraging their manager to be more flexible.

Providing or subsidizing childcare was chosen by one-third of respondents and 22% opted for backup or emergency dependent care, but Work & Family Connection president Susan Seitel points out that an average 16% of U.S. workers have children under six. "That means chances are good that nearly all of our respondents with young children, and probably some who don't have kids yet, feel having their employers provide or subsidize either regular or backup childcare would be the most impactful thing they could do. Seminars to improve parenting skills had the vote of just 19%, but again, that's probably about half of those with children under 18."

Slightly more than one-third thought the ability to reduce their hours or share a job would have the most impact, providing or subsidizing continuing education was most important for 30% and time-saving services had the vote of one-fourth of respondents.

Says Seitel, "This really makes the case for looking at individual needs and providing a life-cycle array of options. For the 33% who need and want help with childcare, that's what will keep them in your workforce. For the 30% who said they wanted help with continued education, that will the gift that keeps on giving. And flexible scheduling options will obviously hold on to the highest number of people."
 
These insights compliments of Work & Family Connection at http://www.workfamily.com.
 

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