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July 12, 2012
SHRM Survey Findings: Work/Life Balance Policies
Work/Life Balance Policies ©SHRM 2012 2
Definitions
Wireless communication devices: For the purposes of this survey, wireless communication devices include cell phones, smart phones (e.g., Blackberry, iPhone, Android), tablets (e.g., iPad, Archos, PlayBook) and similar communication devices.
Work/life balance policies: For the purposes of this survey, work/life balance policies include programs that encourage flexible employee work arrangements that emphasize the value of making work and life responsibilities more manageable for employees.
Work/Life Balance Policies ©SHRM 2012 3
Key Findings
How prevalent are work/life balance policies? Twenty-four percent of organizations have a formal work/life balance policy in place, whereas approximately one-half of organizations (52%) have an informal work/life balance policy.
What elements are included in work/life balance policies? Working during vacation time was included in almost one-half of formal work/life balance policies (47%) and in over three-fifths of informal policies (62%). Working during sick time was also included in roughly one-third of formal policies (34%) and one-half of informal policies (54%).
What are supervisors/management doing to encourage employees to take time away from work to recharge? The majority of organizations (80%) indicated that their supervisors/managers encourage a healthy work/life balance within their unit/work group. Approximately two-thirds of supervisors/managers (67%) encourage employees to ask for help when necessary, and roughly one-quarter of supervisors/managers (26%) discourage employees from answering e-mails or phone calls via their wireless communication devices during nonworking hours.
Work/Life Balance Policies ©SHRM 2012 4
Organizations with Formal Work/Life Balance Policies
Work/Life Balance Policies ©SHRM 2012 5
Does your organization have a formal (i.e., written) work/life balance policy?
Note: n = 327. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis.
No
Yes
76%
24%
Work/Life Balance Policies ©SHRM 2012 6
Please indicate the elements included in your formal work/life policy:
Note: n = 79. Only respondents whose organizations have formal work/life policies were asked this question. Percentages do not equal 100% due to multiple response options. An asterisk (*) indicates that this response option was developed from open-ended responses.
Percentage
Working during vacation time 47%
Working over a specified number of hours per week in the office or away from the office for both exempt and nonexempt employees 43%
Working during sick time 34%
Flexible work arrangements* 10%
Other 9%
Work/Life Balance Policies ©SHRM 2012 7
Organizations with Informal Work/Life Balance Policies
Work/Life Balance Policies ©SHRM 2012 8
Does your organization have an informal (e.g., management practices) work/life balance policy demonstrating organizational commitment to the importance of employees taking time away from work to recharge?
Note: n = 254. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis. Only respondents whose organizations do not have formal work/life policies were asked this question.
No
Yes
48%
52%
Work/Life Balance Policies ©SHRM 2012 9
Please indicate the elements included in your informal work/life policy:
Note: n = 133. Only respondents whose organizations have informal work/life policies were asked this question. Percentages do not equal 100% due to multiple response options. An asterisk (*) indicates that this response option was developed from open-ended responses.
Percentage
Working during vacation time 62%
Working during sick time 54%
Working over a specified number of hours per week in the office or away from the office for both exempt and nonexempt employees 41%
Flexible work arrangements* 9%
Other 8%
Work/Life Balance Policies ©SHRM 2012 10
Which management practices are utilized to encourage employees to take time away from work to recharge?
Note: n = 84. Only respondents whose organizations have informal work/life policies were asked this question. Percentages do not equal 100% due to multiple response options. An asterisk (*) indicates that this response option was developed from open-ended responses.
Percentage
Supervisors/managers encourage a healthy work/life balance within their unit/work group. 80%
Supervisors/managers encourage employees to ask for help when necessary (e.g., when employee finds that he/she needs to work beyond specified work hours).
67%
Supervisors/managers discourage employees from answering e-mails or phone calls via their wireless communication devices during nonworking hours (e.g., weekends, evenings, holidays).
26%
Supervisors/managers encourage the use of PTO/vacation and sick leave.* 7%
The organization has days or time when e-mail is not used (e.g., “E-mail-Free Fridays”, “No e-mail weekends”). 1%
Other 4%
Work/Life Balance Policies ©SHRM 2012
Demographics: Organization Industry
11
Note: n = 332. Percentages do not equal 100% due to multiple response options.
Percentage
Manufacturing 17%
Finance and insurance 17%
Health care and social assistance 12%
Professional, scientific and technical services 10%
Other service except public administration 9%
Educational services 6%
Public administration 5%
Retail trade 4%
Construction 3%
Information, publishing industries 3%
Religious, grant-making, civic professional and similar organizations 3%
Transportation and warehousing 2%
Work/Life Balance Policies ©SHRM 2012
Demographics: Organization Industry (continued)
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Note: n = 332. Percentages do not equal 100% due to multiple response options. An asterisk (*) indicates < 1%.
Percentage
Wholesale trade 2%
Utilities 2%
Accommodation and food services 2%
Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services 2%
Real estate, rental and leasing 2%
Arts, entertainment and recreation 1%
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting 1%
Mining 1%
Repair and maintenance 1%
Management of companies and enterprises 1%
Personal and laundry services *
Work/Life Balance Policies ©SHRM 2012
Demographics: Organization Sector
Other
Government sector
Nonprofit organization
Publicly owned for-profit organization
Privately owned for-profit organization
3%
7%
19%
22%
49%
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n = 332
Work/Life Balance Policies ©SHRM 2012
Demographics: Organization Staff Size
25,000 or more employees
2,500 to 24,999 employees
500 to 2,499 employees
100 to 499 employees
1 to 99 employees
5%
22%
16%
31%
26%
14
n = 330
Work/Life Balance Policies ©SHRM 2012
Demographics: Other
15
Does your organization have U.S.-based operations (business units) only, or does it operate multinationally?U.S.-based operations only 74%Multinational operations 26%n = 329
Is your organization a single-unit organization or a multi-unit organization?Single-unit organization: An organization in which the location and the organization are one and the same.
33%
Multi-unit organization: An organization that has more than one location. 67%
n = 331
For multi-unit organizations, are HR policies and practices determined by the multi-unit headquarters, by each work location or by both?
Multi-unit headquarters determines HR policies and practices. 52%
Each work location determines HR policies and practices. 3%
A combination of both the work location and the multi-unit headquarters determines HR policies and practices.
45%
n = 230
What is the HR department/function for which you responded throughout this survey?Corporate (companywide) 70%Business unit/division 14%Facility/location 16%n = 230
Work/Life Balance Policies ©SHRM 2012
Response rate = 12%
Sample composed of 332 randomly selected HR professionals from SHRM’s membership
Margin of error +/-5%
Survey fielded June 9 – June 27, 2011
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Methodology
For more poll findings, visit www.shrm.org/surveys
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/SHRM_Research
SHRM Survey Findings: Work/Life Balance Policies
Project leader:Robert Boyd, survey research analyst, SHRM ResearchProject contributors:Mark Schmit, Ph.D., SPHR, vice president, SHRM ResearchEvren Esen, manager, SHRM ResearchChristina Lee, SHRM ResearchCopy Editor:Katya Scanlan, SHRM Knowledge Center
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