WHEN WORK WORKS

Take a look at statistics featured in a national study about the nation’s changing workforce and you get a disturbing profile of today’s worker:

  •      Over 40 and aging (compare that to 1977 when only a third of the workforce was over 40)… Increasingly female (49 percent women and 51 percent men)…Overworked (55 percent say they don’t have time for themselves)… Stressed out (63 percent say they don’t have time for spouses)…more and more an absentee parent (67 percent say they don’t have time for their children)

  •      FWI data reveal that 39 percent of employees are not fully engaged in their jobs, 54 percent are less than fully satisfied with their jobs and 38 percent are somewhat or very likely to make a concerted effort to find a new job in the coming year. Employers are challenged to recruit talent, engage and retain workers, and maximize productivity.

  •      Research finds that employees in effective and flexible workplaces are more likely to be engaged in helping their organizations succeed, more likely to be satisfied with their jobs, more likely to stay with their employer and more likely to be in better mental health.

 

When Work Works is a nationwide initiative to highlight the importance of workforce effectiveness and workplace flexibility as strategies to enhance businesses’ competitive advantage in the global economy and yield positive business results. When Work Works is a project of Families and Work Institute (FWI) sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in partnership with Institute for a Competitive Workforce, an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the Twiga Foundation. Birmingham was chosen to be one of thirty three communities to participate in the initiative in 2008, and the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce facilitates the initiative for the region.

 

The Sloan Awards

The When Work Works initiative awards the Sloan Awards for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility to companies that have successfully used flexibility to meet both business and employee goals. Using a rigorous methodology that includes employees’ views as well as employer practices in its scoring, the Sloan Awards honor organizations that have made real commitments to using workplace flexibility as a tool to enhance business and employees’ success. The application process for the Sloan Awards in the 30 participating communities is now open for 2008. The application deadline for the Birmingham Region is March 31.

For more information on When Work Works and the Sloan awards, contact Meredith Davidson at (205)241-8115 or visit www.whenworkworks.org.