UNEXPECTED CONNECTIONS - CONSIDERING EMPLOYEES PERSONAL LIVES CAN REVITALIZE YOUR BUSINESS

Efforts to integrate work and personal life affect people at all organ izational levels. Traditional approaches seem to exacerbate the proble m by pitting employee and business goals against each other. The autho rs' approach to integration is based on linking personal lives and wor k in an opportunity to innovate and change. In a research project, Bai lyn et al. worked with a company known for leading-edge employee benef its to find out why employees were not fully using those benefits. At each site, they collaborated to help employees better integrate work w ith personal lives ann help the site meet its business goals. They hel ped product development team members change work practices so they cou ld get their own work done during the day and reduce emergencies By le aking at the work from the perspective of people's personal lives, the authors found areas of stress that were hindering work efforts. In a highly controlled customer service center, a three-month experiment in flexible scheduling resulted in a reduction in absenteeism and improv ed customer service. Again, the authors used workers' personal lives t o identify how old cultural assumptions undermined progress. In anothe r group, the authors helped members identify synergies between sales a nd service and respond to personal needs at the same time. In all case s, Bailyn et al. began by looking at the stresses in people's lives an d then considering how to alter the work situation to improve their li ves. The authors' three-step approach is: 1. View work from the perspe ctive of personal life. 2. Identify was to change work practices to im prove effectiveness and enhance work and personal life. 3. Implement w ork-practice improvements. In the end, it is the link between personal lives and strategic issues an unexpected connection - that becomes th e lever for challenging work practices.