Chickagoan

Work isn’t working. In a 24/7 work culture, leaving the office doesn’t necessarily mean leaving work. Men and women are struggling to balance work and life commitments: raising children, taking care of aging parents, or just making ends meet and taking care of themselves. At the same time, dual earning households are increasing in numbers, and many are having a difficult time returning to their jobs if they take time off.

United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius once told TIME Magazine, “We live in a society where too many people make workers choose – do you want to be a good parent, or do you want to be a good worker?” But early in her career, as executive director of the Kansas Trial Lawyers Association, she took her two infant sons to work with her – a custom-fit, flexible work policy that allowed her to meet her responsibilities at home and on the job, without sacrificing one for the other.

Davis, a software engineer, worked virtually for a year when his wife took a position over seas. Jennifer is part of the Jet Blue call center in Utah; she works from home. George, who works in a Results Only Work Environment, says he can’t imagine doing a daily commute to work any more. He used to spend hours in traffic, but he gets far more done now working from home and coming to the office only when he has a purpose for being there.

These stories and other examples of how employers can not only accommodate workers’ needs but also improve their bottom line are detailed in The Custom-Fit Workplace: Choose When, Where, and How to Work and Boost Your Bottom Line, a new book by MomsRising (an online and on-the-ground grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to achieve economic security for all families in the United States) founder Joan Blades and Nanette Fondas.  This ground-breaking new book is a guide for managers and employees at all levels to navigate this workplace revolution. It details best practices used by private companies and nonprofits across the country, which have created win-win situations for both businesses and employees.

These cutting-edge, custom-fit practices include work-from-home arrangements, results-only work environments, babies-at-work programs, and successful career lane changes, among others. In fact, Jet Blue, Ernst & Young, Best Buy and the University of California are among the companies that have already put these kinds of flexible policies in place for their employees, and their success stories are profiled in the book.

The Custom-Fit Workplace has important and far-reaching implications for the way we work and improving not only people’s lives but companies’ bottom lines. This research-based book presents flexible work tactics to help workers integrate their work and home responsibilities, and allow managers to tap into the power of their key asset: their employees.

In addition to the book, which was released this month and is now available on Amazon.com, a Custom-Fit Workplace website will launch in the next couple of weeks. It will provide more information on reshaping workplaces, and allow people to submit their own stories of struggle and success.

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