Letter from the CEO
Dear Friends:

CFO.com recently posted an interesting article about the substantial positive effect that work/life flexibility can have on an organization's bottom line.

The article featured survey results from accounting firm BDO Seidman, which interviewed 100 CFOs whose companies have at least 5,000 employees. Three-quarters of the survey respondents said that work/life programs have a high or moderate positive impact on productivity and on differentiating their organizations from competitors. And more than half said they expect a high or moderate effect on health-care costs.

Another interesting statistic the article shared is that 65% of CFOs said that companies can't rely solely on HR to champion their flexibility efforts. They believe that the direct involvement of senior management in planning and execution is crucial. Seventy-five percent said that involvement and support from business unit leadership is also very important.

While the article focused primarily on flexible work schedules, I believe these findings translate to your other work/life programs as well. What good are wellness programs, child and elder care services, backup care programs, daily life resources, etc. if they're not owned, shaped and touted by senior management? How much impact can you expect from these programs if they're not supported by leadership throughout your organization, at every site and at every level?

Hopefully, your senior teams were involved in your work/life efforts from the beginning. But if they weren't, one of the best ways to get their buy-in and support is to report the bottom-line results that your programs deliver. Your work/life vendors should provide you with regular reports that share results-oriented data. If your organization's leadership doesn't appreciate the connection between the work/life programs you provide employees and the bottom-line results they're delivering, you probably don't have a success gap. You have a communication gap—and that can be remedied. Hold your work/life partners accountable for delivering results and sharing them compellingly.

As always, we're interested in knowing how we can better serve you, so e-mail us at connection@lifecare.com, fax us at 203-291-3571, or call us at 800-873-4636 4636 to share ideas and offer feedback.

Sincerely,

Peter G. Burki, CEO