Letter from the President
Dear Friends:

As many of you probably know, October was “National Work and Family Month.” This designation was made by the U.S. Senate via Resolution 210, which declares that “reducing the conflict between work and family life should be a national priority.” Interestingly, National Work and Family Month is celebrated as part of the larger “National Work/Life Initiative,” a multi-year campaign to heighten awareness of work/life effectiveness as a key business issue.

Clearly, work/life has “arrived.” It is now acknowledged as a truly significant issue for the worldwide business community. All of you who have made work/life your vocation should take a measure of pride in this fact. Your diligence and hard work over the years are paying off.

I’m sure that some of you can recall, as I can, the not-too-distant days when “work/life friendly” meant that an organization offered a modest child care benefit. Today, of course, work/life spans the entire spectrum of employees’ personal and family needs, from child and adult care to educational resources to financial and legal needs and far beyond. Work/life offers employers the rare opportunity to instill programs that benefit workers and organizations alike.

But there’s still progress to be made. Consider the following:

	A recent poll conducted by CareerWomen.comTM, a web site belonging to a women-owned e-recruiting network, found that 53 percent of respondents are struggling to achieve work/life balance.
	Sixty-one percent of those responding to a recent Families and Work Institute survey say they would give up some of their pay for more time with their family.
	The Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., found that Americans averaged 1,878 hours on the job in 2000. That’s up more than 10 percent from 1980—and it’s a larger increase than in any other rich, industrialized country.

For those of us in the work/life arena, these findings remind us that we can still help this nation’s workforce attend to their personal and professional responsibilities more effectively. Hopefully, this will mean bringing work/life benefits to greater numbers of people in the years ahead. But, equally important, I believe it means that we need to promote work/life programs more vigorously where they already exist.

Just as with all benefit programs (medical, dental, vision, etc.), employees need to be educated and continually re-educated about using their work/life benefits appropriately. One great place to accomplish this is at your annual open enrollment meetings. I encourage LifeCare clients, in particular, to leverage your work/life program as a piece of “good news” at these meetings—especially if you have to deliver news about the rising costs of your medical benefits. Remind your employees that you continue to look for ways to expand and improve their overall benefits package with programs such as LifeCare.

Also please remember that we have a wide range of marketing materials that can be fully customized for your organization. You can chose from brochures, e-mail articles, flyers, a monthly poster program, payroll inserts, table tent cards, post cards and more. Simply contact your account manager to discuss your options. You can also talk with your account manager about creating specialized communications and promotional materials as well. We’ll be happy to help you design something unique to match your organization’s culture and needs.

As always, we value your feedback and would appreciate knowing how we can better serve you. Call us at 800-873-4636, e-mail us at connection@lifecare.com, or fax us at 203-291-3571.

And finally, I wish all of you and your families a happy and healthy Holiday Season!

Sincerely,

John B. Place, President