Companies Pitch Flextime as Macho

An older arti­cle from December of 2006, but an inter­est­ing look at what some large firms are doing to try and retain their work force. WSJ​.com — Companies Pitch Flextime as Macho:

Here’s a novel approach to keep­ing women in the work force: Focus on men.

Some employ­ers are try­ing to over­come a per­ceived stigma on flex­i­ble work schedules—often viewed as a con­ces­sion to women—by redefin­ing the issue as a quality-​​of-​​life con­cern for every­one. The approach is gain­ing trac­tion, espe­cially in the male-​​dominated financial-​​services sec­tor, where employ­ers have long strug­gled to retain and pro­mote women.

Among the tech­niques com­pa­nies are test­ing: high­light­ing suc­cess­ful men who have tapped flex­i­ble work arrange­ments; encour­ag­ing more employ­ees to work from home part of the time; and pro­mot­ing alter­na­tive career paths.

Many of the ideas aren’t new, but it’s the first time they have been aggres­sively pitched to men. Encouraging men to con­sider flex­i­ble work arrange­ments is a way of “mak­ing it legit­i­mate,” says Sylvia Ann Hewlett, pres­i­dent of the Center for Work-​​Life Policy, a New York research and advo­cacy group.

Note: Link to arti­cle has been revised due to changes at the WSJ site (May 13, 2008).