Summary and Recommendations from
the Chancellor's Ad-Hoc Committee
on Work/Life Policies

[Background] [Committee Membership] [Selected Results from the Survey]
[Recommendations Based Directly on the Survey]
[Recommendations Based on the Open-Ended Portions of the Survey and the
Committee's Work with the UW-L Community] [Summary]

BACKGROUND

The committee was formed to assess UW-L employees' perceptions of our current Work/Life needs, policies and services. The committee conducted a study of all UW-L employees and surveyed relevant research in order to provide recommendations of ways to help make UW-L a workplace that promotes healthy worklife/family life balance.

One of the impetuses for the formation of this committee was our interest in helping UW-L become a cutting edge "Work/Life" workplace. Universities, in general, have been slow to initiate services and policies that promote family/work balance. When Working Mother magazine put out its special issue on the 100 best companies for working mothers in October of 1996, there was only one university among the list and this was the first year an institute of high learning (Stanford University) had made their list. Additionally, in a 1995 report entitled "College and University Reference Guide to Work Family Programs," the majority of college campuses were found to be "doing very little to help their employees." Work/family conflicts are particularly apparent in occupations characterized by rigid promotion timelines such as academia, law, accounting and the military. In academia where a stated timeline exists for achieving tenure in higher education, faculty who require more time to reach the next level are penalized, either through dismissal (up-or-out) or insufficient promotional opportunities in the future. Male and female professionals in these industries need a quick start to succeed, and the intense effort on their part to meet the requirements often precludes other activities, including tending to family obligations. Like many universities, UW-L is facing a large number of retirements in the next several years and is poised to be hiring faculty and staff from demographic groups most likely to benefit from solid work/family policies.

Overall, the committee sees increased visibility for family-friendly issues to be a positive change for the UW-L campus and a needed change for the UW-L environment.

COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP

The committee is chaired by Betsy Morgan, Psychology; Jodie Vandenberg-Daves, History; Donna Anderson, Economics; and Jennifer Wilson, Human Resources; and its membership is comprised of 12 other UW-L classified and unclassified employees who represent a blend of UW-L’s colleges and constituencies:  Diane Dobbs, Academic Services; Jill Jensen-Brye, Financial Aid; Jay Lokken, International Education; Mick Miyamoto, Student Life; Deon Nontelle, Biology; Mitu Pati, Internal Audit; Penny Tiedt, Continuing Education & Extension; Tim Tritch, Career Services; Susan Willey, Management; Martin Winchester, Custodial Services; Sue Wrobel, Campus Child Care; and Teresa Znidarsich, Psychology.

SELECTED RESULTS FROM THE SURVEY

In the spring of 1997, the committee created a questionnaire regarding three major areas: assessment of current policies and services, appraisal of potential work/family policies and open-ended responses on current and future issues.  The survey was mailed to all 947 UW-L employees.  A copy of the survey with some additional results reported is provided as Appendix H, available from any committee member.

Sample Characteristics:

• Three hundred and twenty-two respondents completed the questionnaire (response rate of 33%).  The sample was comprised of 170 females (53%) and 148 males (46%) and was 95 percent European-American.  The median age was 46.  Forty percent are faculty or lecturers, whereas 60 percent are non-instructional academic staff and classified staff.  Fifty-seven percent indicated that they were currently caring for children (median number of children was 2), whereas the remaining 42 percent were not.

Overall Findings:

• Clear consensus on support for Work/Life policies at UW-L.  (e.g., the average response to the question         “Do you personally feel that UW-L should promote policies and services that help employees balance work  and family?” was 4.24 on a five point scale where “5” indicated “a great deal of support.”  The standard deviation was .96).
• Clear evidence that we need to promote more awareness of our current policies and services (e.g., 30 percent of the sample reported being generally unaware of the services’ existence).
• Strong empirical support for creating or expanding Work/Life services/policies.

Of particular note:

• Some evidence clearly suggested a need to improve the quality of worklife here at UW-L.  Our questionnaire was designed to compare the UW-L responses to a sample of corporate workers.  On 17 out of the 23           questions UW-L respondents saw their work climate as significantly more negative.  For example, a full 69 percent of the corporate sample endorsed or strongly endorsed the question “Does your company recognize and respect people’s family responsibilities?”  Only 41 percent of the UW-L sample endorsed that same statement.   And, although respondents largely liked their jobs, there was a clear sense of lack of morale and a feeling of being “squeezed.” We all recognize that each employee at UW-L has been asked to do more with less, but this committee was surprised at the depth of the response and thinks that the issue deserves more attention by a larger segment of the UW-L community.  We also feel that corporate America may have much to offer as UW-L looks into ways to improve worklife quality.

RECOMMENDATIONS BASED DIRECTLY ON THE SURVEY

1. Promote our current services through several routes, namely the creation of a work/family web page accessible from the Human Resources home page.  This page will provide in-depth information on a variety of topics and provide helpful links to other pertinent information.  Additionally, we would like to promote this page once it is active with coverage in Campus Connection and other news faculty/staff sources (Dean's Council, etc.), as well as in letters to potential employees.  [See Appendix A of the actual report for an example of the web page structure.] Finally, we want to make sure that each of the colleges’ mentoring programs are well-versed in our current policy and services.
 
2. Explore the need for new complementary services.    We need to carefully monitor increases in needs in various areas (e.g., childcare).   Additionally, the committee has identified 5 areas where UW-L should expand services (see attachments B-F on each): low-cost education loans,  job sharing, limited paid personal leave, relocation services, and domestic partner benefits.  Each appendix in the actual report provides the results of our research into each of these areas.  However, below we have highlighted the committee's general recommendation regarding each.

Low-Cost Education Loans
Recommendation:  The committee supports the Chancellor and/or other UW-L administrators or committees who may wish to more seriously consider the option of low-cost education loans.  We do feel that it would be a highly attractive recruiting tool.

Job Sharing
Recommendation: The committee recommends that supervisors receive periodic training/information on flexible work options so they can initiate and respond to requests from employees for flexible time arrangements.  However, the committee wants employees to be fully aware of both the costs and benefits of various arrangements such as these.

Limited Paid Personal Leave
Recommendation: The Work/Life committee recommends that UW-L continue with its current policy.

Relocation Services
Recommendation: The committee strongly recommends that Human Resources work on incorporating a stage into the hiring process wherein potential employees will be made aware of the relocation services and links available at UW-L.

Domestic Partner Benefits
Recommendation: The  committee strongly endorses both the UW-L services inclusion and the statewide adoption of policy to provide for domestic partners.

3.  Identify specific people who can serve as contacts regarding various issues.  One way to improve the promotion of our services is to identify a specific individual who can be the “frontline” for referral to other resources.  We will generate a list of individuals willing to serve and this information will be available on the web site and from the staff of Human Resources.
 
4.  Create a standing committee on these issues which periodically checks on the progress of the recommendations and monitors changes in the workplace climate.  In particular this committee needs to keep an eye on UW-L’s shifting demographics and monitor these changes’ impact on work/family needs.  We would also like   Information Technology to be able to place a counter on our Work/Life web site in order to monitor the visitation rates.

RECOMMENDATIONS BASED ON THE OPEN-ENDED PORTIONS OF THE SURVEY AND THE COMMITTEE'S WORK WITH THE UW-L COMMUNITY.

1. Actively encourage supervisors to be “Work/Life” themselves and to be familiar with the resources.  The committee would like to see ongoing efforts in training supervisors to recognize and respond to work/family issues.  We would like this training to be mandatory and we would like the Chancellor's cabinet to actively encourage this training in work/family balance issues.  In fact, the cabinet might be encouraged to attend the training sessions to model the importance of these issues. In particular, supervisors should be mindful of the following issues:

• Workload issues.  Are the demands of the job commensurate with the number of hours expected?  Many respondents (both faculty and staff) showed significant concern about work expectations that are not attainable within the time allotted.  Concerns were raised about losing family time to increased work pressures.
• Flexibility.  Survey results suggest that supervisor resistance is one of the key problems in enacting flexible schedules.  Supervisors need to be encouraged to consider alternate schedules more seriously and use Human Resources to help with any wrinkles.
• Meeting times.  The timing of meetings should consider classic family issues such as the usual time that schools/childcare centers open and close.  Last minute meetings are particularly hard on individuals who arrange for child or elder care.
• Course times and semester schedules.  Course times should be reflective of both faculty and student needs.  Our current semester schedule has been singled out for three primary problems:
  1) The “Tuesdays are Fridays” policy which creates problems when childcare schedules are dependent on partner/spouses’ or childcare set schedules
  2) A fall semester schedule that pushes finals so close to a holiday traditionally celebrated by a large segment of the population. Additionally, grades tend to be due very close to these holidays, which frequently increases family demands for most employees.
  3) Try to coincide breaks with other major institutions in La Crosse (e.g., public schools, WWTC, Viterbo, etc.). We have drafted a letter to Diane Schumacher regarding these scheduling issues.

2.  Keep work/family issues visible and in the forefront.  In addition to supervisor training and improvement of resources and referrals, UW-L needs to keep the discussion of work/family issues active.  In particular, we would recommend speakers on work/family issues and features in the Campus Connection regarding resources and ideas.
 
3.   Make employee's families feel welcome to the UW-L community.  One way of improving the feeling of inclusion is to have "Campus Dames" change both its charter and its name to incorporate a wider variety of family forms.  If the group were to reorganize as "Friends of UW-L" (e.g.) it could continue on its tradition of good work and social planning for all partners/spouses or individuals who would like to support UW-L.  It is contradictory to Work/Life policy to have a university group that only serves male faculty members’ wives.

SUMMARY

Compared to other universities, UW-L  clearly provides many positive services and policies to help balance work/family.   However, it is also clear that UW-L needs to continue to promote its services and expand into new areas. Due to the demographic changes expected in the employee pool, this is the perfect time for UW-L to be addressing these issues more fully.  Even with conservative estimates, UW-L is projecting a 25% to 30% turnover rate due to retirements over the next five to seven years.   Overall, we strongly recommend that the administration actively pursue measures to improve the worklife quality at UW-L and we see Work/Life policy as just one avenue toward this improvement.

The complete report along with summary recommendation tables 
and appendices is available from any committee member.

Report completed December 15, 1997

(endorsed by the Faculty Senate 4/16/98)

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