Work in Progress, Worklife, Workplace, TIME

January 29, 2007 4:00

Time Is a Valuable Commodity for Workers

Posted by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen | Comments (8) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0) | Email This

Time. I think a lot about time, and not just because it's the name of the news organization I work for. Like most working people, I find time--or the lack of it--an eternal frustration, an unwinnable battle, the bane of my harried existence. My every day is a race against the clock that I never, ever seem to win.

This is hardly a lonesome complaint. According to the Families and Work Institute's National Study of the Changing Workforce, 55% of employees say they don't have enough time for themselves, 63% don't have enough time for their spouses or partners, and 67% don't have enough time for their children.

It's also not a new complaint. I bet our ancestors returned home from hunting boar and gathering nuts and carped about how little time they had to paint epic battle scenes on their cave walls. The difference is that the boss of boar hunting and head of nut gathering probably told them to shut their traps--or no survival for you.

Today's workers are still demanding control over their time. Difference is, today's bosses are listening.

I've been reading a report issued today called "When Work Works," produced jointly by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Families and Work Institute, Institute for a Competitive Workforce and the Twiga Foundation. Those organizations set out to find and award the employers who employed the most creative and most effective ways to give their workers flexibility. The report is a detailed and highly readable look at those methods and policies. I think every boss and HR operative should troll it for ideas.

Check out First Tennessee Bank. The report specifically cites a branch in Chattanooga with 157 employees, "virtually all" of whom have taken advantage of some of the bank's flex-time allowances, including unpaid leaves of up to 16 weeks and flexible scheduling for tellers. One key practice is an annual survey the bank administers to all of its workers, asking them to rate their managers for their "adherence to the flexibility guidelines." That way, a supervisor knows that if she insists a team member skip his niece's wedding to finish a project in time, she's going to hear about it from her boss.

Why are employers becoming more sensitive to workers' need for flexibility now? One reason, I think, is that some of them--the evolved ones--can read the demographic writing on the wall. The National Study of the Changing Workforce also found that:

• In 1977, 38% of the workforce was over 40; today, it's 56%.

• Women make up nearly half of the wage and salaried workforce.

• More households include dual-earner couples: 78% today, vs. 66% in 1977.

Meantime, the pressures of the 24/7 workplace are mounting. As a result:

• 39% of employees are not fully engaged in their jobs.

• 54% are less than fully satisfied with their jobs.

• 38% are somewhat or very likely to make a concerted effort to find a new job in the coming year.

When it comes to time, I think what we want most is to feel fully engaged in whatever we're doing at the moment--be it designing a pie chart or singing in the church choir. By giving us a little more control over how we spend our time, companies go a long way toward ensuring we're not timing our exits.

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Reader Comments (8)

Sam:

Two words: Franklin Planner

Posted by Sam | January 29, 2007 9:13 PM

Marchie:

i believe all of us would agree that time is indeed precious. we have to compete with time all the time to accomplish our daily tasks.
even if i am still a student i am already having hard time budgeting my time for school,social life and for my part time work. how much more those who are already workig and having family. i can't imagine how they allocate their time properly.
i really have learned something from your post and that is the importance of time.

Posted by Marchie | January 30, 2007 12:46 AM

LaDawn Clare-Panton:

One Word: Priorities

Posted by LaDawn Clare-Panton | January 30, 2007 2:41 PM

Sam:

I got trumped! Until I think of a zero word comeback, I concede.

Posted by Sam | January 31, 2007 1:24 PM

Gerry:

You know how when you get a raise and think that you'll be able to save that extra cash, but always seem to spend it somehow? Same thing with free time, for me anyway. I have the flexiest of flex time, and here it is, 9:30 and I'm just now sitting down to do something that I want to do--reading your blog.

But why sum it up in one word when Pink Floyd sang it best in Time from Dark Side of the Moon, which--unbelievably--didn't make it on Time's 100 Best Albums list. The second line of the last verse is particulary apt:

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day / You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way / Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town / Waiting for someone or something to show you the way

Tired of lying in the sunshine, staying home to watch the rain / You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today / And then one day you find ten years have got behind you /
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking / And racing around to come up behind you again / The sun is the same in the relative way, but you're older / Shorter of breath and one day closer to death

Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time / Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines / Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way / The time is gone, the song is over, thought Id something more to say

Posted by Gerry | January 31, 2007 9:33 PM

Anne Witkavitch:

As one who is juggling family, career, and graduate school pursuing my dream to write and publish, I hear the same comment over and over again: “I don’t know how you do it.”

I cringe each time I hear this phrase. Although it's meant as a compliment, what bothers me most is the implication that this special talent comes naturally, easily, and with no sacrifice or price to pay.

Time management and work/life balance is all about what's important to us and how that ties into the choices we make. It's about the 4 Ps - purpose, passion, priorities, plan. Understanding our purpose -- or why we do what we do -- correlates to our passions, the things we are just plain crazy about. From there, we can better prioritize all of the things that bombard us in our lives -- papers due, project deadlines, meetings, school plays. And once priorities are clear, we can structure a plan to stay focused to ensure that we meet our goals.

Having the 4 Ps down pat helps take the stress out of work/life balance because we're not trying to do everything -- just the things that matter most.

Posted by Anne Witkavitch | March 22, 2007 10:53 PM

David:

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Posted by David | May 20, 2007 9:24 AM

Learn Chinese:

really agree with you. I am learning Chinese in China. I found out many workers (from suburb) have to work over 15 hours a day without bonus and live in very poor room with terrible environment. Some mining environment is dangerous. But China government always protects boss. That is why so many foreign investors like to open business in China.

Posted by Learn Chinese | August 23, 2007 4:05 AM

About Work In Progress

Nina Subin

Lisa Takeuchi Cullen is a staff writer for TIME. She blogs about work. Why? Because TV was taken. Think of her as the grumpy colleague ranting by the water cooler.
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Email her here:
lisa_cullen at timemagazine.com