When the natrator uscs the phr&se "bow the woild catcbes me up" (line 76). she is most likely refeill tc how shé: is infiuenced by her everyday. contemporary lif¢, is oftell afraid of what is happening in the outsidi world. 31 GO O.N TO THE NEXT PAGE AcTlF Passage 11 workers whose jobs allowed them autonomy and inpllt 55 in decisions benefited most from the company's work and family programs. These employces reported that the policies noi only helped them balance work and family demands but ItL4de them moie committed to their jobs: They submitted twice as many quality 60 improvement suggestsons as workers who did not use work-family benefitB. If a job was designed poorly, however, offttnng h-ttle autonomy or control, the bene-: fits were of little help. Not all jobs, of course, seem to invite such reforni. 65 Factory shift workers have ]ittle choict but to ieport to work at specific hourg. As a resulL they are rarcly able to take advantage of PTograTns designed to give employess more flcxibility'in their lives.. But if the work itself is designed in a less-structured way, with 70 both personal and business go.als in Jnind. even shift workers benefiL SOCIAL SCIENCE: This passage is adapted from "Companies in a Famlly War by Amy Saltzman, which appear8d in U.S. Naws & World Report {Q1997 by U.S. News and World Report Inc.). This is the paradox of the American workplace: Most companies Dow realize they must make conces- sions to a woild where both parents work, and an increasing. number offer flextime [flexible working 5 hour8]. child carc, and other progiams to help ernployees cope. But the same companies ¢Kpect their .most ambitious and devoted workers to forgo such optiO]LS or to take advalltage of them only in Ord to spend more hours at the office. They adbere to a blue- 10 pIint for success draftcd 40 years ago when men wellt to work and women stayed home. In this conception, work is firmly in the center and "personal life" 13 squeczed into Whatev space Iemains. At a handful. of companies, however. an experi- 15 ment is underway that turns this fomulation on its head. RatheT than appellding "fan]ily frieiidly" pro- grains to a trathtional conception of office life, these frns are r¢defining the nature of work itself, makillg balanced lives for employses a central tenet around . 20 which the rest of the company is designed. Like most new philosophies, this one was born of necessity. Studies show workers wt more balanced lives, and companies are wise to adapt if thcy want to stay competitive. Most cory0rati0] start out offering 25 traditional job flexibility programs, but few employees take advantage of them. Child care would seem a good way to help workers handle farniIresponsibilities, but in some cases it adds a new level of anxiety. With emergency child care available, for example. an 30 employee can now cplne to work even when a child is too ill for day care. secure in the knowledge that a.com- plete stranger is tending the toddler. "We had to ask ourselves if this is really the message we wanted to be sending employees-that work should come fst no matter what,"" says Patricia Nazemetz, diIector of bumall resource policies and practices at a large te£h- nology colllpally. At one car roaiiufacturing compaiiy. for exam'ple, an unusual four-day, l O-hour-a-day workweek, with rotating.day and night shifts, offers workers more 75 options while allowing the company to keep the plant operatillg six days a weeL 20 hours a day, with min- ial overtiine. WoIkers get five consecutive days off at the end of each three-week rotatioTr Because they dou't eed to use leave time for appointments. these 80 employee3 have fewer personal obligations that cut into productivity. And because teams are responsible for decidirtg how management's goals will be met, employees who Deed a day off can simply switch with another tcarn membei whell personal problems do arise. Few companies. trf coursc, have the luxuiy of cre- ating a Dew work culture from scratch, as that company did. But even well-established companies can learn from the innovative auto mauufacturer: When such challges statt at the top and are thiven by business need, J they are likely to succeed. 85 A ore radical sollltion Seell in order, alld a few companies are finding it in a growing body of work by 40 academics, psychologists, and management gurus. That work suggests that if businesses want to help people achieve balanced lives while belping firnis profiL the answer is not to add more prograll but to revamp fun- damelltal notions about how people work. Research supports the notion that the key to bal- ancing work and family interests is a well-designed job, one wbere goals are clear and whert woikers have con- trol over how, when, and where they get their work done. Ullderlying this is a recognition that employees 50 have personal bves that someti]nes get comp]icateL In a study conducted at a manufacturer of automotive products known for its family-. friendly policies, rese8be from the University of Chicago found that
