January 23, 2004—Employers are responding to their employees’ needs for work-life balance by increasingly providing targeted programs and policies that enable employees to more efficiently manage their personal and professional lives, according to the results of a major survey released by Mellon Financial Corporation’s Human Resources & Investor Solutions business.
The study, “Work/Life—A delicate balance,” surveyed more than six hundred organizations’ policies and practices. It found that:
- 81 percent of employers offer employee assistance programs;
- 54 percent provide family sick days;
- 35 percent offer domestic partner benefits 88 percent offer work-related tuition reimbursement;
- 55 percent provide general resource and referral services;
- 47 percent provide unpaid family leave beyond the required FMLA leave;
- 71 percent of respondents offer flex-time;
- 50 percent offer telecommuting and work-at-home arrangements;
- 44 percent of respondents offer compressed work weeks;
- 86 percent use part-time employees (who work fewer than 1,000 hours per year).
Compared to a similar study conducted by Mellon in 1996, the percentage of employers offering these types of benefits rose dramatically, in many cases by more than double.
