"University, consulting firm link work/life to other needs"
From Work/Life Today ®
National Institute of Business Management (2001)
Volume 5, Number 8
National Institute of Business Management (2001)
Volume 5, Number 8
‘Whole person’ approach helps programs reach employees sooner
At the University of Arizona, an employee seeking a fitness routine gets advice about child care. [...]
Work/life coordinators at both places are integrating their work/life programs with every aspect of work—and every aspects of life. “By weaving [work/life] into the fabric of our institution,” says University of Arizona’s Darci Thompson, “we have a much stronger opportunity to embed this idea of work/life balance between the needs of individuals and the needs of the organization.”
Link wellness with work/life
University of Arizona employees who sign up for one of the campus’ regular blood pressure screenings are likely to leave with more than they asked for. Employees will find themselves in conversations with staffers from the University’s Life & Work Connections program, talking about everything from body fat to dependent care needs to job sharing.
The 10,000-employee university has integrated its wellness program with work/life support and its employee assistance program. Each employee, faculty members, and student who seeks help in one area will get help from the others at the same time.
“It’s not only help with you need it, but help before you need it,” says Thompson, director of Life & Work Connections. “We have a life-span approach. By looking at integrating [wellness, work/life, and EAP], we’re able to respond at the various places where people have a need—before they have the need.”
Thompson foresees this integrated model, which she calls “unique” among employers, especially universities, as the work/life template of the future. “Resources will always be finite,” she says. “There will always be competing priorities. This allows us to leverage our team response … and to look at a continuum of whole-person services.”
The program began as a wellness effort. As the university saw child care, elder care, and other personal issues on the employees’ radar, it added a few services at a time. Thompson and others realized, however, that “in the content of whole people, problems link to one another.” Not the integrated program serves as a successful recruitment and retention tool.