Problem:
Companies everywhere are starting to retool. "The one-size-fits-all workplace doesn't work," says the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation's Kathleen Christensen. "The idea that you will work full-time year in and year out, that you will be on a career trajectory that is a straight line, is vanishing. Employees increasingly feel more entitled to say: 'I need and I want to work in a certain way.'" More and more workers of both sexes are willing to scale back career goals, according to Families & Work Institute data. In focus groups, employees say things like "I need to make these choices because my family is a priority" or "I need to make these choices to make my life work." According to Brenda Barnes, CEO of Sara Lee, "Today's business environment provides the opportunity for work-life balance. This doesn't mean employees work less; instead, it means empowering employees to do their work on a schedule that works for them. So if they want to work from their kitchen table at 3:00 a.m., as long as the work gets done, who cares when or where they are doing it? Companies need to recognize that this kind of flexibility offers employees the ability to manage and balance their own career and lives, which improves productivity and employee morale."
On the basis of your personal and professional needs, design a flexible work arrangement that would allow you to have work-life balance in your career.
Predict the implications of a flexible work arrangement program for the future. Evaluate the impact on business/industry, management, employees, and consumers.