Family Friendly Myth

Every year when Working Mother magazine lists the top family friendly companies, you can usually find some follow-up commentary from employees of some of those companies that state that while their company does have family friendly policies, they are not encouraged to take advantage of them.

I spoke with a reporter recently who told me of a friend who worked in PR at a big company. The PR professional was assigned the task of getting the company on a list similar to Working Mother's and after some research and policy writing, was able to get the company on the list. While the PR professional was rewarded for the accomplishment, nothing changed at the company for working parents.

To further confirm the fact that companies with family friendly policies are not necessarily family friendly, I just read a press release about a study with similar findings on the real availability of family friendly work (see here). While I was unable to find any other information on the study, it seems to confirm these concerns.

If you work at a company that claims to be family friendly when they are not, it is time to ask your company to live up to its' promises. If employees demand the flexibility they need and demonstrate the value to their employer, family friendly work can become a reality.

If you are looking for a new company, you must go further than reading the company policy to find out if they are truly family friendly. Get a feel for the company culture and find out if the policies are actually used. Make sure you know if your potential new boss supports the family friendly policies and benefits that are available.