Men Have Lives Too

Shattering the myth that work-life support is for women or wimps can improve the bottom line by engaging the entire workforce.

Diversity leaders have collaborated during the past two decades to design a gender-neutral work-life safety net intended to provide support across the career life cycle for everyone in the workforce. In spite of these efforts, according to usage rates of work-life programs within corporations compared by gender, men often show markedly less interest in work-life options than women.

This seems paradoxical in the face of a growing set of stressors men are experiencing. The Families and Work Institute’s 2011 study, “The New Male Mystique,” indicates men now experience more work-family conflict than women, although men still earn more than women overall. Despite their increased earning potential, men’s job security and earnings have declined during the economic crisis more noticeably than in prior downturns, and so has their health and education. Women now hold the majority of college degrees and are gaining parity in several high-paying professional certifications, such as accounting and law. As a result, women contribute more economically to family sustenance than before, giving men more options than the traditional role of primary breadwinner.

Since men are still more likely to hold senior-level positions, it is notable that they often overlook opportunities to exert their leadership as role models and champions of work-life effectiveness for those who work with or for them. This function is mission critical, given the bottom-line benefits that can accrue from the strategic implementation of a professionally aligned and managed work-life portfolio.

The challenge is to understand what has prevented men from enthusiastically adopting work-life options offered in the workplace and then strengthen the competitive advantages organizations can gain from this type of flexibility.

In 2010, WFD Consulting and WorldatWork’s Alliance for Work-Life Progress partnered to conduct a global survey to investigate the answers to two questions: How can organizations remove barriers that might prevent men from using work-life benefits for themselves? And, what inhibits organizational leaders and managers from supporting others’ use of work-life options?