When Work Works

Project Overview

When Work Works is a nationwide initiative to bring research on workplace effectiveness and flexibility into community and business practice. It is a project of Families and Work Institute in partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for a Competitive Workforce and the Twiga Foundation, with funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Since its inception in 2005, When Work Works has partnered with an ever-expanding cohort of communities from around the country to:

• share rigorous research and employer best practices on workplace effectiveness and flexibility,
  
• recognize exemplary employers through the Alfred P. Sloan Awards for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility, and
  
• inspire positive change so that increasing numbers of employers understand how flexibility can benefit both business and employees, and use it as a tool to create more effective workplaces.

Research

The When Work Works initiative is grounded in the results of nationally representative studies of employees and employers, which have found that flexibility is an ingredient in creating effective workplaces that can yield important work-related outcomes for employers. In fact, employees in effective and flexible workplaces report:

• greater engagement on the job,
• greater job satisfaction,
• greater desire to stay with the organization,
• better overall health, and
• lower stress levels.

>> For more research click here.

Employer Practices

Promising practices and innovative ideas for creating effective and flexible workplaces are culled from winners of the Alfred P. Sloan Awards for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility and published annually in the Guide to Bold New Ideas for Making Work Work.

In combination with research findings, these practices have been highlighted at hundreds of business conferences and workshops as well as in over 2,000 national and local media stories since the project launch to inform business and community leaders, policy makers, and the general public about the importance of workplace effectiveness and flexibility.

>> For more on employer practices click here.

Recognition and Education

The Alfred P. Sloan Awards for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility recognize employers of all types and sizes that are using workplace flexibility as a tool to enhance business and employee success. The Awards are offered to employers within the When Work Works partner communities, as well as, for the first time in 2009, to those outside of these locations as “at-large” applicants.

The Awards are unique for their rigorous criteria. To win, applicants must rank in the top 20% of U.S. employers in terms of their programs and practices for creating effective and flexible workplaces, based on nationally representative data from Families and Work Institute. What is more, two thirds of the overall score is derived from a confidential employee survey, ensuring that these programs and practices are having a real impact where the “rubber meets the road,” on the employee experience.

All applicants receive a customized benchmarking report comparing their effective and flexible workplace practices to a nationally representative sample of U.S. employers and to Award winners. In 2009 there are 449 winners of the Alfred P. Sloan Awards for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility.

>> For more about the Sloan Awards click here.

When Work Works Partners

When Work Works has grown from eight community partners in 2005, to locations today that span the country, comprising nearly one third of the total U.S. population—including three states.

>> For more about the WWW partners click here.