WORKFORCE / WORKPLACE
FWI is dedicated to providing objective information on changes in the workforce and workplace in order to inform decision-makers in government, business, communities, and families. Toward this end, FWI conducts its own research studies and supports the field of workplace research by bringing researchers together, sharing information, collaborating on projects, and assembling coalitions that can translate this research knowledge into action.

One cornerstone of FWI research is the National Study of the Changing Workforce, which is conducted with a large nationally representative sample of U.S. workers every five years. It is the only on-going study of its kind or scale to provide such extensive information about workers' lives on and off the job is widely used by policy makers, employers and the media. The other cornerstone of our work is the National Study of Employers, one of the most comprehensive study of its kind that provides data on the business response to the changes in the workforce and the nature of work.

Read descriptions of our current projects and most recent research in workforce / workplace issues:

To find additional reports on workforce / workplace issues, please visit the Research & Publications section and the Past Projects page of this Web site.

 

  • The 2005 National Study of Employers (NSE)
    Released in October 2005, the 2005 National Study of Employers documents the changes in how companies are responding to the changing workforce, specifically, finding that small employers offer more flexibility while large employers offer more benefits. The study found that small, mid-sized and large employers have largely maintained or increased their overall investment in people, with cutbacks primarily requiring employees to pay a larger share of disability, health care or retirement benefit costs. The NSE updates the research of FWI’s 1998 Business Work-Life Study. This study will be conducted again in 2007 with funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
  • Low-Wage Workforce
    Supporting Entry-Level, Hourly Employees     is a project of the Families and Work Institute (FWI) and the Institute for a Competitive Workforce (ICW), an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, funded by the Ford Foundation. The initiative addresses the workforce challenges that employers face in recruiting, engaging, developing, and retaining entry-level and hourly employees, particularly those from low-income households. In an effort to find solutions that work for both employers and employees, special attention is given to identifying characteristics of jobs and workplaces that help employers meet their goals of stabilizing their workforce while also promoting the well-being of low-wage and low-income employees and their families.

    In November 2006, the Institute released three reports from the project, drawn from analyses of the National Study of the Changing Workforce. They are:
    - What Do We Know About Entry-Level, Hourly Employees?
    - How Can Employers Increase the Productivity and Retention of Entry-Level, Hourly Employees?
    - What Workplace Flexibility is Available to Entry-Level, Hourly Employees?

    The Supporting Work Project, focuses on groundbreaking ways that community and business leaders are partnering to help employers of all sizes play an important role in educating their lower-wage workers about publicly funded work supports and in making it easier for them to apply for and receive these benefits. With funding from the Ford Foundation, Families and Work Institute has awarded grants to a number of demonstration projects across the country that will: increase the number of employers linking their eligible employees to publicly funded work supports; increase the number of eligible employees who use these supports; evaluate how increasing the access and use of these supports benefits employers and employees; and increase awareness of and support for publicly funded work supports among employers and the public at large in order to sustain and expand these efforts.

  • Leaders in a Global Economy: Talent Management
    Talent Management, the current phase of FWI’s research on Leaders in a Global Economy, will take place in Europe and in the U.S. The project will focus on the drivers of engagement, talent retention, job satisfaction, employee health and well-being and retention; the ingredients of an effective workplace that promote business success; and gender, generational and cultural differences of the men and women in the talent pool. To date, the participating companies include: BP, Citigroup, Hewlett Packard, IBM Corporation, Henkel, Johnson & Johnson, JPMorgan Chase, TOTAL and Wal-Mart. The study partners are Catalyst and Families and Work Institute as well as three highly regarded experts on diversity and work life, Gisela Erler and Helen Bloom, in Europe, and Candice Lange in the U.S.

  • When Work Works
    When Work Works is a nationwide initiative on workplace effectiveness and workplace flexibility that is designed to share research on what makes work "work" in the 21st Century. It is a project of Families and Work Institute sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, in partnership with the Institute for a Competitive Workforce (an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce) and the Twiga Foundation.

    The purpose of When Work Works is to highlight the importance of workforce effectiveness and workplace flexibility as strategies to enhance businesses' competitive advantage in the global economy, and to help both employers and employees succeed.

    Its goals are to share research findings on workplace effectiveness and flexibility; share best practices for making work "work" in small, mid-sized and large workplaces; create practical resources for employers, community leaders, policy makers and individual employees in creating more effective and flexible workplaces; and provide recognition to top employers through the Alfred P. Sloan Awards for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility.

    When Work Works has published a number of reports and materials, including:
    - A Status Report on Workplace Flexibility (with funding from IBM)
    - Flexibility: A Critical Ingredient in Creating an Effective Workplace (with funding from IBM)
    - Summary of Families and Work Institute Findings (with funding from IBM)
    - Tips for employees
    - Tips for managers
    - Tips for companies
    - Making Work "Work": New Ideas from the Winners of the Alfred P. Sloan Awards for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility
    - The 2005 National Study of Employers

  • Alfred P. Sloan Awards for Faculty Career Flexibility
    FWI has joined forces with the American Council on Education (ACE) to assist the Sloan Foundation which has created a rigorous process for conferring awards to five research intensive and extensive universities recognized for their leadership and accomplishments in implementing groundbreaking policies and practices regarding career flexibility for tenured/tenure-track faculty over the life cycle. In addition, smaller awards for innovative practices are being given.

  • Overwork in America: When the Way We Work Becomes Too Much
    Overwork in America, released in 2005, looks at changes in the way A mericans work and live in recent years. The study finds that the fast-paced, global 24/7 economy, the pressures of competition, and technology have blurred the traditional boundaries between work life and home life. Furthermore, this new economy calls for new skills—skills like responding quickly to competing demands and jumping from task to task. In response, the topic of being overworked has become a hot subject of discussion in workplaces, in the media, in medical journals, and in homes. O ur goal in conducting this 2005 study was to better identify how the ways we work today and how we prioritize our lives on and off the job are related to being overworked. We also felt that it was time to explore in greater depth an issue that provoked a great deal of interest in our 2001 study (Feeling Overworked): the relationship between vacations and being overworked.

  • Generation & Gender in the Workplace
    Generation and Gender in the Workplace was commissioned in 2004 by the American Business Collaboration (ABC) and conducted by FWI with nationally representative samples of the U.S. workforce from the National Study of the Changing Workforce. It examines differences among generations in the workforce over the last 25 years. The study found that younger workers (Gen-Y and Gen-X) are more likely to be “family-centric” or "dual-centric" (with equivalent priorities on both work and personal/family life) and less “work-centric” compared with members of the Boomer generation.

    Older Employees in the Workforce looks at cross-generational supervisory relationships, specifically older employees being managed by younger ones. In addition, tips for managers provide action ideas for using the findings from these two reports to improve supervisory relationships.

  • The Aging Workforce
    FWI partnered with Boston College’s new Center on Aging & Work/Workplace Flexibility to create two new reports from the National Study of the Changing Workforce. Context Matters: Insights About Older Workers and The Diverse Employment Experiences of Older Men and Women in the Workforce were released at The White House Conference on Aging on December 12, 2005. This conference, entitled “The Booming Dynamics of Aging: From Awareness to Action,” held December 11-14 in Washington, DC, occurs as the first wave of the baby boom generation turns 60, creating an important opportunity to creatively consider work, caring, retirement and aging in America in order to improve the lives of older Americans.

  • The Conference Board Work Life Conference and The Conference Board Work Life Leadership Council
    In partnership with The Conference Board, FWI co-founded and staffs The Conference Board Work Life Leadership Council, a membership group that provides leadership and support to influence the business community to meet the changing personal/family needs of its diverse work force, and the annual Work Life Conference, the major event for thought leaders in the field. Recent topics of focus for the Council are demographic trends and employee engagement. The theme for the Conference, held June 13-14, 2006 in New York City, was Global Economic Solutions: Framing Work Life’s Contribution. The Conference Board Work Life Leadership Council held their spring meeting on May 23-25 in McLean, Virginia, hosted by Gannett entitled Employee Engagement: Definitions, Measurement Approaches, Drives and Outcomes. The 2007 Conference was entitled How the Global Economy is Affecting Work Life: What Work Life and HR Professionals need to know. In 2008, the conference will be held on March 5-6 in Atlanta, GA at the Westin Buckhead Atlanta. For updated information on the upcoming conference and to download the agenda or submit a workshop proposal, please visit our conferences main page.

  • Work Life Legacy Award
    Following on the success of the inaugural Work Life Legacy Award event in June 2004, the 2005 Work Life Legacy Award (May 2, 2005) and the third Work Life Legacy Awards (June 12, 2006) honored the second and third cadre of remarkable visionaries who helped to create a social and economic transformation that has improved the way millions of employees live and work. The award will continue to be presented annually to preserve the history of the work life movement and to light the way for future generations interested in economic and social change. As a way of documenting their legacy, awardees are filmed, telling their first hand stories of how they effected change. A keepsake Journal of the event was created in 2004, 2005, and 2006. This history is summarized in a speech by Ellen Galinsky. The 2007 Work Life Legacy Award took place on June 11th in New York City. Awardees come from business, nonprofits, philanthropy and journalism.