Awb Gives Family Life Top Priority

Forget Dickensonian corporate titans who fire employees when they decide to stay home with ill children. Today’s business leaders must adopt a “family first” ethic, according to the Association of Washington Business.

AWB, the state’s oldest and largest business organization, unveiled its 1995 cause celebre - “Putting Families First” - at its annual meeting Thursday and Friday at the Sheraton-Spokane Hotel.

AWB is encouraging its members, who employ more than 600,000 people statewide, to develop programs that let parents foster nurturing relationships with their children.

Flex-time and part-time jobs, job sharing, unpaid leaves of absence and maternity/paternity leaves will give parents crucial bonding time with their children and prevent kids from becoming delinquent, the organization says.

More important to the 200 AWB members at the convention, healthy families translate into healthy employees, said Christine Gregoire, attorney general and keynote speaker at the convention.

“When you’ve got parents whose kids are doing wrong, the parents can’t perform at work, and productivity is therefore decreased throughout the office. No employer can afford not to place family concerns first,” Gregoire said in an interview before her speech Thursday night.

Businesses that ignore children’s issues not only diminish productivity in the short run, but also face long-term problems in recruiting educated, qualified employees.

“Today’s youth are tomorrow’s business leaders. Their education is of paramount importance,” said Gregoire, who is considered by political observers to be a potential Democratic gubernatorial candidate if beleaguered Gov. Mike Lowry decides not to run.

When a juvenile is incarcerated, taxpayers must shell out $50,000 per year - twice as much as for an adult, Gregoire said. So putting families first also makes sense for taxpaying business owners, according to AWB board members.

“Business people are people - people who live in the community and have children and pay taxes and are concerned about crime, gangs, school systems, everything,” said Phyllis Campbell, 1995 chairwoman of AWB.

When they consider the costs and benefits, most employers want to incorporate a “family first” attitude. But they often don’t because they believe it’s not economically feasible.

The problem is acute with smaller business owners, said Linda Coldiron, vice president of communications at AWB.

“It can be an overwhelming upfront cost,” Coldiron said. “If you have four employees and one’s gone on sabbatical, that’s half your work force out the door, and you have to guarantee their job back in six months. Not everyone can afford that.”

Other businesses don’t encourage unpaid family time because they’re stuck in an antiquated mind set, Gregoire said.

“The attitude of the old school says you gotta work every day from eight to five. Job sharing breaks that rule. It’s threatening to the old school,” Gregoire said.