Balanced, Equitable Approach Attainable True Community Employees Must Be More Than Cogs In The Machinery.

Fri., May 1, 1998

By Rebecca Nappi rebeccan@spokesman.com (509) 459-5496

Try this experiment at work. Pick two people you work with and add up the time you spend with them in a typical week. Now, calculate the hours you spend each work week with two of your family members. Chances are your time with co-workers equals or exceeds the time with family members.

And no matter how professional your relationships at work, chances are you know about each other’s personal lives. You know one another’s stresses and joys, from the challenges of raising teens to the grace that can come through caring for frail parents.

The work week has increased in recent years from 43.6 hours to 47.1 hours, and busy workers are scrambling to fit it all in. They work long hours on the job and then work longer hours on the family front. This is the reality of the ‘90s. Workplaces that act as if the two arenas are separate set themselves up for emotional and legal battles.

So it makes sense to adopt programs, innovations and attitudes that acknowledge the reality that the personal lives of workers do influence their work lives. Why not see the workplace as community?

True community is difficult to live out on a daily basis. It means listening, understanding and accommodating where people are in their lives, and then responding to those needs. If workplaces looked upon themselves as communities, then there wouldn’t be any question that companies should be concerned about the lives of workers outside the job. There wouldn’t be any question that companies should tailor benefits to fit the life patterns of its workers.

For instance, a worker with young children might get the time to attend school functions while a 20-something worker might get time to attend a seminar on career building. Different benefits, yes, but geared toward the same goal - personal development.

Workplace as community requires a shift in how we view work and our co-workers. It requires letting go of rigid rules that treat workers as machines, all with the same interchangeable parts. It requires trust that if your employer allows you the time and support to handle a difficult life situation, you won’t take advantage. And you’ll pay the generosity back - at work.

Workplace as community requires both trust and maturity, two virtues needed in great supply in the modern workplace.

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