General Mills: Flexible User Shared Environment
With its new program, Flexible User Shared Environment (FUSE), General Mills is tackling the fight or flight moment by providing stigma free flexible work arrangements. The program is meant to explore ways of providing employees flexibility to increase employee engagement, promote a collaborative work environment, and use office space efficiently. FUSE began as collaboration between the human resources facilities and information divisions at General Mills.
The pilot program focused on a small and predominantly female group of nutrition scientists. Thirty-eight out of the 40 employees were women. Eleven of them had taken a leave of absence within the last few years, often to deal with childcare issues. Nine of them already had some sort of a flexible work arrangement, typically involving part-time and/or remote work. “Their needs were different from the general population, and it was obvious to us that we needed to come up with some sort of a creative solution,” says Sandy Haddad, general manager of flexibility and inclusion.
FUSE has the advantage of being extremely adaptable to employee needs, work styles, and occupational roles. After being interviewed about their needs and desires in the workplace, workers who participated in the pilot worked in a variety of ways according to their own jobs and needs. For example, researchers who did not require significant interactions with other employees were able to work from home or in a designated quiet area of the office where they would have access to the equipment needed to do their jobs but wouldn’t be disturbed. Team members based outside of company headquarters who are often required to travel to General Mills’ main office have been given the technology and space to work from either office. The reduction in commuting time has lead to significant efficiency gains and cost savings for this group of employees.
The pilot program was extraordinarily successful. Self-reported productivity gains for workers who participated in the pilot program were substantial. On average, workers reported a 35% increase in their abilities to plan their days in a productive way, as well as a 5% increase in the feeling that they were making good use of their time while working. Surveys also point to FUSE’s success in fostering a collaborative work environment: participants reported a 33% increase in feeling that the environment promoted team collaboration and information sharing. Further, because FUSE was offered predominantly to women, many of whom were experiencing a ratcheting up of work and familial responsibilities, the program has also proven to be an outstanding retention tool for female employees.
Despite being given the option of returning to their prior traditional work arrangements, all of the initial participants chose to remain FUSEd. The program is now expanding beyond the pilot to include 150 employees in a wider variety of divisions and roles.
Creating Flex Over the Arc of a Career
Cisco: Extended Flex Program
Cisco, with 65,000 employees worldwide, was one of the first large corporations to appreciate the value of workplace flexibility; Cisco bought a laptop for every employee as soon as laptops became common. The company supports a wide range of informal flex arrangements, such as telecommuting and personally tailored flexible schedules, and over time instituted more formal flex programs, including part-time work and full-time work-from-home options, and short leaves also were made available.
Building on the insight that people have different needs at different points in their lives, Cisco created its Off/On Ramp Program, which allows workers to take unpaid breaks of between 12 and 24 months. Although the program will undoubtedly appeal most to women who want to stop working temporarily after their children are born, the company plans to make the program available across all populations—allowing employees to take time off to resolve eldercare issues, pursue a graduate degree, or refocus their careers as they see fit.
“The gender variable is important,” explains Marilyn Nagel, Cisco’s chief diversity officer, “but the program comes out of our overall inclusion and diversity goals.” In addition to women, Nagel hopes the program will appeal to Gen Ys who want to enhance their skill set, recharge their batteries, or devote time to nonprofit or service projects (a priority for many 20-somethings).
Women now earn the majority of college and professional degrees, and 46 million Gen Ys will have entered the workforce by 2020. “This is the employee base today,” Nagel points out. “This is the employee base of the future. We asked ourselves, ‘How can we continue to be leading edge and attract the best from these groups?’”
Any employee in good standing with a minimum of two years at the company (or at a company Cisco has acquired) is eligible to apply for the leave program. Each leave is decided on a case-by-case basis, with the timing and terms negotiated between the employee and his or her management team. Cisco will cover the employee’s full benefits package for the first year, with the employee transitioning back to regular employment upon return. Other benefits resume as if the employee never left. Participants can take more than one extended leave but must work for at least two years between leaves.
Cisco implemented the program in the U.S. and Europe in October 2009 and plans to expand to other locations in the near future. About a dozen people applied for and were approved for extended leave in the first round, but, with no upper limit on the number or percentage of employees who can take advantage of the program at same time, Cisco expects that number to scale up over time.
The Off/On Ramp program will be promoted to employees along with Cisco’s other flexibility programs. Human Resources personnel will create videos in which users describe their experiences and encourage those who have used the program to give advice to others who are interested.
Employees love the versatility of the program. Ines Deschamps off-ramped in January 2010 to take time to reintegrate into U.S. life after working in Paraguay for three years and reassess her career path at Cisco. She plans to become certified as an investment adviser, increase her foreign language skills, “and do some fun things, too.”
Kerri DeLair is using the program to care for her six- and three-year-old children and her ill father, while also taking the opportunity to soul-search about her long-term career options. When she found out about the program, she says, “I felt like it was the answer to my prayers.”
Deloitte: Personal Pursuits
Deloitte launched Personal Pursuits in 2006 as a way of allowing employees to off-ramp and leave the workforce without cutting ties from the firm entirely or letting their skills become dated. Under the program, men and women who have been with Deloitte for a minimum of two years and have a strong performance record may leave the firm for up to five years for any reason. They are not required to give an explanation for their off-ramp; however, they are prohibited from going to work somewhere else.
Deloitte pays for training and professional association memberships and occasionally offers short-term assignments to participants while they are out. Additionally, each participant is assigned a mentor within the company to keep him or her informed about the goings-on at the firm. Most participants keep in touch with their former colleagues more informally as well. They also have continued access to the firm’s intranet.
Personal Pursuits is woven into Deloitte’s Mass Career Customization program (MCC) as yet another way for employees to dial up or dial down at any given point in their careers. Personal Pursuits participants who return to Deloitte return at the same level they were when they left the company, but they are not guaranteed the same role or team. As part of MCC, Personal Pursuits participants can return to Deloitte on flexible and reduced-hour schedules and dial back up later on if they choose to. “Today’s workforce is increasingly diverse in their attitudes about careers and what it means to be successful. We’re responding to this reality by letting people collaborate with their managers to tailor career paths that meet their needs as well as the needs of our business. Through this approach, we’ve been able to hold on to—and win back—talent.” Barbara Adachi, national managing principal, Deloitte’s Women’s Initiative, says.
Indeed, Personal Pursuits has served Deloitte well as a tool to help build loyalty. Because of its flexibility, the program appeals to all types of employees—men and women, young and old, those with childcare or eldercare responsibilities