Family Futures

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nsuring

ork

-F

amily

alance

To make this possible, companies must respond with flex-

ibility to the personal and family needs of their workers.

Without time, energy or adequate compensation, employees

are not only less productive, but also incapable of raising

children, caring for their elderly and participating as active

citizens to improve society. And that loss has great repercus-

sions both for the person and for the whole of society.

Hence the necessity for a new responsibility arises: Corporate

Family Responsibility (CFR) as the internal, essential and

nuclear dimension of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

CFR, a term coined by the ICWF of IESE, indicates that a

company counts on the leaders, culture and policies of flex-

ibility that foster the integration of work, family and personal

life. A company with CFR has managers that:

• make sure every decision made takes people into account

• create flexible and equal opportunity policies and practices

• foster worker commitment and satisfaction

• increase the competitiveness and sustainability of

the company.

In 1999 ICWF created the IESE Family Responsible Employer

Index (IFREI) to measure CFR and its impact on people,

society and the results of the company. It is a model based on

a system that puts the person at the centre of the company.

IFREI diagnosis, which is used in 21 countries on five conti-

nents, contrasts information provided by the managers with

that provided by its collaborators.

The CFR level is determined according to three dimen-

sions: policies, supervisor support and the organizational

culture, which affect whether or not the worker may recon-

cile their professional, personal and family life. These factors

make up and contribute to the environment in which the

employee works.

A low level of CFR hinders the systematic integration of

professional-family-personal life. This situation produces

what we call a ‘polluted environment’ that in turn creates a

high degree of dissatisfaction, stress and loss of motivation in

employees, leading to the desire to leave the company.

On the other hand, companies that promote CFR create

‘enriching environments’ that foster satisfaction with the

reconciliation of work and family; this in turn creates high

commitment, higher quality of life and a higher level of

general health. CFR also facilitates a greater amount of time

dedicated to raising small children, caring for the elderly and

other dependent people, and tending to different commit-

ments in various fields of social life.

The IFREI study analyses the environment in which

people work. Our data demonstrate that, within the same

organization, some employees may develop their tasks in an

environment that allows them to integrate work and family

life, while others find that their environment systematically

makes it difficult for them to achieve this integration. What

are the causes of this contrast? The data of 16,000 people from

all five continents, who so far have participated in the study

and represent a universe of more than 100,000 people, indi-

cate a lack of flexibility policies available to workers, as well

as the poor communication of them or difficulty in accessing

them. Diverse management styles among supervisors mean

that, while some may facilitate employees’ ability to recon-

cile, others in the same company may hinder it. The data also

pointed to the existence of cultures, or subcultures, which

generate different microclimates within the same organization

that may value and respect family to a different extent.

Less than half of the population surveyed in the study (46

per cent) find themselves in an environment that promotes

the integration of work and family (15 per cent in an

A project with Compartamos Banco, the biggest microcredit institution in

Latin America, to increase the CFR of its employees

A meeting at the European Parliament. From left, Renata Kaczmarska,

Focal Point for the United Nations Programme on the Family; Jaime Mayor

Oreja, Head of the Spanish Delegation to the European People’s Party of

the European Parliament in Brussels; Mireia Las Heras, IESE Professor; Ada

Garriga, Researcher for ICWF at IESE; and Noor Al-Malki Al-Jehani, Member

of the Board en Qatar Foundation For Social Work and the United Nations

Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

Image: ICWF