Deloitte & Touche Makes Telecommuting and Flexible Work the Norm
Deloitte & Touche has a longstanding policy of encouraging telecommuting. They are taking further steps to make the workaday life more favorable.
Like most big firms that compete for talent, Deloitte & Touche tries to make it easier for employees to juggle work and life.
At one point the firm realized it offered no fewer than 69 flexible work programs, from telecommuting to sabbaticals, yet employee satisfaction actually declined slightly over a five-year period.
The problem wasn’t the programs, Deloitte concluded. The problem was that work was organized around models from an industrial era when households with stay-at-home moms were the norm, responsibilities were clearly divided and breadwinners worked full-time until retirement.
“We said, ‘Let’s just acknowledge that the work force has fundamentally changed, family structures have changed, attitudes have changed,’ ” said Deloitte Vice Chairman Cathleen Benko, managing principal of talent.
The result is one of the most comprehensive efforts so far to reconcile the demands of a global economy with the needs of a diverse multigenerational work force, experts say.
Instead of a corporate ladder, Deloitte substitutes the image of a lattice on which people can step up, move laterally or down as their circumstances change. Parents can drop out or ease up without fear of forfeiting a shot at a top job after they return. Empty-nesters can work full-throttle or ease into retirement.
Many people fashion unconventional careers without support from employers, with varying success. Deloitte aims to provide a framework for such choices. By the end of next year all 42,000 employees will be using the system.
The article continues.
This brief video, “This is My Deloitte,” whimsically encapsulates the company’s favorable policy.
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