bbott Laboratories has long prided itself for being innovative with
work/life programs for its 33,000-plus U.S. employees—from its $10 million
state-of-the-art child care center at its headquarters outside of Chicago to its
extensive flextime initiative. And the medical technology giant is constantly
looking for new ways to attract and retain talent, says Lesli Marasco, director
of work/life solutions. Marasco recently spoke to Workforce Management New York
bureau chief Jessica Marquez about Abbott’s plans.Workforce Management: What are some of the newer programs that Abbott has
introduced to its employees?
Lesli Marasco: The programs we provide span all generations. We try to think
about what employees need and what is distracting them from their work. So it’s
not just about offering day care. For example, we offer a program for "tween"
kids—between sixth and ninth grade—who are too old for camp but too young for
work, where they can do community service like visiting animal shelters and
nursing homes.
We also offer coaching support to baby boomers who are taking their kids on
college visits and going through that whole process. Many of these workers are
also dealing with elder care issues, so we provide free access to experts to
help them find care and deal with the stress and guilt that come with supporting
older parents. Over the past year we have seen an 85 percent increase in
employees accessing elder care services.
WM: How do you come up with the ideas for new programs?
Marasco: We survey employees. A few years ago, we did a survey on child care and
found that employees were having a hard time finding quality child care. That
led to the building of our child care center as well as providing training to
outside day care providers.
We also do a lot of targeted surveys. For example, we did one recently at our
Worcester, Massachusetts, office and found that they were also having trouble
finding care for parents and kids. So we developed a backup care program by
which employees can get $50 a day up to six days if their home care falls
through.
WM: How does Abbott measure how these programs affect its bottom line?
Marasco: Our CEO, Miles White, always is saying that it’s employees leaving that
costs money, not offering work/life programs. We get returns every day in terms
of employee loyalty and productivity. Our turnover is 7 percent, which is almost
unheard of.
WM: But is there accountability around the costs of these programs?
Marasco: The reality is that there isn’t too much cost associated with a lot of
these programs. Flexibility is probably something that any company can do that
has the most impact and gains.
WM: How do you get manager buy-in?
Marasco: It comes from the top, but we also have a lot of resources and tools
for both employees and managers to help them understand how these programs are
effective. For example, we have a part-time network of employees and we
encourage employees and managers to have conversations about how the programs
are going and to check in with each other at certain intervals—like three
months, six months and a year. That has helped build a lot of success.
Workforce Management, October 22, 2007, p. 8
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