With the back-to-school season underway, working parents are juggling job duties with making sure their children are dropped off and picked up on time, and attending parent-teacher conferences and myriad after-school activities. But the increasing number of workers who are empty-nesters or are just saying "no" to parenthood altogether may feel resentment at being forced to pick up the slack when their co-workers arrive late after dropping a child at school or leave early to attend the weekly peewee soccer game.

"It may seem to childless workers that parents' needs to take care of their kids takes precedence over single employees' needs to take time off from work," said Judi Casey, director of the Sloan Work and Family Research Network at Boston College. "While I don't have any real statistical evidence that bosses grant parents more privileges, I've heard it anecdotally. It's an issue that repeatedly comes up," she told BNA.

"People who know their companies will allow them time off to 'have a life' are more productive, better workers and more loyal and committed to their jobs," Casey said. "The companies that allows flexibility to nonparents as well as to parents will reap back tenfold what they sow."

Most Workers Without Children.

According to the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics, 63.7 percent of U.S. workers had no children under the age of 18 living at home in 2004.

Still, despite being in the majority, many childless workers feel that they continue to get the short end of the stick at work.

The Families and Work Institute in New York City several years ago conducted a survey "to see how workers felt about parents taking time off or leaving work early to take care of their kids," FWI's Erin Brownfield told BNA. "In our survey, about four in 10 workers said they do resent employers who provide work/family benefits to those with families only," Brownfield said. In addition, 16.5 percent of workers said they resented having to do extra work to cover for a parent who is busy parenting, she said.

Brownfield said the data show "that employers who are open to many types of flextime schedules are more likely to experience a harmonious workplace."

The need for childless workers to pick up the slack created by parents "really becomes apparent during the holiday season," Sylvia Hewlett, president of the Center for Work-Life Policy in New York City, told BNA. "But the truth is, we all have families of one sort or another, and just because it may be sisters or brothers or aunts or uncles rather than children, it doesn't mean that the workers without children don't deserve time off."

Over half of working women have no dependent children, Hewlett said, citing statistics from recent surveys that the center conducted. "Some of those women do feel resentful towards parents" who may appear to be taking too much leave, she said.

"It has to do with needs not being met," Hewlett said. "If employers had a more generous set of policies, if they recognized that single people also 'have a life' outside of the office, then perhaps childless workers would not begrudge parents all the time they take off to be with their kids," she remarked.

Picking Up the Slack for Parents.

When an employee goes on maternity leave, "in a lot of cases, the employer doesn't fill that job with a temp worker, but expects the more experienced workers who are left in the office to pick up the slack," said Thomas Coleman, executive director of Unmarried America, a Glendale, Calif.-based advocacy group.

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"If employers had a more generous set of policies, if they recognized that single people also 'have a life' outside of the office, then perhaps childless workers would not begrudge parents all the time they take off to be with their kids," said Sylvia Hewlett of the Center for Work-Life Policy.

 

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"Those same nonparents can't take advantage of extended maternity leave, yet may have similar needs for the occasional sabbatical from the job. These needs are not being met by most employers," he told BNA.

"While singles say they don't mind pitching in once in a while at the office to cover for a co-worker who has to leave work early to mind a sick child or meet some other parental responsibility, when it becomes a pervasive practice, these childless employees will feel a growing resentment," Coleman asserted.

Childless workers "have needs too, whether it's volunteer work, caring for an aging relative, or caring for a beloved pet," he said. "Why shouldn't they have the same privileges in the workplace" as parents?

Legally, childless employees also can face a degree of bias, according to Coleman. He related the story of a single female employee with no children who was denied leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act to care for her sister, who was dying of cancer. "Her sister was her only living immediate relative and she wanted to provide support to her during her illness, yet could not because of the limited definition of 'family' under the FMLA," Coleman said.

Not all employers are even aware of a perceived inequity in the workplace between their working parents and childless employees, Coleman noted. "Companies really should survey their workforce to see who has kids, who has elderly parents they have to care for or other commitments to family members," he said.

Coleman's group would like to see employers specify--in employee orientation and company policies--that they do not discriminate in any way in favor of parents.

Flextime for All Employees.

Casey contends that employers should extend all their flexible work options and work/life benefits to the entire workforce.

"Flextime should be offered equally to all workers, and not just be based on whether the worker has parenting responsibilities," Casey said. Moreover, she said, "The focus should be on productivity, not on face time at the office."

She cited the flextime policy at the electronics retailer Best Buy Co. Inc., based in Richfield, Minn. Under Best Buy's results-oriented policy, employees in the corporate office can leave for the day once they have finished all their work, regardless of whether it is to attend a child's soccer game or take the cat to the vet, Casey said.

Best Buy spokeswoman Dawn Bryant noted that allowing employees in some departments to leave early if they have finished all of their work is just one aspect of the company's flexible work policy. "We developed our results-oriented flextime policy over a three-year period, and it has been in place at our corporate offices for the past year," she told BNA. "About half of the staff at corporate offices take advantage of it and are using some sort of flexible schedule, as needed. We have some workers who prefer to work at home at times, some who prefer to work in the evenings, and some who leave the office early when they complete their work for the day. All these options are allowed," Bryant said.

Hewlett said the key for employers is instead of designing policies and practices to help employees balance work and family, aim to help workers better balance work and all their outside concerns. "It's really very easy," Hewlett said: "Employers need to make a transition from 'work/family' policies to 'work/life' policies."

"Time-Warner is an example of a company that has become aware of modern families' needs and has changed its policies as a result," Hewlett said. The New York City-based media company allows workers to designate members of their non-immediate family to receive certain benefits, she said. Specifically, Time-Warner has extended access to its employee assistance program, child care referral services, and company scholarship program to employees' "other relevant family members," not just children and spouses, Hewlett said.

Younger workers in particular are sensitive to the need for a strong work/life balance that permits all employees the ability to manage their own time and get things done that are important to them, Jennifer Schram, workplace trends and forecasting manager at the Alexandria, Va.-based Society for Human Resource Management, told BNA.

"In our June 2005 job satisfaction survey, work/life balance was chosen as the number one most important factor for workers age 35 and younger, and the number one factor for women," Schram said.

Schram commented that childless workers may become concerned that their wages are suffering as employers pay large amounts for medical benefits for employees' children.

The more money allotted to health care benefits, the less money there is for wage increases, Schram said.

"The most ideal form of benefits a company can supply are in 'cafeteria' form," Coleman said, explaining that when workers are allowed to pick from a menu of benefits, it puts all workers on equal footing.

The benefits that childless workers are looking for may include tuition reimbursement or help buying a house, Casey noted. "Childless workers also may need time off to volunteer, to care for an aging parent, or to otherwise have a full and enriching life."