The Custom-Fit Workplace: Choose When, Where, and How to Work and Boost Your Bottom Line

by Joan Blades, Nanette Fondas Narrated by Kristin Kalbli

Overview

With The Custom-Fit Workplace, Blades and Fondas offer an indispensable handbook for business professionals that will transform the way we work, highlighting proven best practices for breaking free from the old, inflexible, 40-hour schedule. The authors know that change is afoot in businesses across America and throughout the world: Dual earning households continue to grow in record numbers; men and women are taking time off from their careers to take care of children or aging parents and are struggling to find a way back in; our 24/7 work culture is placing an undue burden on working professionals; and workers everywhere are struggling to balance career and personal lives while making ends meet. At the same time, businesses hit hard by the economic crisis are looking for creative ways to retain their talent rather than laying off people to make their numbers. We are, in short, standing on the precipice of a workplace revolution, and The Custom-Fit Workplace will be the definitive roadmap that explains how to navigate the changing landscape. Featuring compelling stories of companies like Jet Blue, Ernst & Young, Best Buy, Deloitte & Touche, and the University of California, the book will profile strategies that are already gaining traction in workplaces across the country, such as: New twists on traditional flexible hours and part-time work strategies Work from home and staffing entirely at-home workers Results-Only Work Environments (ROWEs) Babies at Work programs "On ramp" and "Off ramp" opportunities. Individuals will learn creative ways to integrate their work requirements with their life obligations, while managers will be persuaded to adopt these flexible work strategies to improve their bottom line by tapping into the power of their most important asset: their people. Every reader will finish the book convinced of the place of flexible work arrangements in the twenty-first-century workplace, and walk away with an expanded tool set to use in his or her own work environment. An eminently practical and engaging researched-based book, The Custom-Fit Workplace will provide individuals and employers everywhere the tools they need to be successful and happy both at work and in their other life pursuits.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Blades (The Motherhood Manifesto) and Fondas explore the latest innovations in flexible work arrangements – from Babies-at-Work to Results-Only Environments - in this guide to the increasingly-customized workforce. The authors do a good job of portraying the multiple, and often conflicting, demands on the modern worker; children, colds, commutes, continuing education, caregiving for elders, and career ladders all compete for workers' energy, time, and attention. They point out common barriers to progress, the traditions, conventions, mistrust, and misunderstandings that prevent workers and employers from arranging a better fit. Blades, who co-founded Moms Rising, and Fondas, an award-winning journalist, come equipped with the usual success stories about novel arrangements improving productivity and profits in the workplace but offer little data to support tangible results, instead relying on stats like "a 400% increase in the number of employees who reported feeling "good" or "great" about their worklife balance." To truly convince the skeptical, more research is required. However, Blades and Fondas present a fine compendium of alternative work arrangements for managers, employees, and human resource professionals to draw from should they find convention not working. (Sept.)

From the Publisher

Blades (The Motherhood Manifesto) and Fondas explore the latest innovations in flexible work arrangements – from Babies-at-Work to Results-Only Environments - in this guide to the increasingly-customized workforce. The authors do a good job of portraying the multiple, and often conflicting, demands on the modern worker; children, colds, commutes, continuing education, caregiving for elders, and career ladders all compete for workers' energy, time, and attention. They point out common barriers to progress, the traditions, conventions, mistrust, and misunderstandings that prevent workers and employers from arranging a better fit. Blades, who co-founded Moms Rising, and Fondas, an award-winning journalist, come equipped with the usual success stories about novel arrangements improving productivity and profits in the workplace but offer little data to support tangible results, instead relying on stats like "a 400% increase in the number of employees who reported feeling "good" or "great" about their worklife balance." To truly convince the skeptical, more research is required. However, Blades and Fondas present a fine compendium of alternative work arrangements for managers, employees, and human resource professionals to draw from should they find convention not working. (Publishers Weekly Online, September 2010)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940178465790
Publisher:	Ascent Audio
Publication date:	07/20/2020
Edition description:	Unabridged

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