Off-Ramps and On-Ramps

5

Establishing Flexible Work Arrangements

At the core of corporate policies and practices that allow women to stay engaged with their career are flexible work arrangements. As we saw in chapters 2 and 3, flexible work arrangements dominate women’s wish lists. Flexible start and stop times, seasonal flextime, reduced-hour options, telecommuting, and job sharing are among the policies and practices that wives, mothers, and daughters yearn for.

Of the six elements in the core package of second-generational policies, flexible work arrangements are the easiest to put in place—and the most established. In nearly all cases a company’s bottom line will not be affected if a woman comes into the office a few hours earlier so she can be home in time to ...