Implementing Workplace Flexibility

Course Description

Faced with current economic challenges, organizations are seeking to manage costs, improve productivity and retain their most valued employees. Flexibility is a tool that can be utilized to accomplish all of these goals. Many organizations are interested in implementing Flexible Work Arrangements (FWA's), but are unsure how to proceed. Other organizations have been using FWA's informally for years, but now want to implement a formal process that specifies parameters, policies and procedures. Still others have FWA's available for employees but the options are underutilized due to lack of support from managers. If your organization falls into one of these categories, attend this course to learn how to position FWA's as a strategic workforce solution for your organization! This course is designed for Human Resource professionals and managers who are seeking to implement, formalize or expand flexible work arrangements in their organization.

This 1-day program is highly interactive and experiential and will focus on four main topics.

1. What is flexibility and why is it important for organizations to implement flexible work arrangements?
2. How are leading organizations implementing flexible work arrangements?
3. Nuts and Bolts: the process for implementing workplace flexibility.
4. Case Studies: How successful flexibility works.

Instructors
The course will be led by Dr. Brad Harrington, Executive Director of the Center for Work & Family and Professor in the Carroll School of Management at Boston College. Dr. Harrington is the author of Career Management and Work/Life Integration: Using Self-Assessment to Navigate Contemporary Careers (Sage Publications, 2007). Additional instructors are Fred Van Deusen, Senior Research Associate and Jennifer Sabatini Fraone, Assistant Director, Marketing and NEWFA.

Boston College Center for Work & Family
The Boston College Center for Work & Family (CWF) has been at the forefront of the study of best practices in workplace flexibility. We have conducted extensive research on flexible work arrangements and maintain relationships with over 100 leading organizations. The Center for Work & Family is the author of well-know studies on Flexibility including: Flexibility as a Strategy Tool (1998), Workplace Flexibility: A Powerful Strategy for Today's Dynamic Marketplace (2000), Bringing Work Home: Advantages and Challenges of Telecommuting (2002), Creating a Culture of Flexibility: What it is, Why it Matters, How to Make it Work (2004), and Overcoming the Implementation Gap: How 20 Leading Companies are Making Flexibility Work (2008).

Please check back for more information soon!

For questions, please contact cwf@bc.edu.