Employees' top career concern in the new millennium involves balancing family and work demands – even above job security and earning a competitive salary – according to a research study commissioned by our company. Increasingly, employees are asking for corporate programs that reflect a more flexible business environment. The challenge for businesses is responding to these concerns without sacrificing productivity.

Building a Worker-Friendly Reputation
Encourage your staff to participate in developing solutions for enhancing your company's work environment. Solicit feedback from employees by periodically conducting anonymous satisfaction surveys. Ask not only for improvements they would like to see but also practical ways of implementing these suggestions. Here are some additional tips.

Publicize Your Programs
Accentuate those aspects of your business that most appeal to job candidates. Look for areas in which your company excels and emphasize them when you interview applicants. For example, if your firm is small, you may have more flexibility than larger companies when it comes to offering nontraditional benefits, relaxed business attire or a faster track to career advancement.

Help Employees Balance Obligations
Promote management practices and personnel policies that allow for personal days when necessary, and provide services on premises that save employees time.

Empower Your Staff
Most people work harder and do a better job if they feel you value their opinions, you trust them to be responsible and you empower them to make decisions.

Hire for the Long Term
The way a company hires, trains and rewards employees reveals a great deal about its values. Hiring for aptitude and then training for career advancement goes a long way toward building loyalty and increasing retention rates.

Companies with worker-friendly management practices are at a distinct advantage when it comes to hiring qualified talent. These programs help create a productive, satisfying workplace where employee turnover, as well as recruitment and training costs, are kept to a minimum.