Read the Harvey and Larson article on p. 338 of your textbook: Work-Life Balance Issues: Changing When and How the Work Gets Done.
Given the recent workplace setting changes due to Covid, some companies are adapting their previous work rules to allow for at least some ongoing remote work options that were originally offered specifically due to Covid. Other companies are announcing that they expect their workers to return to their previous office schedule and eliminate the remote options. This has impacted pretty much all of us in one way or another and you may use your own experiences to support your questions responses.
Respond to the following four questions and create a separate paragraph for each question. Question one has two parts, a and b.
1. Analyze the need for work-life balance in terms of the forces promoting and the forces resisting these types of programs.
Let’s adapt the above question to focus on the idea of working remotely–a relatively new phenomenon that has gained traction due to Covid restrictions for in-person activities. Make a clear case a) for allowing a modified remote work option (obviously this cannot apply to everyone. Health care professionals or cashiers, as two random examples, must be onsite ‘in-person’ to perform most of their duties). Nonetheless, there are many jobs that allow for some remote work options, b) against allowing remote work options for office workers or other employees that have proven to be just as efficient and productive working remotely as prior to the remote work options created due to Covid. In other words, there are business owners that want their employees back in the office. What are some legitimate justifications for why an employer wants their employees fully present at the office?
2. Apply the concept of the business case for diversity to offer more flexible work arrangements for caregivers.
3. In spite of people living longer and healthier lives, stereotypes about older workers being hard to manage and slow to adapt to new technologies still persist. How do the media contribute to and reinforce these stereotypes?
4. The organizations profiled in this article are quite different and represent a range from small businesses to huge corporations. What might they all have in common that has enabled them to be innovative about their programs for older workers?
