Conference turris::womannotes-v2

759.0. "promote women/day-care at Digital?" by SKYWAY::BENZ (SW-Licencing, Switzerland (@ZUO)) Fri Aug 25 1989 08:33

    Moderators, please move/delete if not appropriate.
    
    I am looking for feedback how these types of solutions are working
    in USA. Excuse the statement in 3., but I think it is better to
    get women promoted under false pretenses than not at all. At the
    end an active promotion of women would create it's own momentum.
    By the way, the To: on this mail is the country manager for
    Switzerland, Germany and Austria, and VP.
    
    Regards,
    Heinrich
    
    
    
    d i g i t a l
                   I N T E R O F F I C E   M E M O R A N D U M

                                   Sent:            
                                   From:          Heiri Benz @ZUO 
                                   Mail address:  BENZ 
                                   Dept:          SW-Licencing..Sys-Marktg
                                   Tel No:        801-2356 (DTN 760-xx
                                   Message #:     007606
                                   Reply to:      

TO:  Hans Dirkmann @ZUO                   ( DIRKMANN )

CC:  ~Remote Addressee~                   ( HANS RUDOLF WITTMER @ZUO )
CC:  Jean Aeschbach @ZUO                  ( AESCHBACH )

Subject: Make it simpler - with creativity

         Hans, 
         
         Thank you for showing us that Pierre Carlo Fallotti is serious 
         about making Digital Europe a better, more efficient company. I 
         would like to make a "bundled" proposition aimed at improving 
         Workforce stability substantially.
         
         The suggestions combined will reduce turnover of clerical workers 
         in addition to saving money:
         
         
         1. Introduce Day-care centres at larger Digital facilities. 
         
         In Switzerland for instance at DECpark, servicing the whole Zurich 
         region. Effects:
         
         - Women which have already worked for us, but now have a child, 
         are available again (Full-time, part-time, combined with flexible 
         working hours). This protects the investment we have in our 
         employees.
         
         - Work-force stability is increased. Women will be reluctant to 
         drag their child from Day-care centre to Day-care centre, because 
         that is bad for the child, and the mothers know it. Women will not 
         go consider job changes, where the next employer does not offer a 
         day-care centre. Women with families are emotionally more stable, 
         and tend to be geographically settled as well.
         
         - Day-care centres in Switzerland are hardly common, actually we 
         are in a stone-age phase of development. Simply being able to 
         offer this facility will make Digital a very attractive employer. 
         Furthermore it can be used to position us as a socially 
         responsible employer. It would give us free publicity of the best 
         kind, specially seeing that we missed that opportunity in the 
         "Taten statt Worte" women's promotion movement, instead IBM became 
         active, and got full page illustrated editorial (free) publicity 
         in the TA-Magazin.
         
         
         2. Actively promote Part-time work.
          
         Part-time workers tend to be more productive relative to their 
         "nominated" work-time than full time employees. A person at 80% 
         employment will produce around 90% of the work of a full-time 
         employee. This is a net-gain of 10%.
         
         The saving gets somewhat larger with people working 50%, and in 
         all cases comfortable exceeds the "friction-loss" used in sharing 
         jobs.
         
         Again, being able to offer part-time work will create an advantage 
         in hiring and keeping good employees. We have to realise that the 
         average age of our workforce is moving upwards. People in their 
         forties and fifties have differing priorities; where they have 
         reconciled their career expectations with their actual 
         achievements, they tend towards growing their hobbies. Money can 
         be less of an issue as well. Exploiting this change in orientation 
         in the mature portion of our workforce will make us more 
         competitive.
         
         
         
         3. Actively promote women in Digital.
         
         It is cynical, but true, that career oriented women tend to work 
         harder for the same money than men, or can be paid less for the 
         same work as a man would have to be paid. Let's exploit that, and 
         in the process benefit from the different management and 
         negotiation styles that women tend to employ.
         
         
         
         I feel we will not make improvements in our company by linear 
         "progress". We must make bold, imaginative and creative moves. I 
         am convinced that the above measures will yield more that 
         increasing the average clerical wage by 10%, whilst actually 
         saving money.
         
         I am sure you will support these suggestions, and pass them on to 
         Jack Schweitzer for consideration and implementation in other 
         European countries.
         
         Regards,
         Heinrich Benz
         

    This memo brings up many, many issues. I hope we can discuss the spirit
    of this memo rather than the gross generalizations made...
    
    >I am looking for feedback how these types of solutions are working
    >in USA
    
    These are not "solutions" from the US. Right now it appears that lip
    service is being paid to the needs of the working parent population. As
    discussed in other notes in this conference, childcare is not soley a
    womans issue, it is a parental issue, effecting many of DEC's
    employees, male & female. 
    
    Digital seems to be in a research stage of just what to do about the
    situation. Dual career couples are looking toward their employers for
    help. Some of their needs are seen in this memo: the need for on site
    daycare, the need for flex-time/part-time. The ability to remain on the
    career path after maternity leave. (This topic has it's own note
    somewhere). 
    
    Does anyone see any progress being made in any of the above? I work
    very close to corporate personnel people, I haven't seen a push to make
    changes. I also think that DEC has got bigger problems on its agenda
    right now. Never mind how do we retain woman with children, we're
    trying to reduce our population. I wonder if the forces that be have
    put the needs of the parental workforce on the backburner because
    the resulting attrition will help their primary problem? 
    
    Obviously the region that this memo was aimed at is faced with
    different headcount issues than in the States.
    
    Regarding point 3 about actively promoting woman. That is a separate
    issue, I didn't find it appropriate for this memo. I don't like the
    idea of bundling family child care needs to woman's promotion. I think
    that promotes the generalizations that one, woman need special help
    attaining management positions, and two they need this help for some
    reasons associated with child-rearing. 
    
    I agree with the concept that woman probably do tend to work harder and
    are likely paid less, but let's address that issue in and of itself.
    
    Gail 

    Thanks, Gail.
    
    I have changed the memo to reflect your comment that childcare is
    not only a womens issue.
    
    I agree that it may be full of gross generalizations - I am trying
    to reach a very conservative management body (male). In Switzerland
    we have a true problem getting and keeping good employees of both
    sexes.
    
    It is not often that I write mails up to that level of management,
    open door policy or not. I thus (unfairly) try to bundle some of
    the topics. I hope that some more versed people will continue to
    push the various issues. (BTW, I have done this by approaching
    personnel two years ago, and got nowhere)
    
    (Un)fortunately I am off for holidays, so I will not be able to
    follow this note-file for a couple of weeks, but, thanks again for
    your quick comment.
    
    Regards,
    Heinrich

    relevant topics discussing daycare and Digital can also be found
    at:
    
    Womannotes-V2 (this file)
    190 - Childcare in the 80's
    
    Womannotes-V1
    13 - Company provided daycare
    542 - DEC Daycare??? - Finally!
    
    Parenting
    120 - Daycare at DEC - poll
    341 - DEC starts childcare resource and referral service
    1090 - DEC's childcare referral svc
    
    -Jody