Companies helping dads balance work, life

By Paula Burkes Erickson

Published: July 29, 2007

David Eck, manager of the Xerox plant in Yukon and father of three, in April negotiated flexible hours when his wife became pregnant with their fourth child.

"She had severe morning sickness that could hit her anytime,” Eck, 43, said. "There was no way she'd be able to get the kids up and to school by 8.”

Eck changed his hours from 7 a.m.-3:30 p.m. to 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. so he could pull morning duty. In addition, he took vacation every Wednesday through the remainder of the school year, to watch his 6-year-old and four other kindergarten boys the half day they weren't in school.

His wife and four other moms had arranged a child care rotation.

"I enjoyed being able to see what goes on in the morning, and how my kids interact,” Eck said. "I usually leave for work before they're up, so I had no clue.”

As the lines of responsibility in today's family blur, working fathers juggle growing professional and family responsibilities much like working moms. According to the 2006 Census, there are 26.5 million married fathers with children younger than 18 and 2.5 million single dads.

Among workers of the nation's 1,000 largest companies, 53 percent say their employers are very supportive of their efforts to achieve work-life balance, according to a recent poll by Office Team staffing company. Thirty percent of executives say offering flexible schedules is the most valued employee benefit.

Xerox Corp., which employs 130 in Yukon, recognized work-life balance was emerging as a hot issue in the mid-1980s, after surveying its work force, said Larry Becker, director of benefits and policies.

"The workplace is a competitive environment and we want to enable our employees to live the balance they want,” Becker said. "With technology, the traditional notion of working at your desk eight hours a day is disappearing.”

Aside from flex time, Xerox offers workers adoption stipends, assistance with first-time home buyers, the ability to buy vacation, and unpaid paternity leave, which can be taken concurrently with leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Under FMLA, companies with 50 or more workers are required to give both men and women up to 12 weeks' unpaid leave to care for a newborn.

While many companies offer women paid maternity leave, only 1 percent of private employers offer men that perk, according to Parents Magazine.

Paternity leave — unpaid or paid — has yet to become a popular benefit, studies show. According to a survey released in June by Harris Interactive for Adecco, 59 percent of employed fathers said they would not take paid paternity leave if it were offered.

Their reasons: they couldn't afford to take the time off; to do so would harm their careers; clients or co-workers depended on them too much, so they couldn't be away for an extended period; or that they just were too busy to take the time off.

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