A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

A Business Guide to Support Employee and Family Involvement in Education - 1997

"WITH THE COLD WAR BEHIND US AND A NEW CENTURY COMING,
IMPROVING EDUCATION OUGHT TO BE OUR GREAT PATRIOTIC CAUSE.
By enlisting in this mission, you will strengthen your companies
and your communities in every good way. You will help your
employees to be good parents and productive workers. It is good
for the bottom line when you work to lift up education."

U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley
1997 Conference Board Business and Education Conference

Introduction

This guidebook provides business leaders and their education and community partners with information and guidance about policies and practices that promote employee and family involvement in education, address workforce and student needs, and support education initiatives within communities. The material includes practical applications and examples from employers who are actively participating in these efforts.

Section I addresses employer and employee concerns that motivate their involvement in education. Employers, who are challenged to remain economically competitive, have concerns focused on workforce needs; recruitment and retention of qualified, productive employees; employee and family well-being; quality of community life; and consumer loyalty. Employees, whether professionals or low-wage earners, managers or entry-level workers, face the stress of balancing work and family life. Their particular concerns focus on quality time with families, child and after-school care, schedules, relocation, and supervisory relationships.

The importance of expanding work-family programs is given additional credibility when employers use cost-benefit analysis as a tool to justify investments in efforts that help employees and families better balance work and family roles and responsibilities. A close examination of program costs and assessment has the potential to measure the impact of employer education initiatives on employee performance, thereby determining the bottom line of these efforts. An important outcome could be to encourage employees (with or without children) to become more substantively involved in education.

In spite of changing demographic and labor force trends and workforce needs, work and family programs are not widespread. Although some growth has been documented, there is a growing need and demand for services and programs to support family and employee involvement in education, both within the company and within the larger community. Section I concludes with an examination of the quality and quantity of business policies and practices that support employee and family involvement in education in terms of services for employees' school-age children; information and support for employees who have responsibility for school-age children; and institutional support for community programs that serve school-age children.

Section II details a four-step plan for businesses and other organizations to plan, develop, and manage initiatives focused on involvement in education:

Step 1 provides assessment guidelines and tools to help assess and analyze employer, employee, and community needs related to family and employee involvement in education.
Step 2 establishes a framework for initiatives by engaging and committing top management to effect policy and program decisions, recruiting key internal and external stakeholders to actively participate in project development and implementation, and determining goals and objectives.
Step 3 crafts a work plan.
Step 4 assists in managing initiatives through communications, scheduling, budgeting, and assessment guidelines; technology tools for support and guidance; tips and strategies to address and overcome challenges; and program monitoring and evaluation to determine "what works."

Section III examines what employers see as the scope (local, regional, and/or national) of their future efforts, both within their organizations and within their communities. Finally, the Appendix provides key professional sources for employers to help achieve goals and objectives related to employee and family involvement in education.

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[Acknowledgments]

[Establishing the Context for Employee and Family Involvement in Education]