Nationwide, there is talk of a backlash from workers without children who may resent being excluded from benefits such as flexible hours, telecommuting and job sharing that employees with families are granted. The pressure in the past decade has been to make companies more family-friendly, but workers with families actually are in the minority. There are 83.5 million workers without young children, compared with 51.3 million workers who have children under age 18, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. That's why it's not surprising that resentment may be brewing. Work life issues aren't restricted to people who have kids or other dependents.
Free time is a scarce resource.
Young, who has a Ph.D. in organizational management, researched the subject for Boston University's Human Resources Policy Institute in 1996. She studied 750 salaried workers in two large corporations in the Northeast. But our research showed there was no difference, that both worked 42.5 hours a week. Organizations that recognize the need for benefits for parents also have to recognize those of other workers. Businesses indeed are grappling with the fact that single people also value quality time.