The general downsizing of staff and other strategic moves have produced impressive gains in productivity, but they have not been achieved without cost. Job insecurity now infects the emotional health of those who remain as well as those laid off. As demands on the still-employed and the uncertainties of those looking for new ways to order their work life increase, the negative effects on family life have become more numerous and more visible. Meanwhile, family life has also undergone structural changes to the point that a one-form definition no longer fits all. Single-parent households and those where both parents work outside the home now constitute a majority of American families.
Women are in the workforce in massive numbers, and business is dependent on their skills.
Values are the foundation of strong families and neighborhoods, which are needed to nurture socially responsible citizens. Productive, socially responsible citizens are essential to a stable society, and a stable society of productive workers is essential to prosperous business. Profitability in business is inevitably dependent on the capacities and discipline of the workforce. Much is known about the negative effects on productivity of high turnover, absenteeism, accident rates, and low morale. We know that problems in the family and at work tend to feed upon each other.