Employee Productivity

First, it is great that you ask. Research has consistently supported the fact that companies that make efforts to help employees have work/life balance have increased productivity and lower turnover.

There are several things that you can do, but here are a few ideas:
- Offer flexible work options such as compressed workweeks, telecommuting, part-time work, job sharing and flexible scheduling.
- Provide training to managers in how to measure productivity (not attendance) and how to be flexible.
-Provide benefits such as childcare (or referral), adoption assistance, a lactation room and elder care support to help employees manage family obligations.
- Provide an Employee Assistance Program, concierge services, wellness and fitness programs can help employees manage their life.
- Provide time-off benefits such as extended leave, phase back in programs for parents and sabbaticals can help employees meet their personal obligations.

While many of these ideas do require some kind of financial investment, the pay-off can be substantial. You can find more resources and suggestions on my website about family friendly work- www.familyfriendlywork.net.

One more thing! I made several suggestions, but obviously you can't do everything. Further, different people have different needs for work/life balance. The best way to find out what your employees need is to ask them. Conduct a survey, examine exit interview information or hold focus group discussions to find out what kind of support would be helpful.

Great suggestions, thanks!

how do you best encourage an employee to take the initiative on projects or to attend specific programs/events and seem interested?

Can you provide more detail on your situation? What kind of events? Have you asked why they don't want to attend? Is there any reason for them to be interested? (I would assume if you are taking them away from work, you would like them to really need the information, not just "seem interested"). Let me know what exactly is going on and I can give you some ideas.

How do you motivate an employee to take the reigns rather than waiting to be told what to do? After having been given direction on what to do, is it best to set goals and specific expectations with that person rather than for them?