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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think family friendly is marketing BS for the most part. Why do I say that? Cause I'm likely the person who wrote the marketing copy and applied for awards in Working Mother then stuck a big ole stock photo of "Happy Family in Grass" on the cover of the benefits brochure.

I work for big Corp HQ. I'll leave name off. All of our marketing and PR work is about family friendly, better life balance etc.  but in reality the only people who get that are in the C suite.  No maternity leave. People are pressured to even come back weeks before FMLA ends. Nickel and dimed like they no longer will buy paper cups for the coffee machine ...which I get "green" but they put up a note about cost savings so no more cups but for $$ you can buy coffee now at our cafe (which Corp gets a cut). Time working tracked by the minute for everyone but executives. Lots of days off that you can't really take off. Many jobs have absurd travel requirements like 70% travel when it's really not needed. (Note: I just had a baby 6 weeks earlier, was told I was up for promotion but job now needed 75% travel... Umm. I just gave birth).And the constant threat of "restructuring" which means layoff abs your job duties keep increasing because someone with a "C" in their title needs a new yacht...for their family. (See, family friendly!!)

It's just the reality of the US business scene. My coworkers in Europe and Canada have it much better.  Same company. Same Job. Different culture and perks.[/quote]

You are mixing reality with bogus recognition like "working mother" magazine. If there are polices in place that people actually use, there is such a thing as family-friendly or work-life balance friendly. Agree you can't tell from those awards or company web site - you really need to talk to folks who work there.

My company has very generous remote working/telecommuting policies that many people use. To me that is not marketing, that IS family friendly. Being able to WFH regularly (I usually do twice a week) is huge in cutting down commuting time and allowing me to manage my own schedule (I love having the relaxed mornings with my kids and squeezing in a late morning workout on those days).

My company sends out an email before Christmas asking people to please refrain from sending any emails that aren't absolutely necessary for a five day period. We get lots of PTO, and generous maternity leave.

Of course, there are people who work really hard, travel a ton, etc., but those people are either at the top, making a ridiculous amount of money, or are on their way to the top, making great money on their way to ridiculous amounts. I'm sure there are people with bad bosses who would totally disagree, but the company really is trying to send a top down message that in order to retain top talent, they want to avoid burn out and have people leaving because they think another place has better options. No company is perfect but I do think there are companies/CEOs/upper management that really see the value in this.[/quote]

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