A New Work-Life Model for the Twenty-First Century

With the coming of the new century, talk of change and new beginnings is everywhere—the new family, the new workforce, the new corporation, the new employee-employer contract. In the midst of all this talk of change, however, policies and practices in the work-life area remain surprisingly the same. No innovative ways of framing the issues have captured the imagination of policymakers; no dramatically new approaches have been embraced to meet the needs of changed constituencies. The author argues that this stagnation is due to well-entrenched but out-of-date assumptions about men and women, work and family. These assumptions have served to severely limit the development of creative approaches to corporate work-family policies. The challenge for the new century is to break the hold of these assumptions and find fresh approaches to work-life issues. The aim of this article is to articulate one such fresh approach.