Case Study 2
CASE STUDY 2
Managing “Daddy Stress” at Baxter Healthcare
For many years women have been torn between family and career. Now it’s time for the men to be torn. In today’s environment, some men are starting to rethink their priorities. Sometimes it’s because they want to be closer to their kids than their dads were to them. Or sometimes they change unwillingly, pushed by their wives to spend more time on family matters. Whatever the reasons, combine them with a tight labor market, technology that allows employees to work from home, and a younger generation of chief executives, and you’re seeing the beginning of change in the corporate workplace.
“Some chief executives are beginning to acknowledge the problem, both for themselves and their employees. People like Harry M. Jansen Kraemer Jr., the 44 year old chief of Baxter International, who makes it a point to leave his office at 6 P.M. to have dinner with his wife and four kids.” Harry Kraemer is part of a new generation. He woke up to the problem [of work/life balance] three years ago when Baxter, which manufactures medical products, surveyed employees and found that conflicts between work and home were roiling the company. Surprisingly, even more men than women reported feeling stress. Look at the gender split: Forty-nine percent of men versus 39 percent of women said they were looking for a new job because of work/life conflicts.”
“Kraemer could understand. Unlike the bosses of the previous generation, whose wives supported them every inch of their climb, his wife was a banker until after their fourth child was born eighteen months ago. Both had heavy travel schedules. They took turns bringing the kids to day care. One day Kraemer was late to a meeting because when he arrived at his Deerfield, Illinois, office he found his 3-year old daughter in the backseat of his car. ‘Dad, where are we?’ she said. Rushed, he thought he had dropped her off at the baby-sitter’s house.
“Kraemer was not merely a sympathizer; he’s
Managing “Daddy Stress” at Baxter Healthcare
For many years women have been torn between family and career. Now it’s time for the men to be torn. In today’s environment, some men are starting to rethink their priorities. Sometimes it’s because they want to be closer to their kids than their dads were to them. Or sometimes they change unwillingly, pushed by their wives to spend more time on family matters. Whatever the reasons, combine them with a tight labor market, technology that allows employees to work from home, and a younger generation of chief executives, and you’re seeing the beginning of change in the corporate workplace.
“Some chief executives are beginning to acknowledge the problem, both for themselves and their employees. People like Harry M. Jansen Kraemer Jr., the 44 year old chief of Baxter International, who makes it a point to leave his office at 6 P.M. to have dinner with his wife and four kids.” Harry Kraemer is part of a new generation. He woke up to the problem [of work/life balance] three years ago when Baxter, which manufactures medical products, surveyed employees and found that conflicts between work and home were roiling the company. Surprisingly, even more men than women reported feeling stress. Look at the gender split: Forty-nine percent of men versus 39 percent of women said they were looking for a new job because of work/life conflicts.”
“Kraemer could understand. Unlike the bosses of the previous generation, whose wives supported them every inch of their climb, his wife was a banker until after their fourth child was born eighteen months ago. Both had heavy travel schedules. They took turns bringing the kids to day care. One day Kraemer was late to a meeting because when he arrived at his Deerfield, Illinois, office he found his 3-year old daughter in the backseat of his car. ‘Dad, where are we?’ she said. Rushed, he thought he had dropped her off at the baby-sitter’s house.
“Kraemer was not merely a sympathizer; he’s