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Family-friendly policies spark employee backlash

If the boss allows an employee to leave early to take his children trick-or-treating (or to the doctor, or so the employee can watch a school play), is the boss being fair to everyone else who still has to work a full day?

Is it fair to offer a working mother a flexible schedule but not provide the same option to a woman without children?

A growing number of childless workers are answering no to questions like these, prompting HR magazine to ask employers in a cover story "Are You Too Family Friendly?"

It's an issue because of the changing nature of the population in the US.

"Slightly more than one in four households, 26 percent, consisted of a person living alone in 2006, up from 17 percent in 1970," Susan Wells wrote. "Unmarried and single US residents numbered 92 million in 2006, making up 42 percent of all people 18 and older."

That was up from 89 million in 2005.

As a result, "family friendly" benefits are starting to generate a backlash among people who do not have children.

"Childless singles feel put upon, taken for granted and exploited -- whether because of fewer benefits, less compensation, longer hours, mandatory overtime or less flexible schedules or leaves -- by married and child-rearing co-workers," Wells wrote.

She said one solution that has worked well for some companies is offering a cafeteria-style list of benefits from which employees can choose.
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