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Money isn’t everything-at least that’s the case for Generation X and Y, who often seem to value work-life balance more than pay increases. A recent study finds that two-thirds of employers surveyed agree that it’s important to recognize differences between generations; however, only one-third of them feel their programs are doing what they should. Does this mean companies should take away pay increases and just invest in work-life initiatives? Not necessarily.

For example, telecommuting is a hot topic among employees and employers. Flexible work schedules are music to the ears of many employees, especially the wired Gen Y employee who can be as efficient (maybe more) at home using the Internet, intranet, Twitter, texting, phone, webinars and instant messaging to stay in touch with colleagues. More and more companies are jumping on the work-life train, but here are four questions to consider if you want your program to work:

1. Does the initiative fit your culture? Let’s be realistic—some work-life initiatives simply won’t work for certain companies. Can you imagine a medical practice allowing telecommuting?  And, telecommuting might not mean as much to an office in a small community as it would to those in congested urban areas. To create meaningful programs, you need to know what your employees really value. If you don’t know, ask. Get them engaged in a taskforce. Not only will this show them see their opinion matters, but you’ll also be confident you’re offering the programs that will keep them productive and happy at your company.
2. What are you trying to achieve with your work-life initiative? These programs can serve many purposes from cost-savings to retention. Start with the end in mind; make sure you know what to accomplish before you create the program. I personally have a passion for cost-savings and retention, and I have seen first-hand that if employers don’t have the programs in place to support and motivate their younger workers, they may leave and go elsewhere—probably to a company that offers the benefits the employee is really seeking. Locating, hiring and training good people costs money, so retaining them, especially the ones with fresh ideas who can craft the future of your company, is invaluable.
3. How do you sell the initiative? Assuming that you’ve put together a program that fits your organizational culture, the challenge is to rollout the initiative in terms that resonate with stakeholders, especially managers.  Worse than not having a program is having one that your employees really are intimidated to use. Sadly, this is the reality at many companies. They encourage employees to work with their managers to come up with a flexible work schedule, but fail to ensure managers are on board. Nothing will stop an employee from participating faster than hearing their boss is roaming the halls and questioning the point of having an office when it seems empty, or commenting that certain people never seem to be in the office.
4. Is it working? Based on the objectives you set for your program, you will be able to measure your results. Has your retention improved? Are your employees rating the workplace more positively? If it’s not working, you can reevaluate and find something that does before your company loses one of its most important assets—its employees.

I recently read the findings from a study some professors at my alma mater, Brigham Young University, conducted last year on the professional benefits of eating dinner as a family. They surveyed 1,500 IBM employees and found that – no surprise here – working long hours can take a severe toll on professionals, both personally and professionally. However, according to the data, making it home for dinner at least three times a week eased the negative effects of long working hours.

“Jacob and colleagues suggest that employers offer flextime or telecommuting a  few days a week so their employees can be home for dinner more often. They also might include in their training programs explicit encouragement for employees to arrange their day so they’re home in time for dinner. When workers are in the middle of a pressing project that means working long hours, if managers encourage them to go home for dinner and then come back to work, workers will be happier and more productive.”

Now, a lot has changed since their research was released last June. But I would argue that their findings are more relevant that ever, considering the challenging business environment we find ourselves in today. Companies are having to do more with less. And with layoffs, many employees are expected to accomplish the work of three or four of their peers. Encouraging flexibility for activities such as family dinner is a relatively simple and inexpensive thing companies can do with positive benefits. And employees want to hear that kind of encouragement during the trying times. We recently gathered feedback from employees at one of our Fortune 500 clients on what kind of information they would like to hear from the company, and health and safety, flexibility and relieving stress were at the top of the list.

It seems that each and every day we’re hearing about changing economic conditions – inflation, energy availability and pricing (oil reached $116 a barrel yesterday) and the U.S. housing situation are just a few examples. The peaks and valleys are getting steeper and more frequent. New factors and new players have entered the discussion.

And while the new economic environment clearly impacts nations, markets and kitchen tables – it also impacts employers and our daily workplaces.

To address energy costs, firms such as Chrysler are being proactive and moving to four-day, yet full-time, workweeks and we’re hearing about public schools considering the move as well.

In uncertain times, the one thing we do know is that change is a constant – and as it relates to tomorrow’s workplace, and how to communicate with tomorrow’s workers, there are some things we can and may want to consider right now to be proactive communicators in a time of rapid change:

1. What are the internal communications implications for a transition to a four-day workweek and other “flexible” arrangements?
2. What are the employee communication hurdles around increased adoption of e-learning? Do some workers view this as a lessening of investment in their careers? How receptive are you to this type of training?
3. Given the 24-hour workday (hey, it’s the business day somewhere in a global economy) how should companies manage information-sharing technologies such as wikis, SharePoint? What’s the communicator’s role here?
4. How do we not lose the importance of the manager relationship in a virtual office setting? Should managers be trained as communicators to address the lessened face-to-face, informal communication opportunities?

And the list could go on. The bottom line is that the traditional workplace is getting less traditional all the time.

What do we do? How do we use our ever-growing communications toolbox to reach an increasingly interconnected yet dispersed workforce?

As a communicator, how are you changing?