Psychology can boost the corporate bottom line

By Bridget Murray
Monitor staff

The corporate executives that J. William Haas, PsyD, coaches have a common struggle: to manage work and family responsibilities and not let the stress of one arena spill into the other.

One of Haas's clients, a customer-relations leader, saw his work performance slip when his violent, defiant son--diagnosed with attention deficit disorder--kept him up at night. Another client, a product-development manager and single mother of three, battled to care for her children and aging parents and still come up with creative ideas at work.

Haas, an independent consulting psychologist at Leadership Perspectives in Paoli, Pa., has helped both clients strengthen the boundaries between work and family, and work with their bosses to better manage their demands.

And that, he told an enthusiastic audience at APA's 1999 Annual Convention, Aug. 20 - 24 in Boston, is exactly the kind of psychological service that corporate America needs. At the Aug. 23 session "Balancing work and family--findings and implications for consulting psychologists," Haas and other panelists called attention to businesses' growing recognition of the juggling act their employees undertake. More than 80 percent of the U.S. workforce lives with family members, so the time is right for psychologists to step in and help employees strike a satisfactory balance, said session chair Karol Wasylyshyn, PsyD.

Panelists said psychologists can break into the business market by consulting independently, joining executive coaching and human resources organizations or offering employee-support packages. They also advised psychologists to speak the business lingo--to package their offerings so that, as Wasylyshyn put it, "they're not perceived as psychobabble."

"This is a burning platform issue that holds enormous earning potential for psychologists," said Wasylyshyn, president of Philadelphia's Leadership Development Forum, a private consulting firm to major corporations.

"Particularly as psychologists worry about clinical opportunities being eroded by managed care, here's the good news: There are major opportunities in business if we're willing to stretch ourselves and explore new ways of applying psychology. To not do so would be a loss to both psychologists and millions of working people."

Corporate America is concerned

Not only do psychological services help employees handle demands, they also help with the corporate bottom line, said Wasylyshyn. With psychologists' support, employees and their bosses can work out schedules that allow employees to meet job goals and also to pick up their children from school and care for aging parents. That way, corporations keep employees happy, and they attract and retain talented people, said Wasylyshyn.

Ultimately, she said, highly talented, productive workers are what corporations want.

"Believe me, I know Fortune 500 companies aren't driven by altruism," said Wasylyshyn. "They're after that competitive edge."

And, according to a study by panelist Frank Masterpasqua, PhD, business leaders increasingly realize that helping employees balance demands is part of getting that edge. Masterpasqua, a clinical psychology professor at Widener University, recently surveyed 56 executives--half of them chief executive officers, the other half human resources directors--and found that most considered balance a major "issue for their company." Many also felt the pressure personally.

Psychology to the rescue

The next research step, he said, is determining which types of psychological support attract and satisfy top workers. In the meantime, psychologists can provide corporations with employee-development workshops, executive coaching and "360-degree feedback"--in which psychologists interview employees and those they work with and for, give employees feedback and then help employees improve in problem areas. Corporations face a growing need for such services, said Wasylyshyn, but many won't realize psychology's potential until psychologists pitch themselves effectively. For psychologists wishing to start work/family balance programs in corporations, Wasylyshyn offered some words of advice: