Section Twoapproaches include part-time schedules, flextime, flexi-
scheduling, and allowing employees to work part of the time at
home. Experiences with the latter have been reported at both
General Motors and Citibank for managerial and professional
personnel. The trends toward greater flexibility are clear.
Between 1991 and 1997, the proportion of the civilian labor
force working on flextime increased from 15 percent to
27 percent.^106
Dual-Career Couples
An issue related to increased feminization of the workforce is
the number of dual-career families. The number of couples
having two wage earners has increased rapidly, having passed
the two-thirds point more than a decade ago. In order to
accommodate such families, many employers offer support
services such as “sick child” care programs and day care. Such
services are believed to pro duce reductions in absenteeism,
lower turnover, recruiting advantages, and a positive impact on
productivity.^107 In order to help such dual-career couples, as
well as single parents, employers now provide several forms of
support. For example, referral services for child care are
provided by one of the large public accounting firms as well as
IBM. Other companies have set up child care facilities on
company premises. Campbell Soup Company has had success
with such a program. However, such programs are not