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Contact Joan Toth, Executive Director, Network of Executive Women (NEW)
Tel. (312) 693-5393 | E-mail jtoth@newonline.org | www.newonline.org

DOWNLOAD NEW WORK/LIFE REPORT
DOWNLOAD NEW SHOPABILITY REPORT

NEW offers answers on work/life and 'shopability'

Network weighs in on two critical industry issues

CHICAGO (May 30, 2007) -- Two new reports from the Network of Executive Women offer insights and solutions for the consumer products and retail industry on work/life issues and retail "shopability."

"Balancing Acts: People-Friendly Policies That Build Productivity" was underwritten by audit, tax and advisory firm KPMG, a NEW sponsor. It is NEW's latest Best Practices report designed to help companies retain and recruit diverse leadership teams.

The report details progressive work/life programs and policies in place at such companies as Avon, Colgate-Palmolive, Frito-Lay, the J.M. Smucker Company, General Mills, The Kellogg Company, Kraft, KPMG, PepsiCo and Procter & Gamble. Retailers cited include Publix, Wegman's and Whole Foods. All of the companies have appeared on Working Mother's 100 Best Companies ranking or Fortune magazine's 100 top companies survey.

Top solutions in the report include flexible and alternative work schedules, compressed workweeks, telecommuting, job-sharing, extended leaves, and "on and off-ramps" for executives. Other popular options include child and eldercare support and healthy lifestyle programs.

"Flex policies reduce the need for career interruptions--and ease the way for executives who do take a career break to stay trained, connected and return to standard work schedules," NEW reports. "Instead of opting out of the workforce altogether, employees can take paid leave, unpaid sabbaticals, work at home, or take advantage of flextime or reduced work schedules. And for those who must leave completely, some companies have established alumni groups that keep former employees connected and offer a path back to company employment." Career development, mentoring and networking are also critical, according to NEW.

"Shopability" examined

"Today's diverse and demanding consumers respond to choice but are also challenged by too much complexity," according to NEW's Best Practices Special Report, "One Woman, Two Lives: Shopability."

The report is based on a survey of 250 NEW members in their dual roles as industry executives and family shoppers. The survey, conducted by WSL Strategic Retail, revealed that women want simpler choices and more information to impact their shopping experiences.

The NEW special report features a shopability agenda to help retailers and consumer packaged goods manufacturers maximize sell-through and profitability. Among the recommendations: be known as a diverse and responsible company; simplify the shopping experience; optimize, don't maximize, choice; replace mass marketing with micromarketing; optimize merchandising for more results; make the product a hero; stock shelves the way people shop; let the package tell the story; and let underperforming products go.

The NEW survey respondents know shopability: 81 percent do most or all of their family's shopping; 95 percent work full-time in the consumer packaged goods and retail industry, and they average 9.8 years in their companies. The report includes observations from industry executives and research on the long-term effects of product proliferation on sell-through.

Wendy Liebmann, president of WSL Strategic Retail, said, "There's often no way to try the product and [consumers] can't smell or taste" what's inside, she said. The risk of buying an expensive product that they "may not like" and packaging that "does not help me choose" were also cited as factors that make a product hard to buy. The solution, she said, "is to let the product sell the product in an affordable, simple way."

For more information on the Network of Executive Women and its best practices, education, mentoring, networking and leadership development programs, contact Executive Director Joan Toth at (312) 693-5393 or visit www.newonline.org.

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