Balancing act: Greg Kratz: Survey shows parents crave flexibility in pursuit of work-life balance

I can confirm the value of volunteering in school. While my wife is now serving as co-president of the PTA in our younger children's elementary school and spends a huge amount of time there, I have thoroughly enjoyed the less-frequent opportunities I've had to volunteer.

For example, I was able to take a half-day off work last year to help with Halloween parties at school, and it was a wonderful experience. It was great to meet some of my children's classmates and put faces with the names I hear so often. It also helped me get to know their teachers a bit better, and I appreciated that opportunity.

"It’s clear from the results that allowing parents the option to work from home would give them more time to give back to their community and also get them back into the work force,” Fell said in the press release.

I know this survey focused on people who already were interested in flexible jobs, but I still think we can learn a lot from it as workers, managers and companies. If we can build more balance between our work and family lives, it's possible that everyone will benefit.

That's the kind of winning proposition all of us should be able to support.

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