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Striking the Right Work Life Balance |
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Written by Audraie Lecocq
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Walking the tight-rope of personal and professional commitments
Do you feel that there just aren't enough hours in your day? Are you always on the run? Is the strain of striving to perform above expectations causing you to spend more and more time in the office or, at the very least, more time answering emails and writing reports at home until late at night? I am sure there were many of you that answered ‘yes' to all of those questions. If so, do not worry, you are not alone. Long work hours deprive many of us of irreplaceable time we could be spending with our family and friends. However, help is at hand. In the next few pages I will show you that it doesn't have to be this way.
Flexible working options can add a whole new dimension to your job and, crucially, create a more humane working environment. Consultants Deloitte & Touche recently conducted a survey in the United States that emphasised just how important a healthy work/life balance can be. It demonstrated that introducing flexibility into the workplace increased job satisfaction, helped retain valuable employees and was vital in nurturing an ethical organisational structure. Flexible working alternatives are essential in allowing us to live the lives we desire. On a worldwide scale, more and more organisations are beginning to recognize the importance of striking a work/life balance for the benefit of both their employees and the company itself - corporations such as IBM, World Bank and Shell have all introduced their own flexible work options.
The main challenge for HR professionals around the globe is finding a creative solution that will not only match their company's productivity and corporate culture, but will also meet their employees' needs for more personal time. This will serve to reduce absenteeism and cut down the risk of depression due to overwork and stress. Now, let's look closely at some tried and tested models that may just work for your organization as well.
Compressed Workweek
In a compressed workweek the normal 40 office hours, which you would ordinarily work over the course of five days, are squeezed into a shorter span. The most common models here are: (i) four 10- hour days, which leaves one extra day free every week. (ii) the ‘9- 80' model, which involves working five nine-hour days one week and the four nine-hour days the following week, thus leaving every other Friday off for employees. Another popular model, particularly in organisations such as manufacturing companies and health-care facilities, is the ‘3-36' pattern. Employees are required to work 12 hours three days in a row followed by four days off.
Many companies introduce compressed workweeks to offer longer blocks of personal time and to reduce the number of times employees need to commute to work. However, the success of each measure depends on the corporate needs of your organization as well as the employees' willingness to work longer hours in exchange for extra days off.
An additional benefit of the compressed workweek is the possibility of reducing operational costs. If employees work longer hours they will be on-site later, allowing you offer to your customer a more comprehensive service. In a traditional 9-5 system this would mean paying overtime. However, as the employees are already receiving the benefit of more available freetime, overtime pay goes out of the window. Shell introduced 12-hour shifts in some of its international operations allowing its employees to get a 3-day weekend, whilst the World Bank has implemented the "9-80" model in an effort to lure more skilled women as employees, to reduce stress and to ease single parents' conflicts. Both organisations noted that overall morale among staff improved, absenteeism decreased and most importantly, productivity didn't suffer.
Telecommuting
Telecommuting, or flexi-place, applies to a wide number of arrangements where employees work off-site, either at home or in a ‘virtual office'. This option offers maximum flexibility for employees with family obligations as the hours are not fixed and there is no need to commute to work every morning. The downside to telecommuting is that the lack of direct contact makes it far more difficult for you to forge a strong team or corporate culture, and can create supervision problems for managers.
Even with the potential pitfalls, flexi-place is an alternative that is rapidly growing in popularity in both the public and private sectors worldwide. Now, here is a statistic that may just grab your attention - a recent survey in North America found that over 30% of employees would choose the option to telecommute over a 10% salary increase! There are approximately 18 million telecommuters in the United States and around 2 million in Europe. If telecommuting can take-off so spectacularly in both those areas, think of the scope it has in China.
With less time spent travelling back and forth between home and the office, telecommuting two or three days a week can increase productivity from anywhere between 10% and 20%, increase efficiency by more than 10% and boost employee retention by 15%. It is also possible to enjoy significant cost reduction. Computer giant IBM implemented such a program and gained inestimable benefits both financial and non-financial.
"Flexitime motivates employees by giving them a greater sense of responsibility and ownership of their time."
Flexi-Time
The term ‘flexi-time' typically means giving employees the chance to decide their own start and finish time for work (as long as they complete a set amount of hours everyday). Flexi-time is designed to increase productivity by allowing employees to sculpt their workday according to family commitments or peak energy levels. For instance, early-birds may choose to work from 7am to 4pm with a full-hour for lunch. This way they can avoid some of the rush hour traffic both in the morning and afternoon, get home early and still fit in their 8 hours. Other employees might decide to come in later, around 11am perhaps, take 30 minutes for lunch and leave at 7.30pm. This allows staff to schedule personal appointments when they do not have to be in the office, such as early in a morning or late in an afternoon.
The major concern with flexi-time is that if everyone comes in when they choose, you may be understaffed at some your busiest times of the day. For this reason many companies who offer flexi-time include ‘core hours' that everyone must work, which would tie in with peak business demand, 11.30am to 3.30pm for example. One of the greatest advantages of this method is that not only will it serve to reduce absenteeism and solve punctuality problems, but it will also reduce employees' stress levels as they will not feel bound by restrictive hours or the accusing stare of the manager tapping his watch. Flexitime motivates employees by giving them a greater sense of responsibility and ownership of their time.
Job-Sharing
In a job-sharing arrangement, two people share one position within an organisation with salary, benefits and work schedule split between the two individuals according to a pre-arranged formula. Job sharing is similar to part-time work to some extent, except that in this instance two part-time employees combine to fulfil one full-time role. Therefore, to be successful, job-sharing requires exceptional communication and organisational skills.
Most organisations that implement this idea start by doing so over a limited period so as to assess its feasibility with the possibility of renewing the arrangement if it proves successful. Employees involved in such a program will appreciate the opportunity to enjoy personal interests as well as pursuing their careers. Most participants in such a scheme tend to be parents of young children or individuals with important family commitments and responsibilities. Successful programs can increase employees' morale and decrease work-time lost because of family or personal reasons.
Other Alternatives
Work/life balance initiatives can be widely defined to include any benefits, policies or programs that can facilitate a better balance between work demands and the healthy enjoyment of life outside work. Such a general definition means that it is possible to include many different initiatives in your work/life program, as long as they address your organisations internal needs. The four options listed above are probably the most commonly used. However, it is not rare to also encounter other alternatives such as partialretirement, on-site child-care, eldercare initiatives, family leave policies, employee assistance programs and even on-site fitness facilities.
Governments in Australia, New Zealand and the U.K. have made work/life balance a priority by offering employers the necessary resources and supporting and approving legislation in favour of these programs. For example, in the U.K. legislation was passed to give parents the right to request flexible working arrangements. The new law allows parents to better manage their family life and personal life, whilst also remaining at work to pursue their career. New Zealand and Australia implemented award programs to highlight and reward organisations demonstrating best practices.
The most significant advantages associated with flexible work options are employee retention, higher morale, lower absenteeism, increased levels of satisfaction and decreased stress levels amongst your staff for a healthier lifestyle. There are three key terms that you must keep in mind as you decide to implement new approaches in your organisation: (i) creativity (ii) flexibility (iii) organizational culture. Using creativity and flexibility to answer your employees' needs and aligning the programs with your organisational culture is the key to success.
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