Work/life balance

This article was written for e-academy's regular e-mail newsletter.

Word count: 930 words

People today are less prepared to sacrifice their life for their career - no matter how important that career; organisations want to get the most from their employees. On the face of it, these two statements seem contradictory. But forward-thinking employers are discovering that providing employees with a framework for a better balanced life delivers real business benefits.

When Ted Hughes wrote, "why should I let the toad work squat on my life?" he was thinking about a life without work. Sadly, this is not really a possibility for most of us. What we increasingly want is better job satisfaction and a better work/life balance - which is to say, a job that allows us to live.

Some of the background issues are deep-seated. Our 'working day' is really the product of the industrial revolution, when workers needed to be 'punched in' and work was, for the majority, solely about earning a crust. An idea of job satisfaction was alien. Today, the world's moved on. Technology means that many people could work anywhere, anytime. We now aspire to do better than merely exist. But business hasn't moved with the times. Nine to five is still the norm, as is office-based work.

In fact, within many organisations the truth is worse than that. Technology and communications have actually led to a level of communications where employees are 'always available'. Long-hours cultures prevail, in fact, in the UK, we're the worst offenders in Europe - on average, fathers work 48-hour weeks. A lot of this is driven by the 24x7 culture which is emerging, where people (not just businesses) expect round-the-clock availability for many things: Internet connections, on-line shopping, customer service, you name it. So we're all getting used to everything being available all the time.

Don't believe me? According to UK Office of National Statistics, workers spend on average more time each day managing their e-mail (49 minutes) than playing with their children (25 minutes). Which would you prefer to look back on as a memory, when you reach retirement?

In the UK, the cost of work/stress-related sick-leave and absenteeism is running at £370m per year. More than half of the UK's workforce is suffering from stress and one in four takes time off as a result. And yet, only 28% of organisations realise just how much stress affects the bottom line, according to the Department of Trade and Industry, so not enough is done to counter the problem.

It's not likely that things will carry on in this way. Society is changing and the framework for work is going to have to adapt to both support the 24x7 culture and our drive for greater job satisfaction and a better work/life balance.

The good news is that these things are not mutually exclusive. Indeed, organisations are finding that implementing more flexible working policies results in more committed, enthusiastic and productive employees. Such companies find it easier to attract and keep higher calibre people. It works. Employees get treated with respect, not like drone workers, and employers get better productivity, creativity and loyalty.

Texas Instruments offers a pretty comprehensive and flexible package. As standard, it provides flexible work arrangements (such as part-time, compressed weeks and teleworking), help with sourcing childcare and schools, on-site new mothers' rooms for nursing mothers, a Web-based parents' network to enable employee parents to share information, summer camps for employees' children - and that's before we get onto the usual employee benefits. (Of course in the States the working culture is different too - long hours are still the norm, as is just two weeks' holiday for most workers, something which would be rejected in the UK.)

Essentially what you've got here is recognition of the value of a good employee and the fact that such investments result in real business benefits. Research shows that other companies had better sharpen up, if they want to attract the best talent. Achieving a decent work/life balance is becoming more people's primary goal. They simply won't apply for a job if they feel that the job will compromise this.

Such employee benefits impact the bottom line. In the UK, Xerox estimates that it saved over £1m over a period of five years because of better work-life balance policies, including flexible working and leave schemes - which led directly to better employee retention.

UK government research shows that work/life balance policies save money, increase productivity and improve staff retention. Profitability rises - one company survey reported gains of 37%. Companies with a family-friendly policy enjoy reduced casual absence, increased retention of staff, easier recruitment and improved morale, commitment and productivity.

Studies by the Institute of Employment found that one London-based company (with 500 mostly women employees) saved itself around £50,000 in retraining costs alone - simply by offering better maternity policies and improved family-friendly policies. (When looking at the bigger picture, it's estimated that if just 10% of non-working mothers returned to work after maternity leave, it could save UK industry a staggering £49 million in recruitment costs!)

The government is firmly behind such initiatives and you'll find examples of ways to provide more flexible employment throughout their Web sites. If you're interested in finding out more, check out the Work Foundation's Web site (www.theworkfoundation.com) which is committed to the cause. A good follow-up book is the excellent Happy Mondays, by the Work Foundation's Richard Reeves. Richard is an inspirational chap who believes that the nine-to-five schedule and being tied to the workplace should be scrapped entirely, in favour of a task-related schedule and a work-from-anywhere culture.

It seems that technology changes come rapidly. Organisations adopt this technology less quickly and are slower still to implement its possible social benefits - but the changes are coming. With effort, the workplace of the next fifty years could be totally different from the one which we know now.