With the economy gradually showing signs of improvement, the competition between organizations for talent are going to be high which makes programs like work-life balance a crucial business response to the changing workplace. Organizations that are interested in maintaining a diverse workforce, retain experienced and knowledgeable employees and attract new talent cannot afford to overlook the work-life balance concerns of today’s workforce. In fact many organizations have already started using work-life initiatives like flexi-timings, extended maternity/paternity leaves, concierge services etc. to recruit and retain employees.
Senior Management and HR practitioners can affect recruitment and retention by first understanding the importance of work-life balance programs in today’s workplace and then championing strategies that maximize the effectiveness of work-life balance initiatives. Introducing such flexible work options can help in improving employee morale and retention, reduce unscheduled time off, and increase overall organizational performance.
The Reasons for exploring flexible work options
The opt cited reason for introduction of flexible work options is the problem of commuting between home and office, which is true in most urban areas, during what is known as the rush-hours (8-10 am and 5-7 pm). When offices have strict reporting times, it can be extremely stressful for an employee struck in a traffic jam. Frequent late comings, though unintentional, might affect their performance ratings and also lead to disciplinary actions, which sometimes might result in an employee to just give up and quit. The other reasons when an employee takes such a decision to quit are:
• Child care (extended Maternity/Paternity leave) – caring for a newborn, especially for the mother, which often takes priority mostly during the first year.
• Elder/Dependent care – having a sick parent or dependent at home that require constant care might put an employee under stress if they are not accommodated with initiatives like working from home, long leave, or flexible work hours.
• Sabbatical - for pursuing higher education or personal projects that a person wants to go in for at a given time or phase in one’s career.
• Early (phased) retirement – for people typically over 50 who want to disengage from work, due to health or other personal reasons, without waiting for the mandatory retirement age.
Our organization recognizes the need of an employee in having a work-life balance. Some of the initiatives we have taken are as follows:
• Alternate work timings – For the general shift, instead of having a fixed login time we have split the login times into blocks of half an hour. Hence instead of a start time of 9 am, an employee can opt for 9:30 am or 10 am as per his or her commuting time. The logout time (work-hours) for the employee is calculated based on his/her preferred login time.
• Paid-time off plans - These plans allows the employees to pool their sick and vacation leave.
• Part-time work - For some employees with ongoing family obligations, a permanent part-time schedule is sometime considered. This is however typically restricted to non-critical and support staff only.
• Extended Maternity leave – above the legal minimum often allowed to staff based on their requests
• Dependent care – for care of elderly or sick parents or dependents flexible timings or leaves are allowed on a case by case basis
• Special (concierge) services – assisting in investment/tax planning’s, health checkups, handling insurance (health) claims and settling bills, making dinner reservations with good discount for group outings etc.
• Extended Health care – for all dependents including parents.
• Other Initiatives – includes yoga sessions, indoor games, training and workshops to help alleviate stress and make the employee mentally and physically healthy.
Benefits of having flexible working practices for the employees and the organisation
Flexible working practice helps the employees as much as the organization in the following ways:
• Addresses their immediate concerns – they have time to manage the issues better that seem either more urgent or important at a particular point of time.
• Reduction of physical and/or mental stress - especially when there is a conflict in prioritizing work-life issues.
• Better Delegation of work and realizing one’s limitations – learning when to let go and focusing on the key things that help in better utilization of their work time.
• Improved Planning and prioritizing of activities – helps the employee to be more driven to accomplish what he/she wants to accomplish in a given time frame.
• Reduction of Unnecessary or Low-Value work – helps an employee decide whether his/her presence in a meeting or training program adds value or not.
• Require Less Reporting – as the employee becomes more independent, supervision time and related costs are likely to be reduced.
• Higher Work Satisfaction and Productivity – having flexibility at workplace makes an employee more productive as they evaluate their workload and openly discuss with their manager on their personal work styles and individual solutions, which has a direct impact on their motivation levels, work quality and productivity.
Excerpts of this article has been published in Times Ascent - http://timesascent.in/article/7/2009111920091119121416159d9c12e1/Flexiworking-style-gains-momentum-.html
Senior Management and HR practitioners can affect recruitment and retention by first understanding the importance of work-life balance programs in today’s workplace and then championing strategies that maximize the effectiveness of work-life balance initiatives. Introducing such flexible work options can help in improving employee morale and retention, reduce unscheduled time off, and increase overall organizational performance.
The Reasons for exploring flexible work options
The opt cited reason for introduction of flexible work options is the problem of commuting between home and office, which is true in most urban areas, during what is known as the rush-hours (8-10 am and 5-7 pm). When offices have strict reporting times, it can be extremely stressful for an employee struck in a traffic jam. Frequent late comings, though unintentional, might affect their performance ratings and also lead to disciplinary actions, which sometimes might result in an employee to just give up and quit. The other reasons when an employee takes such a decision to quit are:
• Child care (extended Maternity/Paternity leave) – caring for a newborn, especially for the mother, which often takes priority mostly during the first year.
• Elder/Dependent care – having a sick parent or dependent at home that require constant care might put an employee under stress if they are not accommodated with initiatives like working from home, long leave, or flexible work hours.
• Sabbatical - for pursuing higher education or personal projects that a person wants to go in for at a given time or phase in one’s career.
• Early (phased) retirement – for people typically over 50 who want to disengage from work, due to health or other personal reasons, without waiting for the mandatory retirement age.
Our organization recognizes the need of an employee in having a work-life balance. Some of the initiatives we have taken are as follows:
• Alternate work timings – For the general shift, instead of having a fixed login time we have split the login times into blocks of half an hour. Hence instead of a start time of 9 am, an employee can opt for 9:30 am or 10 am as per his or her commuting time. The logout time (work-hours) for the employee is calculated based on his/her preferred login time.
• Paid-time off plans - These plans allows the employees to pool their sick and vacation leave.
• Part-time work - For some employees with ongoing family obligations, a permanent part-time schedule is sometime considered. This is however typically restricted to non-critical and support staff only.
• Extended Maternity leave – above the legal minimum often allowed to staff based on their requests
• Dependent care – for care of elderly or sick parents or dependents flexible timings or leaves are allowed on a case by case basis
• Special (concierge) services – assisting in investment/tax planning’s, health checkups, handling insurance (health) claims and settling bills, making dinner reservations with good discount for group outings etc.
• Extended Health care – for all dependents including parents.
• Other Initiatives – includes yoga sessions, indoor games, training and workshops to help alleviate stress and make the employee mentally and physically healthy.
Benefits of having flexible working practices for the employees and the organisation
Flexible working practice helps the employees as much as the organization in the following ways:
• Addresses their immediate concerns – they have time to manage the issues better that seem either more urgent or important at a particular point of time.
• Reduction of physical and/or mental stress - especially when there is a conflict in prioritizing work-life issues.
• Better Delegation of work and realizing one’s limitations – learning when to let go and focusing on the key things that help in better utilization of their work time.
• Improved Planning and prioritizing of activities – helps the employee to be more driven to accomplish what he/she wants to accomplish in a given time frame.
• Reduction of Unnecessary or Low-Value work – helps an employee decide whether his/her presence in a meeting or training program adds value or not.
• Require Less Reporting – as the employee becomes more independent, supervision time and related costs are likely to be reduced.
• Higher Work Satisfaction and Productivity – having flexibility at workplace makes an employee more productive as they evaluate their workload and openly discuss with their manager on their personal work styles and individual solutions, which has a direct impact on their motivation levels, work quality and productivity.
Excerpts of this article has been published in Times Ascent - http://timesascent.in/article/7/2009111920091119121416159d9c12e1/Flexiworking-style-gains-momentum-.html
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