Creating a Culture of Work-Family Balance within Businesses (VII)
(New Woman, 2007-02-09)
PART
II: WHAT BUSINESSES CAN DO TO CREATE A CULTURE OF
WORK-FAMILY BALANCE AND WHY IT IS IN THEIR BEST INTERESTS
TO DO SO (continuation)
3. Creating a culture of work-family balance
in the workplace.
In order to make work-family balance a
reality, it takes more than adopting certain policies of flex-time
or parental leave, although these policies are necessary. It is
important for both workers and employers to understand that there
is no “one size fits all” policy for work-family balance.
Different workers have different situations and needs, both among themselves
as well as during the different stages their lives and
of their family’s development. In order for a company to
show it is really serious about work-life balance it must
take a close look at how, when and where employees
work and to be able to adapt itself to the
evolution of its workers’ family situations. While there are many
factors outside the organization’s control, it can nonetheless make great
strides by focusing on those aspects that are within its
power to change and to control.
One such aspect is the
environment within the organization itself and whether it encourages work-family
balance or not. Unless employees also perceive that the organization
will be supportive of them adjusting their work pattern because
of family responsibilities, these policies will largely go unused—they will
simply remain dead letter. It is thus necessary to establish
a culture within workplace that encourages and supports work-family balance
both in principle and in practice. This goes equally for
the “top-tiers” of management, as for immediate supervisors, as for
the employees themselves. There is no denying that changing the
culture of a company takes dedication and time. There has
to be a real sense of commitment at all levels
of the company in order for the change to be
realized.
Main obstacles/objections to introducing work-family balance policies
i. Resources
Would
companies do more if costs were less? The major obstacle
to providing work life programs is cost, cited by 46
percent of employers.[1]
In addition to finding the financial resources necessary
to cover the costs of implementing work-family balance policies, the
Work-life Balance Literature and Research Review points out the difficulties
businesses can face in finding the necessary human resources:
Employers
perceive the main disadvantage of work-life policies to be the
cost and disruption of dealing with the employee being absent
from the workplace, especially if they have specialist skills (DTI
2000; Forth et al. 1997). Employees doing similar jobs can
be easily substituted with another, increasing flexibility. For example, in
the supermarket and banks studied by Yeandle et al. (2002),
front-line employees, who performed generic work, were able to informally
swap shifts without adversely impacting operations. Where employees’ jobs are
specialised this is not always possible. Resource constraints can also
reduce flexibility; a problem often experienced by small businesses though
not exclusively. Even in large organisations with substitutable employees, where
cost-cutting has led to understaffing, managers can find implementing company
work-life policy extremely difficult (Yeandle et al. 2002; Bond et
al. 2002; Kodz et al. 2002).
In these circumstances work-life
policies can have a negative impact on other staff: “Due
to cuts we are short staffed… if it’s leave for
emergency care then we just have to cope somehow, but
it does increase the stress on other members of staff.”
Council Manager quoted in Yeandle et al. (2002:14) Employed carers
and family-friendly employment policies[2]
While the problem of finding substitutes for
specialized employees is more difficult to resolve, the financial problem
can be taken care of more easily, but it involves
the cooperation of the government. All businesses pay taxes. Since
work-family balance also directly benefits the government (by helping families
to fulfill their natural/institutional functions, something which the government depends
upon, but could never do for itself), the government can
offer businesses a tax deduction that is proportional to the
amount the business spend on implementing work-family balance policies.
ii.
Attitudes resistant to change
It is important to recognize and address
the attitudes and conceptions that employers and employees may have
regarding work-family balance in general, or family-friendly policies in particular,
that make them resistant to accepting changes in the workplace.
For example, the idea that family-friendly policies apply only to
mothers of small children; or that management will lose control
if employees are given greater flexibility of schedule and space;
or that one person’s flexibility slows everyone else down.
iii.
Lack of communication
Many times, work-family balance policies are not incorporated
into a business because executives and “top-tier” management may not
be aware of the level of work-life conflict in the
organization nor of its impact on productivity and workplace health.
It also might occur that management (both top-tier as well
as immediate supervisors) may not know details of already existing
policies–-what they are, what they cover, how they ought to
be applied.
Policies have the best chance of success if
the people using them, employees and line managers, are fully
involved in their design. Lack of consultation can result in
policies which do not match individuals’ needs or can not
be used because of operational constraints.
Research done into six
businesses considered to be leading work-life balance employers revealed that
while managers welcomed the power of decision-making, they had been
abandoned with the policies having been given no training or
guidelines in how to operate them[3].
Work-family balance tension also
arises when the employees themselves are unaware of already existing
work-family balance policies: both those they are entitled to by
law, as well as those offered to them by their
company. The investment in developing work-life policies is wasted if
similar efforts are not made to effectively communicate the policy
message and provide accessible information and support.
4. Where
to start?
Incorporating a culture and policies that favor work-family balance
in a business is not something that will simply happen
on its own. It first of all requires a commitment
to change, as well as a strategy for change, as
well as perseverance in the effort to change. For some
businesses it may very well be a bumpy and difficult
transition to make, given that it means “revolutionizing” the how,
when, who, where and why of the way we work,
and, perhaps, getting rid of out-dated mentalities and models of
“but we’ve always done it like this,” in favor of
a mentality and model that is more flexible, more personal,
and that makes it harder to directly control.
For companies
looking to implement family-friendly policies, Creating a Family-Friendly Workplace, published
by Human Resources and Social Development Canada in 2005, offers
some basic orientations:
1. Think big, but start small. Assess your
current situation and set objectives. Have a big vision with
realistic milestones.
2. Determine employee needs through formal and informal
discussions such as surveys, focus groups and briefings.
3. Collect
stories and statistics.
4. Get executive attention and buy-in.
5.
Ensure managers are on side and have the training and
tools they need.
6. Build networks and communities within the
company so employees have a sense they are not the
only ones trying to achieve a work-life balance.
7. Focus
on on-going regular communication where the successes, issues and challenges
are raised and addressed.
8. Monitor progress of policies and
programs and evaluate regularly.
9. Keep work-life issues on the
business agenda to ensure sustained interest, awareness and accountability.
------------------ [1]
National Study of Employers, Families and Work Institute, 2005, p.
3
[2] S. Wise, Employment Research Institute of Napier University, Work-life
Balance Literature and Research Review, p. 28
[3] Kodz, J., Harper,
H. and Dench, S., Worl-life Balance Beyond the Rhetoric, Institute
for Employment Studies Repor No. 384, Brighton: IES, 2002
Creating a Culture of Work-Family Balance within Businesses (III) ( New Woman, 2006-12-21 )
Creating a Culture of Work-Family Balance within Businesses (II) ( New Woman, 2006-12-14 )
Creating a Culture of Work-Family Balance within Businesses (I) ( New Woman, 2006-11-30 )
Words of Tom Wappel (Liberal MP) Defending Traditional Marriage in Canadian House of Commons ( Tom Wappel, LifeSiteNews.com, 2006-11-24 )
What's up with British youth? ( Carolyn Moynihan, www.mercatornet.com, 2006-11-24 )
