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Work-life balance programs
cover a variety of interventions, and include such practices as dependent care
leave, childcare subsidies, eldercare programs, counseling and referral, and
flexible working hours (Withers, 2001). As the list suggests, the concept of
“work-life balance” recognizes that employees have important family and
extraprofessional obligations that compete with their professional commitments;
benefits that may be grouped under this concept therefore allow people to strike
a more meaningful and potentially less stressful balance between obligations at
the workplace and obligations at home.
The literature we have reviewed
suggests that the concept of “work-life balance” is an area of growing interest.
Duxbury & Higgins (2001) note that the 1990s saw an intensification of work-life
conflicts for many Canadian workers. “Jobs,” they note, “have become more
stressful and less satisfying, and employees generally exhibit less commitment
to their employers and higher absence rates from work.” They add that high
levels of “role overload” and “work to family interference” play a significant
role in frustrating recruitment and retention in Canadian companies.
“The fast track has lost much
of its luster in recent years,” say Harris and Brannick (1999), reflecting a
perhaps common perception that we are witnessing a change in culture in the way
people are choosing to live their lives, and organize their careers accordingly.
In a survey of 448 employees reported on by Dibble (1999), “flexibility in
hours” was the third most frequently mentioned reason why employees remain with
their current employer. A survey of 1,862 employees in the U.S., cited in Ashby
and Pell (2001), reported that most workers wanted a job with flexible hours and
that allowed them to take care of personal concerns, while a substantial number
cited similar reasons for their preference for working at home. Similarly,
B.C. Business (2001) reports that the amount of salary and number of work
hours workers say they are willing to give up to achieve a work/life
balance has doubled.
Whether
or not we are in the midst of a cultural shift, many employers have begun to
respond to such demands by implementing “work-life balance” initiatives in their
workplace, and have done so out of a conviction that providing such benefits can
substantially enhance productivity, revenues, and employee retention and
commitment (Withers, 2001). In a survey of 300 small businesses in Canada, the
Centre for Families, Work and Well-Being (2000) asked "what are the work-life
strategies that make small companies successful in concurrently meeting their
business objectives and being a good place for employees to work?" The survey
found that:
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over 80% of companies offer at least one flexible work arrangement
for employees, and flextime is the most common arrangement.
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83% provide time off to care for sick family members
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80% provide extended health care benefits
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70% offer time off for "eldercare"
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21% offer an EAP.
Such arrangements hardly
require a detailed explanation. It is worth noting, however, that some of these
practices — particularly those related to ‘time off’ and flexibility for
addressing particular needs — need not be a part of some formal benefits
program. Our research on Canadian plastics companies, particularly the smaller
ones, suggested that discretionary time off is a common ad hoc practice, as is
building in a measure of flexibility into work arrangements.
The key to success in this area
appears to be, first and foremost, a good channel of communications and a
workplace culture in which employees feel comfortable in asking for time off to
deal with pressing family matters, and employers are willing to recognize that
granting time off in such a manner ultimately may contribute to greater employee
commitment and productivity in the long run.
Duxbury and Higgins (2001) argue, in this vein, that employers can help to
create more supportive work environments by (i) working with employees to
identify and implement the types of support they say they need, and better
inform them about policies that may currently be available to them, and (ii)
encouraging employees to use the supports that are readily available and ensure
that employees who could make use of such assistance do not feel that their
career prospects would be jeopardized by doing so (Duxbury and Higgins, 2001).
Finally,
it should be noted that organizations that function on the basis of shiftwork —
manufacturers particularly — may have employees who found it particularly
difficult to balance family and work obligations. Again, a certain degree of
flexibility and responsiveness on the part of employers can go a long way in
helping employees to resolve such conflicts and be more productive at work.
Duxbury and Higgins note a number of policies that prove to be effective in
helping employees to manage work-life balance in a shift work setting. These
include (i) limiting split shifts, (ii) providing advanced notice of shift
changes, (iii) permitting employees to trade shifts amongst themselves and, most
importantly, consulting with employees about their work-life balance needs while
planning shifts.
Case study examples:
Baytech;
Canadian General
Tower; Innotech Precision;
IPEX).
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