Lessons from the Workplace Project: an evaluation of a Work-Life Balance Programme initiative
Appendix II: Implications for constructing resource toolkits
Project outcomes that can be used to develop a resource
These are summarised below:
- Leadership and commitment from "the top", (which is essentially very close to the highest authority in the organisation) is critical, not just to permit changes, but to empower those working on work-life balance initiatives with the scope to explore the full range of options that might be available, and to dedicate the resource (and determine the priority!) to projects and their implementation. [This does influence where at least some of any generic resource materials need to be pitched.]
- Awareness is in and of itself close to being a sufficient condition for positive change. Awareness of the importance of work-life balance tends to focus the attention of relevant change agents (whether that is senior management, Human Resources or line/divisional managers) on opportunities for improvement, and that naturally flows into revised practices. Awareness of options to change patterns of work or hours of work generate "peace of mind" for employees, even if the options are not exercised very often. [This is a particularly important finding from the point of view of building a resource: it can be consciousness raising in its focus and does not need to be prescriptive at a level of detail.]
- How organisations go about doing things is as important as what they do in terms of demonstrating genuine commitment and thereby helping to overcome workforce cynicism about the "latest fad." Process is very important in improving structures and systems to enable greater flexibility in working arrangements. "Best practice" manuals, or process guidelines can be developed for use when there is an interest in addressing work-life balance in particular situations. [A process toolkit is a viable consequence of the project.]
- Many processes and options for flexibility are informal and can be developed on a grace and favour basis. Codifying and documenting current practice is both comforting to the worker and empowering for both worker and immediate manager ("its okay to do that"). [Again important in preparing resources: it isn't that difficult to make a difference: simple measures work!]
- Ensuring people have the right skills (including personal skills such as communication skills, problem solving, time management) to get on top of the job they have is an important (and often neglected) part of improving the quality of the experience at work. [This highlights a feature that is very positive from a business performance point of view and emphasises that work-life balance initiatives have positive spin-offs and are very strong in a win-win sense.]
- Communication is raised everywhere as being central to both knowing what rights are available but also to interacting directly in changing and adjusting work loads and work patterns. Increasingly electronic forms of communication are the preferred medium, but not all workers have access to computers etc at convenient times and locations: expectations that they will connect with information systems from home computers or other private devices in their private time are unrealistic. (If work has to follow the worker home in order for the worker to access information about rights to flexible options there is something out of balance!) [This creates a basis for some very practical suggestions to be made in any generic toolkit.]
- A lot of little things make a noticeable difference, without changing the world. [This gives comfort: organisations don't need to completely re-engineer to make a difference!]
- Recognition and rewards can be relatively inexpensive but hugely motivating and tend to have a big impact on the quality of the experience at work. Generally, these systems are underdeveloped, unevenly applied and awkwardly given and received! [This is an area that can be worked up through a process for sharing experience on a type of bulletin board.]
- Predictability of hours is very important. Associated with this is the amount of notice that is given about shift patterns, overtime requirements etc because even if there is some flexibility of working hours built into various rosters, if there is inadequate notice it is not realistic to plan activities outside of work to take advantage of the flexibility. [Another simple "courtesy and respect" lesson that doesn't need to overwhelm organisations.]
Refining any messages or resource
There are a number of caveats that need to be attached to the core findings: these are not negatives, and should be seen as being in the nature of refinements that anticipate barriers and forewarn about them, and empower those responsible for implementing change to overcome them.
- Thus far, work-life balance tends to be seen as being a legitimate reason to change work practice if it is consistent with the existing business model and way of working, and especially if it enhances business performance ("good for the business"): There has not been any broader acceptance of an obligation to change the way the business works in order to improve work-life balance. This is probably an implicit reason for conclusions that work-life balance initiatives have not had dramatic disruptive effects. [This is a positive in the sense that resources can be designed around an "it's good for business" message. It also suggests that there is 'second generation' set of questions that need to be posed at some stage about how and in what circumstances there is an expectation that the work-life balance tail might be expected to wag the business dog.]
- There is some ambivalence at the policy and process advice level about whether work-life balance is about the quality of the experience at work, or facilitating more choice away from work. While the "talk" is all about the total experience, the "walk" tends to focus more on hours of work and options to vary them. [This suggests that there is a need to re-emphasise the importance of the quality of the in-work experience in any manual or set of generic messages. A more pleasant working environment can do wonders in creating a greater sense of well-being thereby contributing to greater balance in the lives of workers.]
- Behavioural changes are hard to achieve, hard to identify and assess and very difficult to prescribe, but "how people behave at work" is a soft-wired but important dimension of a balanced work experience. [Probably another 'next generation' issue to explore in refining work-life balance messages.]
- Most projects seemed to take a long time and make relatively small changes: expectations had to be lowered after the event. It is perhaps better to start out with modest (but realistic) expectations and then to "stretch" if results surprise on the upside. The consequence of unrealistic expectations is de-motivating, and can stall any prospect for continuous improvement. [This is an important message to get out in any material, but it must be crafted with care. The risk is that it may be so de-motivating that the impression is left that if results are so modest, it may not be worth spending time and money on!]
- Training of management in both potential benefits of work-life balance and in accepting new ways of organising work is a missing ingredient in the process to date. Managers in most organisations are "handed" options for change, not trained in how to assess or respond to them. The priority is to work first on those with the power to make changes. Managers were largely still reported to be working excessive hours. This affects their awareness of and responsiveness to workers' needs for work-life balance. [This will influence the tone and content of any resources, and can even suggest a stand-alone companion "guide to front line supervisors" resource.]
- Continuity of management can be a factor in determining whether or not any momentum is maintained. The two cases in which management change has been most dramatic (City Care and Casino) show very different responses. In one case the project effectively terminated, but in the other the process "rode through" management turnover. This suggests that either it is necessary to document and embed changes in systems so that institutional knowledge is at least partially protected from extensive change at management level, or ongoing structures (like a working group) are needed to keep the purpose of the exercise alive. [Documenting what was done, why it was done, and what the benefits of doing it are has to be a strong feature of any guide or manual.]
- It is not always easy to pick when the time is right to try something "different" in order to improve work-life balance, but initiatives that have been taken when the time was right have tended to have had a more lasting impact. Tip Top Bread was a perfect example of this: the project languished until there was a change in senior management who initiated an unrelated culture survey across the broader group that identified an organisational crisis. The jolt this produced in senior management resulted in all of the identified work-life balance initiatives (almost coincidentally) being pursued with genuine passion. Operationally, this could be applied in the converse: not trying to force the pace of work-life balance when conditions are not receptive to it (low awareness, organisation under pressure from other features of its operating environment etc). [A checklist: "are you ready for this" might focus the decision to start an initiative, but again care must be taken in crafting the guide, because it is too easy to find reasons not to start. So perhaps it should be "What you need to do/have in order to be ready for this".]
- Cynicism is a constant threat to work-life balance changes. Managers can be cynical about the benefits or suspicious about "fads", and workers can be cynical about how receptive management is ("If it works for them they will change; otherwise it's a waste of time trying"). This suggests a mix of setting realistic expectations at the outset, and recognising and reinforcing gains that do come out of projects. They can easily be invisible, or attributed to other processes. [Any guide should have constant 'positive reinforcement' triggers, and will be more effective if successes are recognised, documented and celebrated.]
- Stocktakes (surveys with a more general scope, or even customised work-life balance surveys) need to be carried out at regular intervals if they are to capture their full benefits (to check on progress and identify changing issues). They need to be designed fit for purpose, consistent over time, and not augmented around "nice to know" questions or they will produce superfluous or confusing data and lower than achievable response rates. Assistance with responding needs to be customised to the specific circumstances of the workplace (levels of literacy, familiarity with form filling, having time at work away from front line tasks to complete the survey etc). [This can be worked into any process guideline.] Surveys should go beyond hours/shifts to include questions to do with the quality of the work experience and work organisation, if that's what work-life balance is about.
- There is a constant tension between hours of work and money. Often, good hours are long hours, especially if overtime rates are payable. In an extreme case, cutting back hours led to workers taking secondary jobs, which actually made work-life balance worse (more travelling time for the same paid hours etc). [It is important not to be judgemental about what hours individuals should work. Materials should stress that individuals and families will work out the trade-off they need to make around hours and money, but that within any given set of decisions about what sort of hours need to be worked, work-life balance should still be optimised.]
- One matter that was out of scope for the project was reverse imbalance: whether a stressful or unsatisfactory home life was contributing to problems and a lack of satisfaction at work. This tends to be left to be picked up by Employee Assistance Programme facilities or direct counselling, but perhaps could be seen as a part of a work-life balance package if a holistic approach is to be taken. [This is a delicate area, but from other projects we have been involved in, experience is that what might appear to be patronising and intrusive was actually welcomed by the employees with personal problems. This is an area where a joint approach from EAP specialists and work-life balance programmes can find the right balance, tone and form of communication on the sort of assistance that is available.]
- Thus far, conditions of employment have been seen to be outside of work-life balance scope, but a number of adjustments to working arrangements and rights to align work with out-of-work interests and obligations will not be possible without some (mutually agreed) changes to contractual rights and responsibilities. [This might change if the legislation creating an obligation to consider requests for flexibility goes through. At the moment, there is not much that can be done without interfering in the bargaining process, other than a gentle reminder to think about work-life balance when determining employment conditions. Employers in particular seem to want to shelve work-life balance programmes during collective bargaining, but unions also need to be sensitised to risks that bargaining tactics are seen as being opportunistic (using work-life balance as a lever). This is an area that can be pursued in a tripartite context, and is not readily incorporated into generic materials.]
Some cautions
These comments are not meant to be negative, but are put forward in the context of "no surprises", or "eyes wide open" for all main stakeholders.
- Flexibility is not always a positive sum game: in many cases the flexibility required by one worker has to be covered by another worker. Outside of voluntary bi-lateral swaps, this can involve the use of contractors and casual workers, who then carry the risks of unpredictable and volatile hours and patterns of work in order to facilitate flexibility within the directly employed core. There is not any real investigation of, or clarity around, whether this is entirely suitable (such as for students) or whether work-life balance is being compromised elsewhere in the labour market. [This raises a policy question, and is not directly related to the preparation of any resource that might have come out of the pilot projects. It may be entirely legitimate to work on the 80/20 rule, but that decision should be made consciously, not by oversight.]
- It is possible for these "transfers" whereby flexibility for some is achieved by requiring other workers to provide the cover to take place within the workforce through the process of recruitment: new employees are told that these are the hours and because they knew what they were taking on when they signed on they are not expected to then complain. This does assume that the choice was entirely voluntary when either there were other considerations which compensated for less than satisfactory hours, or the circumstances of the new recruit may change (shifting residence, having children etc.) [This is a variation on the policy theme, but it can influence the content of any resources through a "make sure you do not create a two-tier workforce" type of warning.]
- Social partners (Business New Zealand, New Zealand Council of Trade Unions, and Department of Labour) are likely to be "patrons" or "sponsors" of work-life balance, not active participants in real time programmes. This is because initiatives are highly workplace specific and key person dependent. It is far too resource intensive to be core business for union organisers, and active and continuous engagement is rare. Changes ultimately depend on authorisation from the appropriate managerial authority, and are therefore almost exclusively "steered" by the specific way work is organised in the individual business. These are some degrees separate from the spheres of influence of institutionalised industrial relations. [There is no need for central organisations to go beyond sponsorship, ginger activity, exhortation, provision of information etc. However, it is important to be relaxed about the limitations of a potential role in a workplace process.]
- Work-life balance is not a concept whose time has come in terms of being at a "tipping point." Unlike, say, workplace health and safety, where there is widespread awareness, embedded structures and processes and high levels of awareness, the concept is somewhat "fuzzy", responses are scattered rather than universal, focus is episodic rather than continuous, and benefits are seen to be marginal rather than fundamental. [This conclusion reinforces the importance of more continuous awareness or consciousness- raising as activities that a variety of leadership organisations can take. It might alter if there is legislative change. If that does happen, it is important to both be alert to the opportunities and to use them in a constructive way and not convey an impression that certain actions must be undertaken by unwilling conscripts.]