A case of balance or bust
Workers are looking for more options to reduce stress ane employers who will not discuss job flexibility will be left without staff.
That is the frank assessment from Katherine Lockett, who is a social researcher and author of Work/Life Balance for Dummies.
Lockett says her research suggests stressed-out workers too afraid to ask their boss for job flexibility will consider leaving for a more agreeable working environment.
“Employees who are given more working options are motivated so it’s in everyone’s interest to be more flexible,” Lockett says.
“Smart employers are starting to do it and are saying: `Yes, we value you. We want to retain your skills and experience’ so they are offering flexibility and realising that it doesn’t have to cost more.
“They are ignoring those dinosaur managers that say to staff: ‘If I can’t see you working, I don’t know if you are working’.”
Lockett says the defining principle of this decade will be society’s desire to achieve balance between work and life.
Employers who do not listen will lose staff and find it difficult to rehire from a pool of lifestyle-orientated candidates.
“We are taking a good, hard look at ourselves and we are starting to think: ‘Hang on a minute. If I stopped working for that Merc and got a Mitsubishi I would feel happier and have more free time because I would be working less’,” Lockett says.
“There is a lot of opposition out there to that (workaholic) type of lifestyle and good employers are now recognising that.
“In the ’80s, it was yuppies and labels and branding and shoulder pads. In the 1990s, we realised that was a crock. We found people that were successful had broken relationships and no social life whatsoever and we realised that there is more to life than a big salary and an executive washroom.
“Now this idea has become more crucial because baby boomers are retiring and they are the biggest single generation of workers.
“Employers are realising that, to keep people interested in working beyond 55, they have to be flexible in what they have to offer.
“GenerationY are not going to stay anywhere for their entire working life.
“Generation X has had so many jobs they wonder if they will ever get long service leave.
“Workers also have more opportunity to pick and choose where they work so clever employers are slowly realising they have to offer true blue flexibility, not just pay it lip service,” she says.
How to ask for more flexibility
Work out what arrangements will suit you and your employer
* Voluntary demotion: Asking to take on a similar role with less responsibility and less pay
* Shorter working hours: Stop working overtime or go from full-time to part-time
* Rostered or accrued days off: Work extra hours across the week to build up time to take a whole day off once a month or fortnight
* Banking time: Hours worked in excess of usual business hours that can be taken off at a time convenient to employee and employer
* Compressed working week: Working five days worth of work in four
* Working from home: Either all the time or occasionally
* Term-time work: Work during school terms and take holidays during school holidays or purchasing leave to cover non-term time
Develop a business case
Write a structured proposal covering:
* Impact on customers
* Benefits to employer and employee
* Training needed
* HR and IR policies in place and how they can be improved
* Savings
* How your employer can monitor and evaluate the new workplace arrangements
* Research on case studies where flexible work arrangements are in place
