BlackBerry jam traps stressed staff
Modern technology, globalised workplaces and the financial crisis have combined to stretch workers to the limit.
And while increased expectations of our top executives have been associated with high salaries, this often comes at a huge personal cost, with BlackBerries by the bedside and holidaying workers loath to switch off.
Barbara Holmes, managing director of Managing Work Life Balance International, says challenges posed by technology have been exacerbated by the GFC, with workers taking on longer hours as jobs have been cut, and to ward off further retrenchments.
“People have really had to take on greater workloads. I think many people are coming to a breaking point,” she says.
Organisations should be looking at restructuring now that economic pressures are easing, but Holmes says it’s also up to the individual not to do non-urgent work outside traditional hours.
She says many people find it hard to resist answering their work mobile. “Part of this I think is that we are in a society that wants an instant response and we haven’t learned how to ask the obvious question, `Can this wait until I am in the office tomorrow?’ ”
General manager of human resources at Sensis, George Elsey, says pressure on people at the top has increased markedly in recent times and this can affect the organisational culture. He cites an email written by someone from an associated company at midnight that demanded a response by 6am the next day. “Shareholders demand material improvements in a much shorter time frame . . . the expectation of the leadership team is that they produce serious results,” Elsey says.
Elsey, who was in the top six at Qantas before being headhunted for his present role, says he was ready to retire when he was offered the challenge of creating an environment where workers would become advocates of the advertising, information and directories business. About 600 people were consulted in focus groups and one of the key issues raised was work-life balance. Elsey spearheaded a new approach, dubbed the People Commitment.
Management is encouraged to lead by example in areas such as flexible work practices. Sensis (formerly Pacific Access), which had suffered high staff turnover and absenteeism, now ranks among the top companies of its kind worldwide in terms of engagement in the Towers Watson employee opinion survey.
Elsey, an early riser, has opted to start work at 7am but leaves by 4pm and after this time will not check emails. “[Now] I love coming to work every day,” he says. But staff know they can contact him for important matters at any time on his mobile. Elsey reasons that people may often shoot off an email without thinking about it but that phoning is “a more personal thing to do”.
Despite most executives considering work-life balance crucial in their decisions to join or stay with an organisation, most employers do not have strategies to address this, a global survey has found. BlueSteps, the executive career management service of the Association of Executive Search Consultants, in consultation with The Economist’s Intelligence Unit, surveyed more than 800 senior executives and found a substantial eight in 10 rate work-life balance as crucial.
However, the survey reveals an all-time low satisfaction rating since the questionnaire began in 2006, with less than half seeing the balance as satisfactory.
The effects of the financial crisis, globalisation and new technology have been cited as big issues, although a small proportion of respondents believe technology has had a positive effect. More than one-third of executives are often required to work after 9pm, only 35 per cent take advantage of their annual leave every year and last year more than half suffered an increased workload.
While almost all executives see their career as more important than or equally important as leisure or hobbies, they value family life more. And even though only 18 per cent of companies offer work-life balance programs, those that do so generally get the mix right, most commonly offering flexible hours and work-from-home options, the things executives also value.
With the economy now on the way up, employees may have more room to negotiate. Amanda Burke, practice manager in sales and marketing for executive recruitment firm Talent2, says employment has been increasing at a steady rate.
“Everyone’s hiring. We are seeing it across our total business,” she says, adding some roles tend to offer more flexible arrangements, such as those in the service industry, which is client-focused and results-driven but does not necessarily require all work to be done from the office.
Job-seekers desiring flexibility should not necessarily bring this up in an interview, Burke says, although if going through a recruiter it is best to be up-front about your preferences.
People and development director at Henry Davis York lawyers, Deborah Stonley, says jobseekers often approach the Sydney law firm because of its reputation for supporting flexibility. Setting itself apart in a profession known for long office hours, the award-winning firm has a work-life balance program that one in five employees takes advantage of.
The model has shown flexible working arrangements are not necessarily bad for a career, with a partner at the firm having chosen to start some days at 7.30am and leave the office about 2.30pm to collect the children from school.
Stonley admits making flexibility work is not easy, particularly in the legal profession, and Henry Davis York talks to all its lawyers who want to use the scheme to ensure expectations are met.
Stonley says technology plays a crucial role, with all lawyers in the program having a BlackBerry and home computer with remote access. “Mobile phones and Black Berries have started making flexible work options more seamless, particularly from a client point of view,” she says.
