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Work/Life Balance - Is it Important?
“No one ever looks back on their life and thinks I should have spent more time at work,” Roger Smith stated in this month’s Learning Series webinar, “Flexible Scheduling, Alternative Work Schedules, and Telecommuting.” This quote is the reason more and more employers offer a work/life balance.
Over the past ten years, plus or minus a few, work/life balance has been a priority for employees and has been recognized by employers. Employees have increasingly been able to take advantage of flextime, flexible scheduling, and telecommuting, all of which allow employees to vary arrival and/or departure times to meet individual needs. Employees may not be working the traditional 9 to 5, 40-hour workweek, but they are still working their required hours and meeting objectives.
Remember the movie, “9 to 5” from 1980? Was it ahead of its time? The three main characters kidnapped their boss who was a combination of all the worst bosses we’ve all encountered. While he was held captive, the women made significant changes at the office – all the complaints employees had over the years were resolved in a manner that allowed the organization to continue to operate as it should while making the employees happy. (Happy employees always yield better results.) The boss who felt the employees should be grateful for having a job in the first place was in for a surprise when he returned. Gone was the rigid, inflexible, and unhappy work environment he supported. Employees were able to keep the work hours they needed to make their lives easier and happier outside of the office. As a result, they were happier at the office and business was better than ever. (If I remember correctly, as it has been a long time for me, I believe the boss was promoted due to the success of his office.) When people have well-rounded lives, the results are beneficial to everyone.
People have varying needs outside the office, such as caring for children, other family members, or pets, or participating in hobbies, special interest groups, or other personal needs. There are different types of flexible working environments, such as flexible scheduling and flextime, and some employers may offer both depending on the type of organization.
Flexible scheduling is typically a set schedule with flexibility. For example, employees may have four-day work weeks with employees working four, ten-hour days with the reward of a three-day weekend. This can be rolled out organization-wide, or the employer can stagger the four-day workweek, so some employees are off Monday and others are off Friday to ensure coverage. Job sharing can also bring flexibility. A position that must be available for all business hours, such as a receptionist, may share that position with someone else to provide both employees flexibility that suits their lifestyle.
Flextime allows employees to work at their convenience with no set arrival and departure times. An employee may need to be home at 4 p.m. when his or her child is home from school. In that case, the employee may start the workday at 7 a.m. or 8 a.m. Another example is an employee that likes to workout in the morning, so he or she prefers to start the workday at 10 a.m. and get off at 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. There are many reasons for varying work schedules, but it is nice incentive for employees as it gives them a sense of ownership and responsibility. Many organizations with flextime do have core hours to make sure people are available for meetings or other events and responsibilities.
Looking back it is easy to see that the workforce environment has changed significantly. For the most part, employees are valued more as people than just as employees. Employers recognize the value of having happy employees, and the positive impact to the bottom line as employee retention is higher and absenteeism is lower – happy employees can also increase productivity.
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