1 . What is the benefit to my business of family friendly arrangements?
There is a strong business case for Work Life Balance working arrangements.
This includes: Improved recruitment: more flexibility can attract potential
recruits when vacancies arise, especially in a situation where applicants can
make comparative evaluations of job offers; skilled and experienced people may
be attracted back into the work force, and a match can be achieved between
skills and current market shortages. Improved retention: valued staff may stay
longer when an organisation provides access to more flexible arrangements.
Improved productivity: employees are more focussed at work when they know that
flexibility is provided for when the need arises; it may also help to reduce
casual sick leave absences. Improved morale, motivation and commitment: an
accommodating workplace and a more diverse workforce builds morale, creativity
and team spirit. Improved service: a flexible approach to working time can
potentially be used to extend service delivery, improve customer/client
relations and deal with time zone differences, where there is agreement on this
with the workforce. Cost savings: reduced staff turnover, training costs and
possibly accommodation costs contribute to improving competitiveness.
2 . Who else has done it? How did it work for them?
Many different companies, small, medium and large, have
implemented different forms of Work Life Balance Working Arrangements. With
consultation between employees, employers and unions, these policies have worked
very well. In order to see some case studies or to read some interviews with
some firms operating these types of arrangements, visit the 'case
studies'
section of this website.
3 . What happens if all of my employees want to take up these working arrangements?
Research has shown that even though large numbers of employers offer flexible
working arrangements, there can be a relatively low take-up by employees of such
arrangements. However, there may be specific sectors where employers get more
applications for a particular form of flexible working than is feasible for the
company. In order to prevent selection difficulties at the implementation stage,
employers should include agreed selection criteria (preferably agreed with trade
union or employee representatives) in their formal policies. For example, the
provision of a particular flexible arrangement may be restricted to particular
types of work in that not all tasks will lend themselves to every type of
flexible arrangement. The provision may also only be available at the discretion
of the local supervisor/manager; etc. Different selection criteria may be
required for different types of flexible working e.g. different conditions may
apply to part-time working than to telecommuting/ home-working. However, the
most important point is to ensure that all staff are aware of the selection
requirements prior to employees taking up arrangements.
4 . How much will it cost me as an employer?
The cost of providing Work Life Balance policies will vary depending on the
types of arrangements in place. For example, companies will obviously be aware
of the cost of providing a childcare facility. It is often more difficult to
establish the cost of providing job sharing or part-time work. The following
should be considered when assessing the costs: administration costs in relation
to rosters and salaries. record keeping for monitoring purposes. insurance,
security, equipment and health and safety costs for telecommuting/home-working.
temporary cover for example, for term-time working and career breaks (e.g.
recruitment and training costs). computer facilities/information gathering costs
for resource and referral services. other direct costs e.g. childcare support.
5 . Will it take extra time to administer as an employer?
Flexible working arrangements will take up more of a manager's time to
administer than standard full time working arrangements. The amount of time will
vary depending on the type of arrangement and the number of employees taking up
the various arrangements. However, it should also be borne in mind that
increasingly more and more companies are operating shift, roster systems or
overtime working and that the administration of these forms of work do not
differ substantially from other forms of flexible working. However, where
managers believe that Work Life Balance policies will mean more work for them,
an organisation can give employees responsibility for designing an alternative
work schedule, detailing how each aspect of the current job will be done, its
impact on work colleagues and customers and outlining solutions to any potential
problems.
IBEC Confederation House 84-86 Lower Baggot Street Dublin 2 Tel: 353 1 660 1011 Fax: 353 1 6601717 website: www.ibec.ie Email: info@ibec.ie ICTU 31 Parnell Square Dublin 1 Tel: 353 1 889 7777 Fax: 353 1 887 2012 E-mail: congress@ictu.ie website: www.ictu.ie Equality Authority Clonmel Street Dublin 2 Ireland Lo-Call 1890 245545 Telephone 353 1 417 3333 Facsimile: 353 1 417 3377 E-mail: www.equality.ie
Where there is a worry that colleagues may find the flexible work arrangements unfair, managers, at the planning stage, should meet with the work group/department to define work parameters and develop a system to manage the work group/ department's work schedule. For example, it would be useful to agree procedures for the following: Methods of briefing staff - e.g. on new tasks, progress, continuing tasks Methods of dealing with/forwarding - e.g. calls from the company's office, urgent correspondence, other correspondence Assessing Performance - how and when this will be done Scheduling meetings - how and when will they be scheduled Discussing problems relating to the flexible working arrangement - how and when these will be dealt with. All flexible working arrangements should also include a review mechanism, where colleagues, without prejudice, should be allowed to air their views.
Panel of Consultants
The National Framework Committee has developed a support scheme to assist in the development of a planned and systematic approach to work life balance at enterprise level. Under this scheme, an experienced consultant can be made available to work with small to medium sized enterprises in developing and implementing work life balance policies and arrangements.
The Minister for Labour Affairs, Billy Kelleher TD, announced the launch of the initiative, which he believes will assist businesses to become more flexible and innovative in their approach to advancing work life balance policies in their work-life balance policies in their workplace.
Under the inititive the Work-Life Balance Committee will consider proposals to fund up to 5 days consultancy drawn from the panel of consultants.
The support provided covers:
- advice on developing a work life balance policy/enhancing existing policies;
- advice on implementing work life balance arrangements on a partnership basis; and/or
- training for management and employees in designing and operating such arrangements.
The Scheme is managed by the Equality Authority on behalf of the National Framework Committee for Work-life Balance.
