With the end of ‘job for life’, employers are having to consider a range of new working patterns that take account of this rapidly changing work climate.
There are many well-established alternatives to full-time working:
• Part-time, which can vary greatly in hours worked and the pattern of hours.
• Flexitime, which allows staff to choose which hours to work (within preset limits), as long as they fulfil the required hours within a set period.
• Job sharing, where two employees do the job of one full-time staff member by sharing the work in an agreed fashion.
• Shift working, which enables 24-hour coverage.
• Working from home, which is much easier in these days of teleworking and internet links.
• Downshifting, where a member of staff agrees to less responsibility for less pay. This can be useful in the run-up to retirement, and often goes hand-in-hand with choosing to go part-time.
The benefits (and barriers)
In the past, an employer’s initial reaction to flexible working patterns was likely to be a downright refusal to consider these, on the grounds that it would cost money and be difficult to administer. Nowadays such an attitude would be seen as short-sighted and counterproductive:
• Staff want a better lifework balance across all ages. Those employers who can accommodate this by allowing flexible working patterns will be rewarded with more loyal staff who choose to stay and are absent less often. Happier and less stressed employees are more productive, and this in turn leads to more profits.
• We live in a society where consumers are increasingly expecting their needs to be met 24 hours a day. To satisfy this is impossible without shift working, job sharing, part-time workers, etc. Furthermore, the machinery can be used to its fullest extent in a workplace where flexibility is built in.
• An employer who can offer truly flexible working patterns is an employer of choice who will attract the best and most diverse workforce.
Despite these advantages, there are still some barriers to be overcome — although these are steadily falling. But how are organisations reacting?
The majority of employers fall into one of three distinct categories:
1. The ‘Proactive Group’. These are leaders in creativity and innovative thinking about how best to engage a quality workforce. In employee surveys they are invariably within the top 1,000 companies to work for.
2. The ‘Reactive Group’. They know that flexible working is a good idea but tend to react to market trends and pick up initiatives from others. They often provide flexible working through fear of the consequences if they do not.
3. The ‘Change Resistant Group’. These are often small companies with less capacity (as they see it) for flexibility. They are likely to perceive that it only applies to their female, non-technical staff. They resist the idea because it looks risky and, at face value, is difficult to set up and administer.
These three groups may benefit considerably from independent experience and expertise. For example:
• Group 1 may benefit from an objective forum for creating and analysing ideas, providing facilitation, quality assurance and risk analysis — and ideas the organisation may not otherwise think of.
• Group 2 may need practical advice to help with increasing their knowledge and developing the new ideas needed to integrate flexible working into their company culture and ultimately move them into Group 1.
• Group 3 may need support to increase their knowledge, work through the risk factors, and, in particular, remove their fear of change.
When considering the introduction of new patterns of working, it’s important to get it right. Early pioneers of home working, for example, did not appreciate the dangers of isolation and lack of support of their staff at home. And found that things often did not work out, with home workers sometimes ending up more stressed than at their workplace.
There are, however, ways of increasing the likelihood that flexible working will meet its objectives for both the employer and staff, which is why it makes sense to get expert advice before introducing new work patterns. And rather than to help deal with the consequences if this is not handled correctly.
Key points
* Flexible working patterns are advantageous.
* Work-life balance is important at all levels.
* Introduction of a new work process needs careful analysis.
The writer is CEO of an international stress management consultancy and the author of ‘Show Stress Who’s Boss!’.
