Focus on work/life quality increasing

Hewitt Associates’ survey of 164 organizations finds that a majority of respondents have instituted flexible work hours, telecommuting, extra paid time off for personal reasons, education leave and job sharing for some or all of their salaried full-time employees. Compressed work weeks, sabbaticals and paid time off for volunteer work are also popular.

“Flexible workplace strategies benefit both the employer and its employees,” says Rochelle Morandini, a senior consultant in Hewitt Canada’s organizational health practice. “These programs, coupled with supportive managers and aligned corporate behaviours, can alleviate conflicting demands, enable employees to enjoy a healthier lifestyle, create a more productive workforce and even improve overall organizational performance.”

According to the survey, only one-third of respondents say their employees adhere to working the regular full-time work week of between 35 and 40 hours. Forty-five percent work one to five hours extra a week, 23% work five to ten hours more and 1% work 10 to 15 additional hours. “With so many employees giving up their personal time to their jobs, progressive organizations are willing to offer them a work schedule that enables them to better meet their personal needs,” says Morandini.

Other findings

• 86% of organizations offer flexible work hours for all or a portion of their employee population, although 68% require employees to be on the job for certain core hours of the day;
• 77% permit all or some employees to telecommute regularly. 90% of those that do negotiate the terms with individual employees based on an approved business case;
• 74% provide extra paid time off for personal reasons in addition to regular vacation time;
• 65% allow for time off for education leave. 22% percent of organizations that do so provide one to five days off per year, while the majority (56%) make decisions on a case-by-case basis;
• 54% enable some or all employees to job share;
• 43% of organizations authorize a compressed work week, with only 18% doing so on the basis of the seasonality of the company’s work;
• 36% offer sabbatical leave. Of those, 54% provide six to 24 months off, while a further 31% assess situations individually. Very few employers (4%) pay employees during a sabbatical, but of those that do, two-thirds allow them to bank a portion of their salary in advance of the leave;
• 32% of employers support volunteerism by providing employees with extra paid time off. 56% of those that do so allow one to five days per year;
• 32% have either no set policy, sponsor specific activities or decide on a case-by-case basis.

“All of these initiatives help employees to achieve a more positive work/life experience—they’re a step in the right direction,” says Morandini. “We can expect these programs to become even more prevalent as employees begin to see them as common practice and demand for them [to] increase. Forward-thinking employers that want to maintain a competitive advantage are thinking about the ‘next generation’ of flexible workplace strategies, such as eliminating core hours, allowing employees to be completely virtual and using technology to enable workers to gain global work experience, no matter where they’re located.”

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