For Organizations

• How can our organization do this when we are expected to operate in a 24-7 environment?
• Our organization works in manufacturing/retail/direct service delivery. How can organizations support balance when the work we do is inflexible?
• If our organization begins supports work-life balance, how can we be sure that not everyone will want a flexible arrangement?
• How should an organization start to support work-life balance?
• What can organizations do with employees that say, "It's not fair. I don't have kids. This just benefits some people"?
• Some departments or units in our organisation are implementing flexibility more successfully than others. How can organizations ensure policies are being applied fairly and equally throughout the organization?
• How are demographic changes in Canada are going to affect how organisations need to handle work-life?

How can our organization do this when we are expected to operate in a 24-7 environment?

There isn't any work environment, any job, any position, that can't be in some way designed to allow the individual to achieve a sense of work-life balance. The real question is, how can we, in a 24-7 work environment, a shift work environment, a manufacturing environment, a high-tech environment, a high finance environment, how can we create a workplace that recognises work-life and well being as critically important for individual and organisational resiliency, for short-term and long-term success. Organizations need to take a look at what characteristics of the workplace can be considered in designing and developing a work environment, from workload, to work structure, to work systems, to work-life, to wellness, to safety, to health.

Our organization works in manufacturing/retail/direct service delivery. How can organizations support balance when the work we do is inflexible?

One of the things that we know about work-life balance and programs, policies, and practices, is that there is no one-size fits all prescription will allow you to achieve work-life balance. Flexibility doesn't always work, but there are other ways to demonstrate your support of your employees' multiple responsibilities and holistic life. It may be providing them access to community services. It may be helping to structure leaves and compensation programs. It might be providing notice of shift changes well in advance. You need to look at the individual characteristics, the job characteristics, and the characteristics of the environment, and then come up with a constellation of supports that best meets those various demands and needs at any given time.

If our organization begins to support work-life balance, how can we be sure that not everyone will want a flexible arrangement?

Organizations often have a fear that if they introduce any kind of flexibility, what in fact they're doing is losing control. And the more they feel they're losing control, the less supportive of flexibility they will be. There is also a fear that if they allow flexibility for one person, everybody's going to want flexibility and they're going to create a state of chaos, where they're not going to know where anybody is at any one time and they'll again, lose control. What we know is that most people prefer their work life to be fairly predictable, fairly routine, and fairly consistent from one week to the next. It doesn't matter if you're a night shift worker or a day shift worker or a Monday to Friday 9 to 5-er. Most employees are looking for predictability and consistency. The myth about flex is people come and go whenever they want. They take time off and they get paid for it and other people get stuck doing the work. In fact, a flexible working arrangement requires clear communication, negotiation and documentation of the way of working in a consistent way.

How should an organization start to support work-life balance?

Start with the employees needs, and start modestly and carefully. A failed experiment can be much more damaging in the long run than inaction. Ensure that all stakeholders are involved. Assess the needs of the employees, develop policies to reflect those needs, pilot the changes with a trial, and evaluate it, both formally and informally, between the employee, the employer, the co-workers, the customers, the suppliers, whoever needs to be involved to see if it is working, and if it isn't working, how to solve the problems and adjust the program.

What can organizations do with employees that say, "It's not fair. I don't have kids. This just benefits some people"?

Employee and co-worker backlash is to be expected. You can mitigate it or eliminate it entirely by planning and preventing it in the first place. For example, if you introduce a new flexible work arrangement and you pose it as a way to support women with young children, then you're going to get backlash. Everybody who doesn't fit into that category of women with young children is going to feel like they're being treated differently, unfairly, and that they are left with more work and less support. If you introduce exactly the same flexible work arrangement as a way of supporting all employees to fulfill all their responsibilities, to be flexible, to be fair, to recognise as having a life outside of work, then you can begin to mitigate the backlash both in terms of the amount of backlash and the intensity of that backlash. You can also prevent backlash by making sure that processes are in place that allow all people to apply easily for flexible work arrangements or have access to the benefits. It is crucial that the process is consistently and fairly applied, clearly and well documented, so that being granted a flexible work arrangement is not only based on the personal views of the manager.

Some departments or units in our organisation are implementing flexibility more successfully than others. How can organizations ensure policies are being applied fairly and equally throughout the organization?

If there's success in some areas and not in others it may be that there is an incongruency between the policy and the need and demand for that policy. It may be a lack of management training, resources and support. It may be that the jobs are just different enough that you need different solutions in different parts of the organisation. It would be important to take a look at what makes the policies successful in the successful areas of the organisation, and what is keeping them from being successful in the other areas. Is it the way in which it's implemented, communicated, supported? Is it the job? Is it the people? Is it the manager? Involve the participants in a problem-solving exercise to figure out different ways of coming up with a solution.

How are demographic changes in Canada are going to affect how organisations need to handle work-life?

There are three things that are going to really pressure organisations to seriously address these issues. The aging workforce is going to force organizations to be more creative in phasing towards retirement. The nexus generation is coming into the workforce with very clear expectations of what they want from employers and clear expectations that they will be able to have meaningful work for meaningful wage without sacrificing work-life balance. Third, there is a serious labour shortage in this country which is going to affect a large number of employers, and already is in some industries. As a result, employers are going to have to accommodate employees' demands in order to attract and retain valuable employees.

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