I've personally found that work-from-home schemes have less to do with the company than they do with a particular manager.
The old-school management style tends to support a system whereby productivity takes a back seat to control. That is, even if you're more effective working from home or on a flex schedule, that's often seen as less important to many managers than it is to actually have the employee at his/her desk.
A forward-thinking manager in a traditional organization will do their best to make arrangements for work-from-home or flex scenarios. And the reverse is often true as well, whereby old-school managers will make it difficult or impossible for employees to take advantage of work-from-home or flex systems even if those systems are encouraged by modern organizations.
One last thing: Work/life balance is a misnomer. The key is actually work/life separation.
Work-life Balancing Act
By Melissa Lourenco | June 15, 2009
BNET Australia Contributors
Aussie Rules
Biography
BNET Australia Contributors
Brian Haverty is editorial director for CBS Interactive Australia and is responsible for the company's BNET and ZDNet Australia sites.
Robert Gerrish is a coach, author and professional speaker and the founder of Flying Solo, an Australian online community for solo business owners.
Melissa Lourenco is the HR manager for CBS Interactive in Australia.
Chris Golis is the author of The Humm Handbook: Lifting Your Level of Emotional Intelligence. He runs seminars and workshops on EQ.
Suzi Dafnis is Community Director of the Australian Businesswomen's Network.
Yvonne Adele helps organisations build a culture of ideas by teaching people at all levels to access their untapped creative thinking skills.
Is it worth introducing a work-life balance policy into your organisation? Absolutely!
Such a policy can help an organisation retain staff, attract new staff, reduce absenteeism and potentially increase morale and productivity. For the employees, it can mean less stress/burnout, improved relationships (family and personal) and increased job satisfaction.
We’ve recently introduced a “Working from home” policy where employees are able to request permission to work from home in advance for a variety of reasons (like having to be home for a repairman, or sick children). The only time we draw the line when the employee is under the weather — we expect them to not do any work and would rather they focused on recuperating.
We also pride ourselves on offering our staff flexible working arrangements. This includes, flexible hours of work, flexible leave arrangements and time-in-lieu.
What work life balance initiatives does your company support? Have they been beneficial? What were the challenges?
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RE: Work-life Balancing Act
scribbler60
06/16/2009 10:42 AM
