Winners of Computer Weekly's Best Places to Work Awards
reveal how progressive staffing policies can improve an
organisation's business efficiency
Over the past few years companies have come under increasing
pressure to allow their employees to enjoy a healthy work/life
balance. Fashions in the workplace come and go but progressive
companies have discovered sound business reasons for paying more
than lip service to the work/life balance of their staff.
Overworked staff will perform below the best of their ability,
stressed staff become ill, and frustrated staff leave.
Earlier this month Computer Weekly's Best Places to Work in IT 2005
awards showcased the best employment practices in IT across the
public and private sectors. The awards ceremony, which recognised
excellence in nine categories, highlighted a range of policies,
formal and informal, that allow staff to achieve a better work/life
balance.
Many companies acclaimed in the latest Best Places to Work Awards
allowed staff to work flexible hours and to work from home. They
have also discouraged the 'macho' workplace culture of early starts
and late nights.
For Andy Brimble, head of IT at the Adult Learning Inspectorate,
which won Best Place to Work in the central and local government
sector, getting the work/life balance right in his department was
primarily about making his staff better at their jobs.
"If our IT staff are happy they will deal with people better than
if they are stressed and pressured," he said. "Our customers are
inspectors who have often been used to having personal assistants
and their own staff, but who now work from home and so need good IT
support from us. Customer service is everything."
Ensuring flexibility in the hours worked by the 15 IT staff at the
inspectorate has been the cornerstone of achieving a contented
workforce, said Brimble.
"We ensure that we have generous flexible hours, so staff work
their 37 hours within a daily core of 8.30am to 5.30pm," he said.
"It has panned out well - for every person who needs to come in
late after school drop-off, there is someone who wants to get in
early to beat the traffic."
Staff at the Adult Learning Inspectorate have also been warned
about the dangers of working excessive hours. "It is important for
senior managers to understand how easy it is to burn out," said
Brimble. "I learnt that in my career, working from 8am to 8pm, I
was going nowhere and heading for trouble."
Brimble said the flexible working regime at the inspectorate has
benefited customers and made staff feel more loyal to the
organisation. "When our exchange server went down a couple of
months ago, we had three staff working overnight on it, and our
customers thanked us for getting it back up so fast," said
Brimble.
Other companies have helped their staff to balance work and
domestic demands by allowing them to work from home.
Betfair, an online gaming company and winner of the Best Places to
Work media, hospitality, entertainment and leisure category, offers
all its engineers the opportunity to work from home. "Our IT
engineers can remotely access office systems and communicate with
colleagues in the office," said Betfair's chief technology officer
David Yu. "Betfair pays for their internet access and encourages
staff to work from home whenever they feel it would benefit them,
either for work or personal reasons."
Further reading:
www.dti.gov.uk/work/lifebalance
www.employersforwork/lifebalance.org.uk
www.new-ways.co.uk
Business benefits
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development said there are
clear business benefits to introducing policies that underpin a
healthy work/life balance:
- Higher productivity and competitiveness
- Increased flexibility and customer service, for example to
cover for absence and holidays
- Improved morale, motivation, commitment and engagement
- Reduced absenteeism
- Improved recruitment and retention of a diverse workforce
- Becoming an "employer of choice"
- Meeting legal requirements.