Effective implementation of policies
Creating awareness of availability of policies
For work-life balance policies to be beneficial employees need to be able to actually use the policies. To allow employees access to work-life balance policies, effective implementation of these policies is crucial. The first step is to create and communicate organisational commitment for work-life balance . Next, communication of policies, education and training, and workplace culture need to be addressed as important factors for effective policy implementation.
The following section will discuss the main factors for effective policy implementation and provides an overview of your tasks as a HR/IR manager in this process.
Creating awareness of availability of policies
For policies to successfully assist employees with their work-life balance, employees first need to be aware of the type of policies that are available to them. Policies need to be effectively and appropriately communicated to the workforce and be well-articulated, in order to be adopted by employees.
Communication Strategy
A formal communication strategy is essential when introducing new or promoting existing work-life balance policies. Communication is best achieved through a variety of channels, including via staff meetings, e-mail, newsletters, fact sheets, brochures, posters, articles in any in-house magazines, and information packages. It is often necessary to use a variety of channels, because employees may not always be accessible via certain channels. For example, not all employees have access to e-mail, and the use of staff meetings to distribute information will be inefficient in departments where staff meetings are held at irregular and infrequent intervals. In addition to these more practical issues of effective communication, research has shown that different people have different preferences for presentation of information. Some people absorb information better when presented orally, such as during staff meetings, while other employees absorb information better if presented in a colourful brochure.
Work-life balance needs can differ substantially across groups of employees. For example, a young single male might be interested to work while still being able to do part-time study and travel, a father with young children may need to pick up and drop off his children at childcare while having some days off to attend his children’s school performances, while an older woman may need to drive her elderly father to the hospital at certain days. A different approach is required for each of these different groups to provide a satisfactory solution for their work-life balance needs. This means that you have to create separate campaigns for different groups of employees (e.g. fathers, mothers, young singles, couples without children mature aged-workers) on their particular work-life balance issues and solutions.
Following on from
the previous discussion
on preferences for
presentation of information
by different people,
these different groups
may also respond to
different marketing
images and messages.
For example, workplace
cultures are generally
more generous towards
women using work-life
balance policies compared
to men due to traditional
perceptions of women
as carers and men as
providers. It can therefore
be daunting for men
to use work-life balance
policies and it may
require firmer encouragement
for them to use these
policies. A good way
of promoting work-life
balance policies amongst
men is to provide case
studies of other men
who have successfully
used these policies.
This communicates to
other men that it is
OK to use work-life
balance policies and
that they don’t
have to worry about
the company punishing
them in some way for
using them.
To
target specific groups
and deal with their
potential work-life
balance issues, develop
smaller work-life balance
campaigns focused on
these particular groups
(e.g. fathers with
young children, young
employees with study
obligations, older
workers close to retirement).
Implement
a formal communication
of policies in the
human resources,
or other relevant,
handbook or Intranet
site maintained by
your agency, outlining
the details of the
policy and the responsibilities
of both staff and managers.
Make new employees aware of employment policies during their induction. Ideally, these policies should be published in a brochure to provide new employees with ready and easy access to the information. A reference in the brochure should be made to the policy fact sheets, which give a quick overview of what is available in your organisation.
Training for managers
Attraction and retention
of quality staff is
more than ever an important
issue for both private
and public sector employers.
Work-life balance policies
play and important
role in attracting
and retaining employees,
making their successful
implementation not
just a ‘feel
good’ achievement,
but a business imperative.
Educate managers about the importance of work-life balance policies for the viability of the agency to remain an efficient and quality workforce.
Even when managers
are aware and convinced
of the importance of
work-life balance policies
for business outcomes,
they might not have
the know-how or tools
to apply the policies.
It is recommended that policies are reinforced by training managers in how to apply the policies. This would include explaining responsibilities of managers, employees and human resources staff; circumstances in which the policy applies; possible deviations, related policies for reference, and explaining the possible results of not adhering to the policy.
Formalising policies
When introducing new or changing old policies is it important to formalise and document the policies in your organisation’s human resources, or other relevant, handbook. Formalising a policy removes doubt about what provisions are available to employees, while documentation in a central place (e.g. in a handbook or a dedicated internet site) makes it easier for employees to find information on policies.
It is recommended to limit the number of informal policies in an organisation. Informal policies are generally made available as one-off arrangements to accommodate unexpected situations for employees. While this could be helpful to a particular employee in the short term, there are some problems associated with informal policies, including:
- the informality of policies means that such arrangements are not publicised and many employees are not aware that they could negotiate such arrangements;
- staff can not plan ahead for the balancing of their work and family responsibilities;
- the ability of employees to negotiate certain arrangements can differ greatly depending on which manager they are negotiating with (e.g. willingness of manager to accommodate employee’s needs); and
- when managers are willing to accommodate such needs, the absence of appropriate information on how to implement certain policies might create an obstacle for managers to implement them consistently.
Apart from formalising and documenting policies, employees should have easy access to the handbook or internet site containing the policies. In addition, the guidelines about the policies should be concise and clear, so all employees can easily understand their rights and responsibilities in relation to the available policies.
- Formalise and document all available policies in a handbook or website.
- Provide easy access to handbook or website.
The right workplace culture
Making ‘work-life balance’ policies available is an important step in helping employees balance their work and personal lives. However, these policies will be ineffective when employees feel inhibited or are prevented from using these policies.
When introducing policies aimed at helping employees balance their work and personal lives, it is important to ensure that the workplace culture supports employees’ use of these policies.
The importance of a supportive work-life balance culture
A supportive workplace culture has been associated with a variety of benefits for both employees and employers, including higher levels of affective commitment to the organisation; lower intention to leave the organisation, higher levels of job satisfaction; lower levels of stress; and the experience of less conflict between work and family responsibilities.
In addition to the direct positive effects of a supportive workplace culture, perceptions of a supportive workplace culture are associated with greater utilisation rates of work-life balance policies. The culture in the organisation is crucial for determining whether employees will use the policies and their general attitudes towards the organisation. For employees and employers to enjoy the benefits of work-life balance policies, the work culture and environment need to be addressed when implementing such policies.
So, just offering the policies is not sufficient as employees need to feel comfortable using the policies. Both managers and colleagues can make employees feel uncomfortable accessing available options. Work-life balance policies will be useless or even counterproductive if the work culture does not support them.
How can you change workplace culture?
The development and implementation of policies is a gradual process, which requires dealing with certain behaviours, attitudes and expectations held by employees and management within the organisation. Alignment between policy, culture and leadership is essential for policies to succeed. If the culture is not supportive of the policies, they are likely to fail.
Education and communication
Changing the workplace culture does not happen overnight and requires commitment from both employers and employees. It is important to build consensus for culture change from the top down as well as the bottom up. Education about the importance of work-life balance, the benefits provided by work-life balance policies and the role of workplace culture might be necessary to convince managers and front-line employees of the importance of a supportive ‘work-life balance’ culture.
Discussions between management and staff may increase understanding of mutual expectations and develop solutions to work-life balance issues. Discussions between team members on how they can help each other with work-life balance should be encouraged, as it provide employees with a feeling of ownership of the problem solving process.
- Provide education for managers on the importance of work-life balance, including its benefits for employees and business outcomes
- Educate managers about the role of workplace culture for the success of work-life balance policies
- Encourage discussions
between managers
and employees about
their needs in relation
to business performance
and work-life balance.
Getting management behind the culture change
It is vitally important that both senior and middle management get behind the culture change. Active and visible support from senior management is crucial to the effective introduction of work-life balance policies. Managers supporting a traditional organisational culture, which emphasizes the pursuit of work goals and ignores employees’ personal lives, undermine the success of work-life balance policies.
Managers should lead by example by providing an environment where employees’ work-life balance is considered and respected. Management behaviours such as sending emails to staff at 4.00am or requiring employees to be contactable on their personal mobile phones so they are available 24 hours a day should not be tolerated. In fact, managers should be actively modelling good management practice which demonstrates that the organisation supports and encourages employees to maintain a healthy balance between their work life and home life. For example, managers should make sure that meetings are scheduled at a reasonable hour so that employees are not unnecessarily required to work late and delayed from spending time with their families.
Managers should also act as role models for their employees by using work-life balance policies themselves. It is very important that managers use policies in an appropriate way, so employees are given accurate information on how the policy is supposed to work. For example, under section 39 of the Industrial Relations Act 1999 employees may use up to 10 days of sick leave on full pay in each year to care for and support members of their immediate family or members of their household when they are ill or because an unexpected emergency arises. If a manager then stays at home to care for a sick child, but uses annual leave, he/she sends out a wrong message that while it is OK to stay at home due to caring responsibilities, it should be at the detriment of your own recreational leave. The manager has a right to paid carer’s leave and should set the right example, by using the right type of leave.
Attitudes and resistance of middle management and line managers can create significant barriers to employees’ use and effectiveness of policies. Middle and line managers are particularly important in the change process as they are more directly in touch with the work environment of the employees. Implementation of policies will be more effective if line managers are convinced of the need to implement the policies. Line managers need to know why policies are introduced and how they will improve organisational performance.
Changing key values and norms
An important issue that should be addressed when trying to change the workplace culture are the characteristics of an organisation that reflect and support its workplace culture; the most important one being the organisation’s key values and norms.
One of the most persistent beliefs likely to undermine work-life balance policies is the idea that work and personal lives should be completely separated. With the increase in dual-earner families, as opposed to the more traditional single-earner families where generally the men work, this is a rather unrealistic expectation. Employees’ roles these days are not restricted to either the work or family domain, but they have roles in both these domains which they need to balance. This is a reality for both employers and employees and old traditional values and norms about separating these roles need to be adjusted.
When trying to change the workplace culture, it is most critical to address the key values and norms. It is important for organisations to think about the key values and norms the existing organisational structures and practices communicate to employees. For example, some organisations may send out messages about the organisation’s key values and norms through its reward system. Organisations may discourage using work-life balance policies when they provide rewards purely based on the number of hours worked, instead of employees’ outputs and performance. Employees may feel pressured to work long hours out of fear that their career will suffer, making it more difficult to attend to responsibilities in their personal lives. The organisation could change its reward system by putting a greater focus on output and performance instead of work hours. The organisation could also consider including a statement on its commitment to work and life balance in the organisation’s Value Statements, which outlines the core values, as this may help reinforce work-life balance as a key value of the organisation.
Changing key values and norms may prove very difficult. However, there are things agencies can do which may assist in this process, including:
- Change common myths about work-life balance through education. For example, a common myth about work-life balance issues is that it is only relevant to women. Educating people about the benefits of these policies for both women and men may help change this common myth.
- Give profile to people in the organisation who are high performers and who also use the policies to create a view that success and work-life balance can go hand in hand.
- Organise some social functions at times suitable for children as well as adults and specifically invite the employees’ family members.
- Introduce awards for managers or supervisors nominated by employees for having provided an environment where both employees’ work productivity as well as their personal needs are addressed and enhanced.
- Organise award ceremonies for those employees who are playing an important role in changing the workplace culture.
- Allow people to have pictures or other personal objects in their work area.
A final important note for organisations is that culture change requires a tailored approach using processes that are right for the organisation. Also, different customer needs should be taken into account when planning for a cultural change.
Last updated 29 September 2009
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