Development of work-life balance policies
Some suggested steps on how to develop work-life balance policies and practices in your workplace include:
1. Assess employer and employee needs
2. Conduct cost/benefit analysis
Assess employer and employee needs
The first step in developing work-life balance policies is to find out what the needs are of the organisation as well as the needs of the employees.
A good starting point for employers is to:
- undertake a needs analysis by identifying the organisation’s key operating requirements such as client contact hours, equipment operating needs, minimum staffing requirements, workflow and workload peaks and troughs, and determining which work-life balance policies and practices might suit these operational needs
- develop a business case for introducing work-life balance policies and practices. It is important to identify any specific problems or issues that are affecting the efficiency of the business to determine if there is a business case for developing and introducing work-life balance policies. Issues that should be addressed include absenteeism, recruitment and retention/turnover, return rates from parental leave, length of service and productivity
It is important to establish base line levels of the above issues (e.g. absenteeism, retention/turnover), because they provide benchmarks against which any improvements can be evaluated. This data could be collected through personnel records and exit interviews. Personnel records can provide information on employees’ absences, leave taken by employees, number of resignations, and the length of service of different employees. Exit interviews may provide information on the reasons why people are leaving the organisation.
When developing a business case it is important to link your organisational goals and objectives to the work-life balance policies’ goals. For example, if your organisation aims to deliver a personalised service, a good knowledge of your clients’ needs is necessary. Work-life balance policies may increase employees’ commitment to the organisation leading to a reduction in turnover. This means that staff knowledge about clients is preserved, enabling the organisation to provide better and more personalised services to their clients.
A business case may also be needed to convince management and employees of the importance of work-life balance policies.
The needs of employees in relation to balancing work, family and lifestyle commitments can be ascertained through:
- asking employees individually (this may work best in small workplaces)
- open discussion with employees in staff meetings
- focus groups
- asking employees through general employee surveys, or through their managers and supervisors
- a formal work-life balance survey
Organisations should find out what employees would like to see introduced. To get this information, employers may:
- provide employees with a list of work-life balance policies which employers are prepared to offer and a list of other initiatives employers may consider making available
- ask employees if they would be better able to balance their work, family and lifestyle responsibilities if any of these work-life balance policies were introduced
- ask employees which options they would use if they were made available
Success of a survey depends on individuals trusting the survey process. It is essential to ensure confidentiality of individual survey responses. Confidentiality of data refers to procedures used to preclude invasion of privacy. The greater the sensitivity of the information the greater the care that must be exercised in obtaining, handling, and storing the data. Employees are more likely to falsify their responses if they believe that their identity will be known from their responses.
It is therefore important to ensure confidentiality of surveys by taking every reasonable attempt to protect access to the responses. To ensure confidentiality, the following guidelines are suggested:
- Access to completed surveys should be limited to authorised staff
- Data should be stored in files accessible only to the survey manager and his/her authorized staff or representatives
Conduct cost/benefit analysis
As part of the business case for introducing work-life balance policies, a cost/benefit analysis of proposed initiatives should be conducted to ensure that the benefits will outweigh costs.
Any costs associated with the development and implementation of work-life balance initiatives, for example the cost of additional equipment in setting up a family room or working from home arrangements, should be calculated over the life of any purchased equipment and be offset against savings associated with productivity of employees, and retention of skilled productive employees.
Organisations should consider their reasons for introducing or improving work-life balance policies in terms of less absenteeism, less sick leave, lower turnover, and increased length of service. If an organisation is introducing certain work-life balance policies aimed to reduce staff turnover, employees should calculate the cost of staff turnover, which includes costs associated with:
- paying out accrued hours and leave entitlements
- temporary replacements or overtime until the job is filled
- advertising, selection and recruitment
- induction, and on and off the job training time for the new employee
There are tools available which can help you calculate the costs associated with turnover of employees and absenteeism:
- Turnover: The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (OEWA) provides an online costing turnover calculator tool to calculate turnover costs.
- Absenteeism: To calculate the total costs of absenteeism per employee for a defined period, the following formula by Gijs Houtzagers (2003) can be used:
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ACE = |
(ML (WH + EBC) + S (RH + SBC) + OC)/E |
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ACE |
Total costs of absenteeism per employee for a defined period |
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ML |
Total employee hours lost to absenteeism for a defined period, including illness, accidents, compassionate absences (e.g. funeral) and emergencies, but excluding annual leave |
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WH |
Weighted average hourly pay for the various occupational groups in the organisation |
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EBC |
Cost of employee benefits per hour per employee (= 35% of WH) |
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S |
Supervisor hours lost in dealing with absenteeism for the defined period. To get this figure:
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RH |
Average hourly pay for supervisors |
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SBC |
Costs of supervisor benefits per hour per supervisor (= 35% of RH) |
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OC |
Estimation of other costs:
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E |
Total employees |
Last updated 21 July 2009
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