Flexible working - which side are you on?
May 15, 2008
Today’s news that the right to request flexible working is to be extended to parents of children aged up to 16 seems to have caused a dramatic split in opinion, and I enjoyed watching an interesting debate on the issue whilst munching my cereal this morning.
This issue has been in and out of the news for months now, as HR Director for Sainsbury’s, Immelda Walsh, has been carrying out a review of the current situation to assess whether an extension was warranted. Her conclusion was that parents who have young teenagers need flexibility as much those with very young children (the current right is for parents of children up to age six, or up to 18 for disabled children).
The outcome has been praised by everyone except, it seems, for many owners of small businesses. Many of these people feel that the extension, which will mean a further 4.5 million people have the right to request flexible working, will put unreasonable pressure on businesses, will be very difficult to manage and will leave them out of pocket when having to make alternative arrangements, which often involves the employment of temporary staff.
I may be being very naive here, but because the law gives parents the ‘right to request’ flexible working and not the ‘right to flexible working’, doesn’t that mean that if allowing flexibility would put the company in a difficult position financially or practically, the employer is entitled to refuse the request? I understand that there’s a risk that the decision could be challenged in an Employment Tribunal and it could be quite difficult to determine what is an acceptable reason for refusal, but I think employers shouldn’t panic too much just because the law has changed, chances are they won’t suddenly get inundated with requests, and handling each request should make it easier to handle the next one, as many implications and possible solutions will already have been considered before.
This change in legislation is bound to throw up lots more questions and probably new case law, and I look forward to hearing how the issue develops.
The effect of growth on values
May 14, 2008
How does a small company retain its values and ethos when it grows bigger? I’ve recently read an article asking a similar question; that talked about how small companies are founded on entrepreneurial approaches to management, but that this is difficult to maintain as companies grow, due to the need for more structure and systems. This was a thought provoking article
because the effect of success and growth on a small business is a common occurrence, and something I have become aware of through experience.
The problem is that small companies are founded on the vision, values and ethos of the person or small group of people who started it, and the fact that they can all work very closely together in the initial stages of the business means that a very strong sense of shared identity and purpose is created. It’s when the company starts to spread out and those initial people cannot have close contact with every employee that the sense of unity regarding the values and ethos can be lost. As the article said, the difficulty is developing discipline so that you can manage the company effectively, without losing the entrepreneurial atmosphere or whatever the key vision for the business originally was.
This is something that management teams must face all the time, and need to work together to develop solutions. It will mean establishing the structures and systems that will enable the business to succeed with a larger customer or client base that do not detract from the things that made the business successful as a small company. There’s probably no correct answer to this, so an open discussion about the issues involved is probably a good starting point.
Summer sickies
May 13, 2008
I’ve just read an article that made me laugh. Apparently around 70 per cent of UK workers have been tempted to pull a sickie in the last couple of weeks because of the gorgeous weather we’ve been having. This isn’t the bit that made me laugh, what did make me laugh is that the article said ways to incentivise staff to come to work would be offering free ice cream or picnics! Hmm… a free ice cream when you’re at work or one for 99p when you’re skiving off, what would you prefer? I think if you’re the sort of person to phone in sick when it’s sunny you’re not likely to come in for a nice picnic.
Other incentives that sounded a little less ridiculous included earlier finishes in the summer, provided all hours have been met. This is an extension of my discussion yesterday about flexible working and the benefits this can bring.
I think that it is definitely likely that occurrences of pulling sickies increase during the summer. But committed workers will be less likely to do so, so it’s important that people are managed effectively to ensure they are happy and motivated at work. Also, absence management must play a part in this – if someone has a pattern of stomach upsets every time the sun comes out then good absence management systems will pick up on this, as will effective management.
At least there’s one good point to this story – given the weather over the last couple of years we’ve probably not got anything to worry about once May’s over – nobody wants to pull a sickie when it’s throwing it down!
Organisational benefits of flexible working
May 12, 2008
I’ve just read about new research that has found that flexible working arrangements can have a positive effect on employee performance. Flexible working and work/life balance is a big subject in employment at the moment, and for many employees it is an important aspect in their choice of job, sometimes even more so than salary or monetary benefits. Life is fast paced and stressful, and the opportunity to build work in around personal commitments, rather than the other way around, is a real draw.
The study was carried out in seven large blue chip companies, and found that flexible working had a positive impact on employee productivity, as the quantity of work output was higher, but that the quality of work was also positively affected. Flexible working arrangements vary, but include part time working, home working , flexitime, job sharing and changing working hours.
There is legislation relating to the right to request flexible work for certain groups of people, but many companies are developing various arrangements for all or most of their staff, for obvious reasons of attracting and retaining good quality employees, but also to improve job satisfaction, motivation and commitment levels which should have a positive impact on productivity and performance indicators such as effective customer management.
However there are important factors to consider when looking at flexible working options. Schemes such as flexitime cannot work as stand alone systems, as the fact that employees will be in work at various times will impact on so many other areas of management, such as how do you assess timekeeping, how can managers support and supervise staff if they are not in at the same times, how will customers be dealt with when certain staff are not working standard hours. All of these things can be easily resolved, but the point is that if you fail to consider the implications of flexible working before ploughing straight into a scheme then these problems are more likely to come back and bite you in the bum! A good idea would probably be to carry out a consultation exercise to ascertain whether flexible working would be a valuable option for staff (I’d be surprised if it wasn’t), what types of arrangements would be preferred, and investigate the individual implications within each department, to find out how feasible the chosen arrangements are. Another issue to consider is the negative effects of flexible working arrangements that can actually lead to a worse work/life balance due to the difficulty in separating home life from work – see the post on technology and long hours from the other day.
The duty to make reasonable adjustments
May 9, 2008
A recent case highlights the important duty on employees to make reasonable adjustments to the working environment for disabled employees. Owen Brooking, a trainee police officer was found to have been bullied by bosses and colleagues at work due to his dyslexia, to the point where he felt he had no option but to resign. The compensation that could be available to Brooking could reach £500,000, due to the potential loss of a career in the police that could have lasted up to 30 years. An important point made by the tribunal was that employers need to recognise that it is their responsibility to make reasonable adjustments, although the employee may offer suggestions.
So what are considered reasonable adjustments? The tribunal would look at things like how easy it is to make the necessary changes, how expensive the adjustments would be, and the relative size and capacity of the company. For example, it might be considered unreasonable to expect a very small company with a small turnover to install a disabled lift into a building for wheelchair users, however in Brooking’s case it would not have been difficult or costly to put measures into place to enable him to carry out the duties of his job. I used to work with someone who was dyslexic, and she was able to carry out her job by asking a colleague to check her work when it needed to be accurate, for example correspondence with a client or a presentation. For day to day communication internally, it was not a problem that there were some errors.
Another aspect of disability discrimination legislation is that the employee does not necessarily have to tell an employer that they are disabled, but employers need to be careful of making assumptions. Where an employee has not informed an employer of their disability but this is ‘obvious’, they can still be liable. What constitutes ‘obvious’ is clearly a grey area. Policies and procedures will always help with these sorts of issues, for example an employer might ask all employees to complete a form stating any disabilities or any other conditions that the employer needs to know about on their commencement, then any necessary adjustments can be investigated. Also, following clear discipline and performance management procedures will help employers to identify where employees may appear to have a conduct or performance issue that is in fact related to a disability (this could be relevant in cases of mental illness for example, where the disability is not obvious).
As always, employers should seek legal (and where needed, medical) advice when dealing with these sorts of issues.
Technology contributes to long hours syndrome
May 8, 2008
After my mini rant of yesterday about the Apprentice, I didn’t get to watch it last night in the end, but I did see something interesting on the news that said that employees who have company laptops, mobile phones and blackberries work on average 20 days more than other employees per year – that’s basically all your holidays gone! This is because people are available constantly and because they are able to access their work information from nearly anywhere.
This is quite a tricky situation because this problem basically conflicts completely with one of the main benefits of having these kinds of technologies. Opportunities for flexible working arrangements, such as home working are greatly increased by mobile technology, and in theory can allow workers to have a greater work-life balance, but it appears to be having the opposite effect for many people. I know how tempting it can be when you’re at home to just do ‘5 minutes’ work that turns into a lot longer – I do it all the time and I haven’t even got a computer or internet access at home, I just scribble on note pads. I imagine if I was able to access my work from home I’d be doing even more bits of work here and there all the time. Also, if you’ve got a blackberry it’s tempting to keep checking what messages have come through when you’re not in work.
I’m not sure what the answer is to this – on the one hand you want to provide these technologies for employees, not just for flexible working but for staff who may go out to client meetings or work between locations, but there is a clear need to ensure they aren’t working ridiculous hours or experiencing burn out from not having a break from their jobs. A clear policy on this issue would probably be a good place to start, explaining what the equipment is to be used for. But I think this is quite often a cultural issue – and if there’s an embedded long hours culture then it can put pressure on staff to carry out work at home. So the change really needs to take place from the top, and this is where I think HR may face difficulty in trying to reduce the negative effects of mobile technologies.
Take a leaf out of Sir Alan’s book for recruitment!
May 7, 2008
I watched last week’s episode of The Apprentice the other day, and it struck me that getting potential staff to do a task and observing them is actually a good way of determining what they would be like in the job. Obviously the scale of the projects they do on the show is unrealistic for normal business but it really does show the true colours of a person in those difficult and stressful situations.
If the selection was in my hands I don’t think I’d take any of them on – certainly not that bunch of complete nitwits who actually thought that sending CARDS to inform people in a friendly way about environmental issues was a good idea! I’m no green expert but as soon as they started working on it I was practically screaming at the telly ‘the whole point is to reduce waste not create more you morons!’, a point which was rather more eloquently raised by Margaret then Sir Alan later in the programme.
Anyway the point is that group exercises in the recruitment process are a more down to earth alternative to the grand schemes cooked up by the makers of the Apprentice. You can observe the communication skills used within the group and the way people interact, as well as important points such as recognising their own weaknesses and other people’s strengths – the main reason this week’s candidate got fired.
Coming up with an exercise can be quite difficult – you could base it on the kind of situation the candidates would face in the role, or use a totally unrelated game or exercise. If you google group recruitment exercises you’ll probably get loads of good ideas, also businessballs is a good resource for stuff like this. You need to get information on what you should be observing as well as what to ask them to do, as there will be specific competencies relating to the various exercises. Training observers in carrying out this role is also important.
I’m going to watch the next Apprentice tonight, can’t wait to see what ridiculous things the fame hungry cretins get up to this time…
Revitalising sleep deprived staff
May 6, 2008
Just recently I’ve not been sleeping well at all, (see recent article on current academic pressures for the main reason!) and today I feel like the walking dead! So I was quite interested in an article I found in an old copy of People Management about some companies that treat sleep deprivation as an important employee well-being issue. According to a recent study, almost half of the UK workforce feel that they’re not getting enough sleep, so this could potentially play quite an important part in things like productivity and attentiveness of staff.
The article highlighted three companies who have made provisions for staff to have a ‘power nap’ during their working day. Travelodge used a meeting room to set up hammocks, Procter and Gamble set up a ‘sleep pod’, which blocks out light and noise, and a hotel called Abode launched a ‘recharge and refresh’ package to allow staff to squeeze forty winks in between their working periods. I reckon this is a very rare occurrence in businesses, but it’s a great idea. I’m not sure of the exact scientific benefits of power napping, but it certainly works for me. When I was in school and college I used to work in my summer holidays at the place where my mum worked, and we’d regularly drive to a tranquil lakeside spot near work to have a half hour kip in the car at lunch time. It was a bit of a struggle waking up sometimes but I’m sure it helped me to be more productive and alert in the afternoon.
I can’t see this ever happening where I work now – apart from the obvious issues of where to house such a scheme, we’ve probably got too many pranksters who wouldn’t let anyone have a bit of peace to sleep – you’d probably wake up with pen all over your face or something! The way I’m feeling at the moment though, it would probably be the best benefit ever!
Brand bashing bloggers
May 4, 2008
Yesterday I wrote about employer branding, and how it can be used to improve recruitment and retention activities at companies. However, I’ve just read about a great example of how an employer brand could be crushed with the use of one little tool that we all use every day – the internet.
This was an article about the poor working conditions in the gaming industry – mainly in the US. The long working hours and unreasonable pressure put on employees at Electronic Arts (EA), particularly around the launch time of a new game, was broadcast to the whole world in a blog post by the wife of an employee. The article, ‘EA Spouse’, revealed how Erin Hoffman’s husband was on the verge of going under from working “9am to 10pm, seven days a week, with the occasional Saturday evening off for good behavior”. The blog post , which was written three years ago and is still famous today opened up a huge debate in the industry, and has led to “substantial progress” and an industry watchdog website that Hoffman runs herself. This is great for the employees working in this industry, but highlights just how easy it would be for one or two disgruntled employees or members of their families to blow apart a false employer brand in the last place you want this to happen – on the world wide web.
So, as I said yesterday, developing a realistic value base for your brand and ensuring any issues are resolved before you put it out there is probably a good idea, unless you want to spend a big budget on a really impressive campaign only for someone to effectively flush all your money down the toilet, from the comfort of their bedroom!
Employer branding - what’s that then?
May 3, 2008
I’ve been hearing the phrase ‘Employer Branding’ for ages now, without really understanding what on earth it is. So, after doing a little background reading into the subject, it’s now something I’m quite interested in, and think it could have more to it than just another one of those “hr-speak” fads that come around more often than a government department re-shuffle.
Basically, the theory behind employer branding follows the normal branding idea - companies market their services based on their brand – that which separates them from all the other companies offering the same product or service. Some come to mind very easily - think ‘every little helps’ or ‘this is not just Christmas food…’ (said in sexy voice with sensual music) - I’m sure you know which companies I’m talking about. Employer branding combines the company brand, and the way it manages its people, to develop and promote that special something that makes the company different to work for from its competitors, to stand out in the labour market. I know that one of the companies referred to earlier have developed a strong employer brand that relates well to their company brand, and the two work together very effectively. As I’ve probably mentioned before, the labour market is extremely tight and competitive at the moment, especially for highly skilled workers in industries where there is a lack of skills, such as IT, as well as for strong senior management candidates. Companies (not least the one I work for) are spending vast amount of money on recruitment agencies and advertising. So it’s clear why employer branding has suddenly become such a major concern.
But branding isn’t something that’s just for recruitment – it should be about the whole employment experience. If employees of a company are asked what it is like to work there, their answer should mirror the brand being promoted externally; otherwise you’re going to end up with a lot of new recruits who leave after a short period in a role that’s totally different to what they were expecting, as well as serious satisfaction and retention problems with your existing workforce. So working towards a brand should probably start from the very inside of the organisation – what is it about this place that makes us unique and brilliant? It links very well with the company vision and values (see my article on the Virgin Vision from March). I reckon this analysis could actually throw up problems with the way the company is managed that need to be resolved before you can start to develop any idea of what the brand is.
The CIPD website has loads of information about this subject, and is probably a really good place to start when thinking about how your company might use the idea of a brand for its employees and not just for customers (some website areas are only accessible to members though). It’s something I think I’ll be thinking about a lot in the near future.