The present work-life programmes was originally known as the Work-family programme. Cascio in his book (Managing Human Resources: Productivity, Quality of Work Life, Profits published by McGraw-Hill) defines the work-life concept that recognizes the reality that employees do face family issues and those issues invariably affect their performance at work. The Work-life programme includes all employer sponsored benefits that assist employees to manage their work and non-work demands in a more meaningful manner.
The 21st century business firms recognise the need to manage the well-being of employees from a broader perspective. They recognise that unless the employees are well taken care of, their engagement in the work will not be a whole-hearted affair. The work-life approach and practices are seen as a win-win situation.
The Ministry of Manpower, Singapore (www.mom.gov.sg) , lists a number of benefits arising out of work-life strategies, including the following:
- Increased productivity;
- Improved recruitment and retention;
- Lower absenteeism rates;
- Improved customer experience; and
- A more motivated, satisfied and equitable workforce
Cascio, citing the researches carried by others list the work-life programs into five broad categories. They are:
- Child benefits
- Flexible working conditions
- Leave options
- HR policies
- Cultural issues
The author lists a number of benefits arising from employer sponsored child care services on site. The benefits of this practice include the following:
- Reduced employee absenteeism
- Increase in the availability of staff to get things done
- Reduced tardiness
A good work-life programme should result in financial savings to the company.
The reduction of the number of days missed by parents following the implementation of onsite child care services is the major reason as to why business firms adopt the practice. When some USA business corporations started providing elder care services, their labour turnover dropped significantly. Less employees were quitting their jobs to provide elder care responsibilities for their parents. Considering the cost of labour turnover, this is a cost saving to these business organisations.
Business corporations that provide supportive policies aimed at allowing employees to manage their stress experienced a far less employee burnout and stress. The HR policies and practices make it a little easier to manage and solve their personal problems. Cascio citing the research evidences (p.61) offers the following as the ‘drivers of retention’:
- Career development opportunities
- Confidence in the future
- Feelings of accomplishment
- Amount of joy at work
- Sense of job security
The MOM website documents the outcome of work-life program adopted by Changi General Hospital. The hospital offers the following services to its employees (source: www.mom.gov.sg) :
- Health and wellness programmes, including annual health screening, weight loss management programmes and health talks. The families of staff members are also encouraged to participate in healthy lifestyle activities such as walkathons and to make use of CGH's in-house facilities to monitor their own health.
- Convenience services such as courier pick-up services, referral services on dependent care and school holiday enrichment programmes for the children of staff members
- Organised peer support programme to provide psychological support to staff who are affected by cumulative stress in the healthcare environment, helping them to cope with emotional problems at wor.
- Workplace childcare center
- Fitness center
- Organised talks and seminars on family issues”
The site lists the following as the benefits of the above measures (source MOM website – www.mom.gov.sg) :
- “An improvement in its employee satisfaction index - its biennial Employee Opinion Survey shows scores significantly better than the Singapore norm
- Its health and wellness programmes have resulted in a drastic drop in the percentage of staff with conditions such as hypertension and high glucose levels, leading to a 25 percent decrease in medical expenses per staff between FY2002 and FY2003
- Lowered attrition rate - fell by half from 26.64% in 1997 to 13.44% in 1998
- Flexi-hour take up rate is 4.1%, higher than the national average of less than 1.5%”
Robbins and Judge in their book ‘Organizational Behavior’ (12th edition) lists a number of work-life initiatives (p.565). As part of time based strategies organizations offer flexitime, job sharing, part-time work, leave for new parents and telecommuting. Business firm, such as Lucent, Marriott, Merck and Xerox offer culture-change strategies focused work-life program with the following initiatives:
- Training for managers to manage their conflicts
- Compensation based on employee satisfaction
Despite the benefits of Work-life initiatives, Cascio do emphasize the need to be cautious in making the business case for work-life programs (p. 62).
- Understand that no one set of facts and figures will make the case for all firms.
- Don’t rely on isolated facts to make the business case.
- Don’t place work-life initiatives under an unreasonable burden of proof.
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