Policies promoting work-life balance will be essential if workplaces are to retain their brightest and best people, employers were warned yesterday.
But policies alone will not suffice; a change in culture is also required, according to a new study on the need for flexible working patterns. The "Work Life Balance Diagnostic Pack" was produced by a network of six major Irish organisations, including An Post, Eircom and Iarnród Éireann.
It reviews research on the subject to date and provides a detailed questionnaire for firms to check how advanced are their own work-life balance policies.
Launching the report, the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, admitted that politicians were the last people who should be telling others about the need to achieve a good balance between their working and social lives.
The report's other three organisations are Dublin Bus, Dublin City Council and the Office of the Civil Service and Local Appointments Commissioners.
The report finds that despite the introduction of a wide range of family-friendly and more flexible working arrangements, many are still not meeting the needs of employees. "For many organisations, if not the majority, their family-friendly and work-life balance policies are 'add-on' rather than tied into the organisation's business strategy.
"Furthermore, for many organisations there is a clash between these policies and the corporate culture."
Work-life balance policies will not work, the report points out, if managers on the ground are not convinced of their benefits and do not promote them.
It cites a Canadian study of 100 large companies which concluded that people who successfully combined work and non-work domains should be rewarded with promotions, rather than those who worked long hours. Where employees consistently spent long hours at work, the study found, their bosses should try to find out why and reduce their workload.
The initiative announced yesterday is supported by both IBEC and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. IBEC director general Mr Turlough O'Sullivan said a high proportion of the population at present was in the 20-24 age bracket. "In 10 years' time many of these people will be working parents. Employers know that in order to attract and retain the best and the brightest, they must continue to develop work-life balance policies."
ICTU general secretary Mr David Begg, however, echoed Mr Brennan's admission that those in senior positions tended to work long hours, including union officials. "People may pay lip service to the ideal of work-life balance but the reality is that they expect people to be available whenever they are required."
