Forget work and get a life

If you feel like snarling every time you hear the phrase 'work/life balance' it's probably because your life circumstances mean you can't achieve it - no matter how good your employer's intentions, or because your employer is only paying lip service to the notion. Alternatively, you may be an employer fed up with being told you need to provide a work/life balance for staff when you can't achieve it for yourself.

So what is work/life balance anyway? Not surprisingly, it means different things to different people. For some, it's about getting away from work early to beat the traffic and be with the kids, working more from home, or having a chance to study. Others view it more conceptually - if you have some choice and control in your working life or some independence from an employer, then you have work/life balance.

When work/life balance seems a myth, or worse, a 'sick joke', it's usually because an individual's ability to achieve any balance has been removed through personal circumstances or by a staff-strapped or inflexible employer.

On the personal front, the tight labour market, low salaries (relative to inflation) and New Zealand's small stature in the global economy mean many New Zealanders are working harder than ever to maintain a decent standard of living or to grow their businesses.

A survey released in May by Robert Half Finance and Accounting questions whether achieving a work/life balance is even realistic for New Zealand employees, and whether helping to deliver it is do-able for employers. Robert Half found a large percentage of finance and accounting professionals work more than 55 hours a week, and face pressure to work longer hours as a result of staff shortages.

In a separate survey, 77 per cent of New Zealand financial professionals said they have more stress in their working lives compared with two years ago. Increased workload, accountability and the pressure to meet deadlines were given as key reasons for the increase.

"Finance professionals seem to be working longer hours in the current market where there is undoubtedly a major skill shortage," says Kim Smith, a senior consultant for Robert Half.

Skills shortages are undoubtedly undermining employers genuinely committed to helping employees achieve work/life balance - those with too few staff have little choice but to ask more of those they do have.

However, Dr Philippa Reed, chief executive for the Equal Employment Opportunity Trust (EEO), which judges and manages New Zealand's annual work/life balance awards, says organisations don't necessarily need formal work/life balance policies - improved work/life balance can result from simple, informal and open communications between an employer and employee.

Examples include staff input to rostering and project management, agreements around part time work and leave without pay, and holding a job open while an employee takes a break.

"Policy without good practice is no good anyway. I have a lot of sympathy for small organisations that say 'look we haven't got time to go away and write it all down, but of course we help our people and try to be flexible'," says Reed.

However, for some employers, delivering employees a work/life balance may be the least of their worries. Many struggle with the cost of labour compliance and salaries, and have difficulty finding enough staff to keep their business moving forward. And few New Zealand organisations are large enough to employ staff dedicated to ensuring work/life balance is achieved throughout the organisation. Reed says while the EEO Trust also exists to help small employers, its members tend to be large companies.

Hilary Seagrave, an ex art gallery employer who opted for self employment as a mortgage broker franchisee for Roost, (formerly Mortgage Choice), says she is concerned about the pressure placed on employers to provide and care for the work/life balance needs of staff along with everything else.

"I think there needs to be awareness that employers need a work/life balance as well; and both employers and employees need to be softer and non-judgmental towards one another," says Seagrave.

Seagrave says she sought out her own work/life balance following a significant life event that reminded her she "wasn't defined by my work and there is more to life than work". She now works the same annual hours she did as an employer, but if the weather's fine she jet-skis during the day and works in the evening - or opts for a slow week.

Seagrave says employers should give some thought to how work/life balance might be achieved for them and their employees.

"If the people you work with have work/life balance they are much happier and work more with their strengths. My advice is to try and have an open relationship with employees and come to grips with their individual requirements and their personal perception of what work/life balance is," says Seagrave.

Reed also says this is important: while employers have a large impact on the delivery of work/life balance, they are not solely responsible for it - employees need to know what their own work/life balance looks like so they can pursue it. Studying a course at polytech or taking a night class might be part of a work/life balance for someone who was nurtured and relaxed by that; for others studying for other reasons it may simply increase personal stress, says Reed.

Reed says every organisation that entered the 2005 EEO Trust Work/Life Balance awards was unanimous in the view that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to providing work/life balance for people. At the same time she says the Trust's employee surveys show New Zealand workers want flexibility around start and finishing times, and easy transitions between full time and part time work.

Ross Darrah, chief executive for change and project management consulting firm Management Toolbox, says after years of working in the corporate world he decided to set up a business that would allow him and others to priortise their work/life balance needs. Management Toolbox now employs five full time staff supporting an interdependent community of 40 ex-corporate professionals who are financially rewarded based on results.

"As long as they deliver by the date they say they will, we don't care how they get there. Most of our contractors spend no more than five days a fortnight on site with a client achieving what a full time employee would take two weeks to achieve," says Darrah.

Darrah says he asks potential contractors three questions: how much money they need to live the lifestyle they're accustomed to; how much they need to earn to live the lifestyle they want; and how well they understand the risks associated with work designed for maximum work/life balance - contract workloads are typically 'famine and flood' in nature, and achieving the ultimate work/life balance often requires a financial re-think.

While the risk factor is the one people think hardest about, the pull of a decent work/life balance often wins out, says Darrah - people want more time with their children, have other business interests; want a smaller income while they pursue a personal passion, or just want to play golf.

He says at the same time employers need to learn that attention to delivering work/life balance for employees will soon sort out any recruitment, retention and bottom line problems.

"An employee in a positive mood will achieve positive things. If they're stressed because their work/life balance is out of kilter, then you will never get full productivity out of them. Each week, an average of two people approaches us for employment; we don't have to advertise," says Darrah.