Living to work no way to live

By JULIE MIDDLETON

Ask yourself this question: do you live to work, or work to live?

And here's another point to ponder: Do you really think that, as a retiree, you'll reflect on your life and wish you'd spent more time in the office?

Smart employers know that staff who are able to balance their work and family responsibilities - those who have a life - are more productive, creative and loyal.

And switched-on bosses know that promoting balance, making it policy rather than something dispensed at a manager's whim, delivers an edge in the tussle for talent.

More than ever, wodges of money won't hold staff in jobs that prevent them leading a full life. Increasingly important in job satisfaction is the package of reasonable hours, flexibility, promotion and training opportunities, and a supportive office culture.

According to human resources consultant Jacqui Duffin, of TMP Worldwide, "companies are realising that in order to retain the best people for longer, they need to make their organisation a more attractive place to work".

But such savvy thinkers are still a minority. A study released last month by Auckland recruiters Pohlen Kean found that although two-thirds of companies surveyed said helping employees achieve work/life balance was a good idea, in practice they weren't likely to view it as core strategy.

The research involved 1187 staff and employers in 25 mostly North Island organisations, ranging from local government and the public sector to manufacturing, IT, telecommunications, not-for-profit organisations and professional services.

Forty per cent of male staff and 45 per cent of women reported feeling overloaded in their job "quite often" or "almost always". Staff with children felt this far more acutely.

We all know that as working hours get longer and stress levels rise, quality of work slumps.

Employers can no longer afford to turn a blind eye to staff overwork, as the soon-to-be passed Health and Safety in Employment Amendment Bill will make stress and fatigue prosecutable workplace hazards.

The Council of Trade Unions Thirty Families qualitative study, released last month, found that many people were becoming overwhelmed by a negative work-eat-sleep cycle caused by long hours. For many, time for family was poor quality due to their fatigue.

This is Joanna, a young policy analyst whose workload crept up to 60 to 70 hours a week: "My health started to unravel bit by bit, so I didn't notice at first.

"I put on some weight, maybe six, seven kilos, [and] my teeth started looking yellow because of all the coffee I was drinking.

"I had bags under my eyes because I wasn't sleeping very well ... I was constantly worrying about everything. If it wasn't the pressure of deadlines at work it was whether I'd left the oven on at home.

"I started losing my temper with small things, like my partner's habit of dropping wet towels on the floor. It drove me up the wall. We started arguing all the time. That just made my stress worse.

"One day it was just all too much and I burst into tears at work. I just couldn't handle it any more. The hours, the pressure, the responsibility was just killing me.

"I went to the doctor and he said I was in real danger of physical and emotional breakdown."

Here's Anna, commenting on her partner's workload: "I told him that he couldn't keep up the pace for much longer, or something was going to give. His health, our marriage, our family.

"When we didn't have kids he got tired, but then with the hours at work on top of spending time with the boys, he just got so exhausted.

"He had trouble getting out of bed in the morning. He was always tired and irritable - I'd never seen him so moody."

Workers interviewed for the Pohlen Kean study said that being able to negotiate when they took their holidays was the condition they most prized. Unpaid leave was a key factor in retaining staff with families.

The study also affirmed the findings of another completed last year by Auckland University's Peter Boxall and Erling Rasmussen. A major motivation for 28 per cent of the people who switched jobs, they found, was a better work/life balance.

The entrants in this year's EEO Trust Work and Life Awards have identified gains for businesses from policies promoting balance.

Among the most common-cited bonuses of work and life policies is better staff retention.

Also claimed are decreased absenteeism, reduced stress, a more positive culture and higher employee satisfaction.

The Auckland Regional Council cites fewer on-the-job accidents - and says that "scores for emotional intelligence have increased for both managers and staff".

UDC Finance links its balance policies to increased profitability, Netball New Zealand to lowered recruitment costs.

Information Tools, a software and database company, says its flexibility in meeting staff needs translates into willingness by staff to "pull out all the stops" when necessary.

The Treasury, an organisation which needs people with institutional and historical knowledge, also identified "increased intellectual capital" - the numbers of people returning after unpaid leave is increasing year by year.

Moneyworks sees work/life policies leading to greater staff engagement. "There is pride in working for Moneyworks, and staff make suggestions that save the business money."