KEY POINTS:
Flexibility may be the essential ingredient in employee happiness for Kiwis.
Brits might welcome back the traditional office tea lady, but Downunder we are more attuned to the aroma of coffee the barista has created to permeate the staff cafe.
UK recruitment firm Office Angels recently announced that a survey of 1000 British workers about office traditions revealed they would love to bring back a full hour for lunch, annual company outings, a subsidised canteen and the tea lady.
The reminiscing workers said these traditions make a workplace more social and relaxed, while a third who filled in the survey said such practices made them feel more motivated.
A similar questionnaire in New Zealand would likely show we want a future with flexible start and finish times, rather than antiquated conventions such as a someone serving us a cuppa.
A Department of Labour (DOL) survey last year provided a snapshot of work-life balance experiences in New Zealand.
It showed employees most appreciated having flexible start and finish times, knowing they could leave in an emergency, and being able to use sick/domestic leave to look after family members.
The most readily available and used employer initiative is access to a telephone or phone message, the DOL survey showed. Such things as being able to choose your own lunch break were also seen as an advantage.
Each year workplace survey and analysis specialists JRA compile the unlimited/JRA Best Places to Work in New Zealand competition survey. The current survey has just been completed and the winners will be announced in February.
Managing director John Robertson says award finalists are firms of all shape and size with four characteristics in common.
They all have a clear vision and values and employees understand how they contribute to what the organisation is about. Each firm has created a real sense of community and is focused on helping employees grow and develop as people. Plus, they are high-performance workplaces where high standards are demanded and there's little tolerance for poor performance.
Essentially, Kiwis value those things in an employer.
The idea of a tea lady and an annual company picnic are powerful in terms of creating a sense of belonging and community, Robertson says.
He can remember a tea lady whose trolley included cheese and crackers, but while the tea lady may now be "a bit of a relic", other activities outside work such as the Round the Bays team and other sporting groups strengthen relationships and foster a feeling of community.
Kiwi workers want jobs which give them a sense of personal achievement and of belonging. How much an employer answers these needs leads to how much people are prepared to put into their job and how long they stay.
"Fun is not necessarily about doing gimmicky or crazy things every Friday," Robertson says.
"If the kids are sick and there's no flexibility around work times, then Friday night with the colleagues is not going to be fun no matter what is planned. It's dangerous to say that to have a great workplace you have to have drinks on a Friday night."
Similarly, announcing a loud shirt day is not suddenly going to get people more interested in what is going on around them.
"If an organisation wants a high level of engagement it needs to think about what to do and ask the staff. There's no shortcut to building a good workplace," Robertson says.
Legislation with the potential to change things for careers, the Employment Relations (Flexible Working Hours) Amendment Bill, is currently in the committee stages of parliamentary process.
The bill is not the sole answer, Council of Trade Unions secretary Carol Beaumont says, but signals strongly that people should have the right to request flexible working arrangements and for that to be considered seriously by their employers.
Flexibility is on Kiwis' wishlist for economic, social and demographic reasons, she believes.
Most families need and desire both parents to be working, there's high labour force participation, and a fifth of Kiwis work long hours - more than 50 hours per week. Juggling family responsibilities, a social life, work and personal development creates stress. There's an increasing need for quality part-time work and, as the workforce ages in coming years, people are likely to want to work in a different way. That doesn't mean more casual employment.
"With a bit of goodwill and recognition of certainty and security, from the employer and employee perspective, there is the ability to look at greater flexibility," Beaumont says.
"For a successful modern workplace, if you want to be able to recruit and retain the people you need, you have to get through some of the barriers that are there."
