Working Smarter Tips: Go Home On Time Day (Employers)

WORKING FAMILIES

NATIONAL WORK-LIFE WEEK

Working Smarter: Go Home On Time Day

For Employers

Your Go Home On Time Day should be a light-hearted event but you could use it to kick start a process of examining how organisation’s can become smarter about how work is carried out, which will have a huge positive effect on the work-life balance

and engagement of employees.

Many organisations have great policies in place that should facilitate flexible working and work-life balance, but many struggle with the implementation of these practices, and with the battle to win hearts and minds. 

Below are a few suggestions for ways to ensure your organisation has a culture which supports smarter, more flexible ways of working:

• Management support for more flexible working is essential. Top executives can set examples of how they work smarter and make it known that the same is expected from all employees. Your organisation must have a culture that supports flexible working and that can only happen if there is visible top level support.

• Seminars/training on work-life issues and flexible working can help managers understand its importance and find ways to achieve it.

• Find successful case studies and role models and publicise them widely.  Also publicise their manager’s views on how and why it works for everyone

• Set achievable targets. Targets are set to challenge and stretch employees, encouraging them to increase their productivity and performance, not to de-motivate.  And steer your managers towards measuring outputs, not inputs.

• Promote flexible working. And ensure that you explain what flexible working is i.e. not just reduced hours, but includes full-time flexible working too.

• 24/7 working. Now we live in the Blackberry age, the line between work and home lives tends to blur.  While this can allow a high degree of flexibility in where and when work gets done,  employees need to be encourage to find mechanisms for switching work off

• Train line managers to recognize signs of overwork. Supervisors can spot increasing error rates, absenteeism and signs of stress-related burnout more easily than anyone else in the organisation.