Getting the balance right - Isle of Man Today

More documents

Recommendations

Info

IS A FLEXIBLE APPROACH POSSIBLE?: Dave Nixon (left) and Tony Doyle MW: 050401/43 DEBATE PICTURES BY MIKE WADE8 Business updateIsle of Man Examiner, May 2005ISSUEMAY focusWORK-LIFE BALANCEStriking theright balanceFROM PAGE 7for working couples, for example, to have awork-life balance too. It is down to eachindividual to improve their own work-lifebalance and the companies they work forshould be conducive to that.National Work-LifeBalance dayCURRY: We have introduced a twice-yearlywork-life balance day to make people reallythink about the way they work.We ask people to think about whetherthey could take their lunch mid-afternoonbecause Tesco is quieter then, can theycycle into work, can they take a half-day offand make up the time elsewhere? This is toexplore the work-life balance of thatperson.We all want to move in the same directionbut we haven’t all got the cultures tosupport this. Perhaps the government couldlead a work-life balance initiative on anIsland-wide basis. A national work-lifebalance day promoted by governmentwould be great. We also run a ‘wellbeing’project where now we provide newspapersand fresh fruit every day for staff.HARRISON: How is it received in terms ofwhat comes back in commitment from staffand productivity, and how it is measured?CURRY: It is a difficult one to measure. Butwe know when people are applying for jobs,for example, that they are aware of the typeof facilities available. There seems to be a‘feel-good’ factor when you go into ourstaffrooms, which is good.TAYLOR: It is great if you have got theresources but for smaller businesses on theIsland, it is harder.HARRISON: Barclays clearly have theresources to formalise what they are doing,smaller businesses don’t, but that shouldn’tLEE HARRISON: Smallbusinesses shouldoperate an informalapproach to the work-lifebalance MW: 050401/23stop small businesses operating aninformal approach to the work-life balance.CURRY: It comes down to issues, withoutany form cost, which is all aboutencouraging people, their attitude to work,and the understanding of their personalcircumstances.New infrastructureCURRY: I have some concerns aboutgovernment because we don’t necessarilyhave the infrastructure to support moreflexible working. For example, if someone isworking from 7am to 10pm, there are many
ELAINE HUNTER: Flexible hours also have to suit business needs MW: 050401/52Isle of Man Examiner, May 2005 Businessupdate9people who don’t drive and public transportis not there. I would like to see governmentlooking to address this.There is no point saying let’s work flexibly,shifts or travel to work by cyclesetc, if there is not theinfrastructure to support it.That is my big concern. Iwould like to see a flexibleapproach to publictransport, for example, sopeople can get to workearly if they need to.WEADOCK: It is anissue for us toobecause we have70 peopleleaving thebuilding at 4amin the morningwhen the casinocloses.GARRETT:Likewise, we aretransporting peoplefrom Port Erin at 5amto the ferries.CURRY: If there isdemand from otherbusinesses collectively,not just the financesector, it could includeconstruction, hospitality,who have early starts andwould really benefit fromearly buses, for example.There are hurdles toovercome.BUJKO: I agree with Paul. Ifyou want to put some of thesepractical things in place, then youdo need the infrastructure. But thereis a wider definition of work-life balanceand it goes back to culture and attitudes.‘There needs to besome common sense.In an ideal societyflexitime is wonderful,but in practice, itdoesn’t work— Graham TaylorGetting peopleback to workCURRY: There is a whole pool of people outthere which I want to tap into who aredifficult to bring back into the workplace.They are skilled people with a lot ofexperience. They can’t come back becauseperhaps there are not enough work-lifebalance opportunities within theworkplace. What we are doing byintroducing these policies and proceduresand culture is opening the door back tothose people and saying you don’t have towork as many hours as you used to.STRANG: Looking at the demographics ofthe Island, women of child-bearing age arehaving kids later. These people are higherup the chain when they first have kids. Youwant to keep that skill and youwant them to come back.When you look at theolder population onthe Island, they havegot skills and youwant to get themback into theworkforce butthey might notwant to workall hours.DTI’s ELAINEWOOD:There aremorewomen intheworkplace,people arecomingback to workand there ismore antidiscriminationlegislation. Butpeople need toknow they arevalued. If peoplefeel that they arevalued, there is amassive amount ofcommitment.Sometimesa teamperformsbetter withoutside helpManaged HRPeople Dimensions provide effective HRmanagement solutions.Outsourcing this specialist area means yourcompany can benefit from continuous bestpractice in all your HR functions.Call Lee Harrison or Tom Nicol on 679981, oremail enquiries@people-dimensions.comto find out how to manage your team moreeffectively.Top Floor, Select House1 Upper Church StreetDouglas, Isle of Man IM1 1EEwww.people-dimensions.com
Page 3 and 4: Isle of Man Examiner, May 2005 Busi
Page 5 and 6: Isle of Man Examiner, May 2005 Busi
Page 7: Isle of Man Examiner, May 2005 Busi
Page 11 and 12: K C M YIsle of Man Examiner, May 20
Page 13 and 14: K C M YIsle of Man Examiner, May 20
Page 15 and 16: 16 Business updateIsle of Man Exami
Page 27: Back page 28businessupdate Isle of

Getting the balance right - Isle of Man Today

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?