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Part Two
Design
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Effectiveness of communication – a large part of the essential communication we
have with our colleagues is unplanned and face-to-face. It happens on ‘chance meet’
occasions, yet it is important in spreading contextual information as well as establishing
specific pieces of information necessary to the job.
Problem-solving – it is still often more efficient and effective informally to ask a colleague
for help in resolving problems than formally to frame a request using communications
technology.
It is lonely – isolation amongst mobile or home workers is a real problem. For many of
us, the workplace provides the main focus for social interaction. A computer screen is
no substitute.
Short case
Flexible working at Lloyds TSB 11
Not too long ago in many organizations, employees were
expected to work fixed hours. There was a fixed start time;
miss it and you were late, and subject to some form of
penalty. There was a fixed finish time; why would anyone
want to work later than this ‘for free’. And although there
are some places where the vestiges of this attitude
remain, many enterprises now understand the benefits of
taking a more flexible attitude. Amongst the first large
organizations to take flexible working seriously in Europe
was Lloyds TSB Group, one of the UK’s biggest banking
groups, employing over 66,000 people worldwide and
serving more than 16 million customers. The Group was
prompted to take up flexible working because it was
sensitive to the social and economic changes that were
affecting, not only its customers, but its staff as well.
People’s lives were becoming more complex. There
seemed to be clear benefits of adapting work patterns
so they reflected its staff’s needs and constraints and
yet still offered the best quality and quantity of service
to its customers. Recruiting and keeping talented and
committed people, wanting to build a career in the
Group, meant understanding and implementing the right
balance between staff’s individual needs, the business’s
requirement to control the costs of delivering service,
and the customers’ expectation of excellent service.
So, to further its interest in flexible working, the Group
researched its employees’ views. The results showed
that one of their main issues was trying to balance a
demanding job with outside commitments, such as family
and leisure. In response the Group introduced its flexible
working policy. Called ‘Work Options’, it allowed staff to
reconfigure their working activities by requesting a different
working pattern from the conventional working day. This
can be done in several ways. Sometimes it may simply
involve starting and finishing earlier or later each day, while
maintaining the same weekly hours. This could allow for
other commitments such as childcare activities, or simply
cater for working preferences. Also it could benefit the
business. Customer demand does not necessarily follow
a traditional working day. Varying staff work patterns
could mean staffing is more closely aligned with actual
customer demand. The business may also be able to
extend staff without paying overtime premiums.
Job sharing is also used, where two members of staff
share one job role. It suits the two staff, who may not
want full-time employment, and the business can have
two people’s combined experience, skills and creativity.
Job-sharing staff can also be more productive than
full-time colleagues. As one Customer Service Manager
at Lloyds TSB says, ‘We have job-shared for nine years
now. We cover a full working week between us with
handover meetings every Tuesday morning. We talk
about any issues that have arisen. We are very different
characters and react in completely different ways to
problems. However, we find our skills complement each
other well. The bank benefits because it wouldn’t get this
from just one person.’ Another form of flexible working
is ‘compressed working’, which allows staff to work a
standard one or two weeks within a shorter timescale, for
example by working more days a week, then taking extra
time off to compensate. For example: ‘I have worked a
Source: Rex Features