Work-life balance
25 April 2019
This article was featured in the May 2019 issue of the magazine.
Jerome Smail, freelance journalist, presents the issues, research findings and possible solutions
It’s no secret that dedication, integrity and conscientiousness are key attributes of people working in payroll. Professionals at all levels in the industry pride themselves on a job well done and seeing a task through to the end. But this can cause or exacerbate an all too common problem: poor work-life balance.
Of course, it’s an issue not restricted to payroll. According to research by human resources (HR) and payroll technology provider ADP, almost a third (30%) of UK workers feel that they have a poor work-life balance in their current role. What’s more, problems at work are bleeding into home life for employees too – with UK workers suffering in particular.
The ADP survey, conducted in April 2018, polled 2,518 employees across France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the UK, and found an average of one third (33%) of European workers felt a bad day at work affected their personal life – but the proportion rises to 38% for the UK alone.
Jeff Phipps, managing director and general manager for ADP UK and Ireland, believes technology is partly to blame. With the ubiquity of mobile phones, tablets and laptops and 24/7 access to work emails, there is a temptation – and sometimes even an expectation – for employees to check on work matters outside of office hours. He says: “The rise of flexible working, and the widespread usage of workplace technologies to support it, has brought many benefits, yet organisations also risk encouraging an ‘always on’ working culture. Technology has increasingly blurred the lines between work and personal lives.”
Technology has increasingly blurred the lines between work and personal lives...
The figures appear to back up Phipps’s opinion. According to research by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), published in January 2018, 59% of 1,037 managers surveyed consistently check their emails outside of normal working hours, adding an estimated 44 working days to schedules per year.
Sir Cary Cooper, professor of organisational psychology and health at Manchester Business School, says: “Long office hours, combined with the always-on expectation to answer emails, are eating into home life, leaving managers with little chance of respite and increasing stress levels.”
However, it’s not just employees who suffer – it’s the organisation as a whole. Phipps says: “Employees faced with this working style are likely to become less engaged, and this type of working may even have a negative impact on productivity.”
Employees themselves are rarely profiting from such working practices. More than half of UK workers (51%) who work additional hours outside their contract do not get paid overtime by their employer, according to research by job search engine Jobrapido. The study, carried out between November and December 2018, also revealed that 80% of the UK workers who do not get paid overtime admitted “it is just part of my job”, or “I could jeopardise my chances of a promotion if I ask for overtime”, or “I am too scared to rock the boat by asking for additional money”. The remaining 20% stated that despite not being paid, they are given extra holiday instead.
However, the Jobrapido research also provided further evidence of the pernicious ‘always on’ culture. Six in ten employees admitted that even on holiday they check their mobile phone or emails at least once a day for work, with half of these respondents admitting they check multiple times a day. Less than a quarter of UK employees (22%) only check their phone or email once over a two-week holiday. Over two-thirds (67%) believed that if they did not check their emails or phone during their holiday then it would change the relationship they have with their line manager or boss.
What’s more, some 61% have had to miss an important event (including a family birthday, an important school activity of their child, a wedding or a funeral) because of work, and 38% say they have suffered from work-related stress.
Rob Brouwer, chief executive officer of Jobrapido, comments: “With the majority of the UK regularly working more than the traditional 40-hour week, it is essential they are rewarded in some way for their investment. While some are recognised with time in lieu, it should not be the case that so many in the workforce are just accepting this to be par for the course or fearful they could lose their job or risk a promotion by asking for some type of remuneration. Employers need to consider what message this spells out, particularly if they are keen to retain crucial talent in their company.”
Brouwer adds: “With nearly four in ten UK workers suffering from work-related stress, it is essential that employers and senior management look at new ways to manage employees’ workloads. Holiday or time outside the workplace should be recognised as a time when employees can recharge and truly rest so they are in position to give their very best when they return to work and crucially mitigate against the risk of work-related stress.”
...attitude of employers, with many merely paying lip service to the concept of flexibility
Phipps, meanwhile, believes the answer lies in greater flexibility and trust. He says: “Individuals that want to blend work and life and work more flexibly should be able to, while those that want to keep the two separate should also be able to. The most important thing is for businesses to create a culture of trust so that employees can be open when things are not going well, and work together to fix it.”
It seems flexibility is increasingly being seen by employees as an expectation rather than a perk. More than two-fifths (43%) told a Hibob survey that they would like access to flexible working arrangements as part of their employee benefits package.
This, of course, also has implications for recruitment. For example, in a study by Totaljobs, well over half of respondents (59%) specified flexible working as the most important benefit when looking for a job, while a survey by law firm alliance Ius Laboris found that flexible working has an influence on 89% of individuals when it comes to deciding whether to join a company.
Helen Livesey, senior business director at Hays Payroll Management, says flexible approaches to working hours are more readily available to payroll professionals than they ever have been. She points to results from the Hays UK Salary and Recruiting Trends 2019 Guide that shows 86% of organisations offered flexible working over the last year, compared to 70% the previous year. Also, more employers now appreciate the importance of an appealing work-life balance to attract new staff, as figures rose from 15% last year to 18% this year.
Livesey says: “Our research shows that new entrants to the workplace look set to build a better work-life balance than generations before them. Almost two-thirds of ‘generation Z’, those born after 1995, rate their work-life balance as being either good or very good, which surpassed all other age groups surveyed. The fulfilment younger workers are experiencing from commitment to their current jobs reflects new expectations of flexible working schedules upon entering the workforce.”
However, Livesey also points out that sentiment about work-life balance was lower among older age groups, with baby boomers revealing that they are the most dissatisfied with how much time they spend at work. Almost half (49%) of this age group believe their work-life balance is between average and very poor, and 36% would change their working hours in a bid to improve their work-life balance.
Livesey adds: “Despite the uptake in flexible working offerings, positive evaluation of work-life balance has remained fairly static from last year at 55%, indicating that employers can still do more.”
So, if a greater number of employers are offering flexible working but employees feel their work-life balance isn’t improving, what’s the problem?
Amrit Sandhar, founder of consultancy The Engagement Coach, believes it’s the attitude of employers, with many merely paying lip service to the concept of flexibility. He says: “Many organisations are focused on providing flexible working for their employees but while on paper this might be seen as a great benefit, in our experience, the practical realities can be very different.
“Often leaders and managers are uncomfortable when they can’t see people at their desks, and with this lack of visibility, how could you possibly guarantee people were actually working? Then there’s the challenge of how much work people really get done. For those of us who struggle with the whole concept of flexible working, we might imagine people sitting in their pyjamas watching daytime TV, waiting for an email to come in that they might need to respond to. If they can’t answer their phone within two rings – what were they really up to? Suspicion sets in.”
Sandhar insists many employers are missing the point of flexible working and forgetting the overall goals. He explains: “The ultimate goal is for employees to be at their best, thereby applying the talents that they were recruited for, helping make the organisation even better. Would a one-hour commute to the office during busy school drop-off times, make employees more productive? How about tying them into working hours that may not work for them?
... flexible working has to become more accepted and commonplace...
“If employees are concerned about how they are going to pick up their child from an after-school club each week, how focused will they be on their work? With an ageing population, many employees have the added responsibilities of looking after elderly loved ones, as well as children, on top of trying to be brilliant at work. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to work for an organisation that would allow you to take care of your personal responsibilities, knowing this would allow you to be your best at work?”
Echoing Phipps, Sandhar says the magic word is ‘trust’: “Why recruit people we think we would need to ‘police’ each day?”
But there is a danger that flexibility ends up being to the detriment of the employee. For example, more than a quarter (27%) of flexible workers told a survey on behalf of the Association of Accounting Technicians (ATT) that they put in more hours than when they worked to a traditional schedule.
Also, 18% said they were worried that flexibility gave them less opportunity to engage in workplace social life and events. In addition, 15% said flexible working made them lonelier, 14% admitted to feeling guilty for working more conveniently than their fellow employees, and 13% expressed concerns over being passed over for promotion or other work responsibilities.
There also seems to be a stigma to overcome among the workforce at large. As part of the wider ATT study, 500 employees who do not work flexibly were also surveyed. More than half (53%) said they think they do more work than colleagues who work flexibly, and more than a third (37%) said they are envious of those working to non-traditional patterns.
Olivia Hill, chief HR officer at the ATT, said: “It’s worrying that many flexible workers feel that their colleagues see them as workshy or feel that they may be passed over for promotions. For this to change, flexible working has to become more accepted and commonplace in every work environment.”
Flexibility, though, can also improve employee’s financial health. For example, Nick Whiteley, managing director of flexible working solutions organisation HFX, says: “An employee on, say, £10 per hour will earn about £19,500 per year gross and spends two hours a day commuting to work during rush hour. By working flexibly, they could cut their journey time from two hours to one hour a day. That’s worth, deducting holiday time, £2,400 per year net. The equivalent in gross salary would result in an 18% increase.
“What’s more, an employee commuting by train to work could save between £500 and £1,500 a year by travelling off-peak.”
Some employers, meanwhile, are addressing their employees’ work-life balance through solutions during office time. One such organisation is digital marketing organisation Add People. Kerry Matthewman, HR manager at Add People, explains: “We’re in talks to bring a barber or hairdresser on-site so people can get their hair cut at work, or organisations to come and wash employees’ cars in the car park.”
She adds: “It may only seem like a few pounds saved here and an hour saved there, but over time those can amount to days and triple figures that employees can instead spend with and on their family and friends.”
In a working culture where spare time is precious, it could be said that every little helps.