Worklife Balance

   Female or Male, Young or Old, Employer or Employee - Work-life balance is the future

 

Flexi-time allows people to choose when they work.  These hours are usually outside the normal 9.00 to 5.00 hours. This allows staff to vary starting, finishing and break times during the day.
Job-sharing involves two employees working part-time and sharing the duties of a job normally done by one person. Job-sharers divide pay, holiday and other benefits.
Time off in lieu is when employees work extra hours outside of the normal working day.  Employees can take the extra time off at a later date. 
Annualised hours means that total working hours are calculated over a year rather than a week. This means people can choose to work only at term time while taking time off during school holidays.  It also may suit some businesses with busy and off peak periods.
Compressed working hours lets people work their total hours over fewer days e.g. an employee can work full-time hours over three/four days a week instead of five, or work eigth days over two weeks instead of the normal ten days. This kind of flexible work can benefit both employers and  employees
Shift swapping allows staff the responsibility and flexibility to negotiate their work times and shifts amongst themselves.
Self-rostering involves matching the number of staff and type of skills needed each working day.  Employees can put forward the times they would like to work and shift work is organised matching staff preferences to staff numbers required to carry out the work. 
Term-time working allows employees to take unpaid leave during school holidays.
Working from home is becoming more and more possible for all kinds of work due to technology.  

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What are the advantages to Employers of adopting family friendly work arrangements?

 

Improved Recruitment: More flexibility can attract potential recruits when vacancies arise, especially in a situation where applicatants can make comparative evaluations of job offers; skilled and experienced people may be attracted back into the workforce, and a match can be achieved between skills and current market shortages.
Improved Retention: valued staff may stay longer when an organisation provides access to more flexible arrangments.
Improved Productivity: employees are more focused at work when they know that flexibility is provided for when the need arises; it may also help to reduce casual sick leave absences. 
Improved Morale,Motivation and Committment: an accommodating workplace and a more diverse workforce build morale, creativity and team spirit. 
Improved Service: a flexible approach to working time can potentially be used to extend service delivery , improve customer/client relations and deal with time zone differences, where there is agreement with the workforce.  
Cost Savings: reduced staff turnover, training costs and, possibly accommodation costs contribute to improving competitiveness.


This project is funded by the Equality for Women Measure of the Regional Operational Programme of the National Development Plan 2000 - 2006
The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform is responsible for the Equality for Women Measure