Jobseekers

I had the fortunate pleasure of hearing an Executive speak about work life balance the other day. It was refreshing to hear his perspective, similar to my own, that work life balance is defined by the individual. This can be very different to everyone, including individuals not doing work on the weekends to not working later than 7pm. It was even more interesting to hear him speak of this in relation to whether someone should stay or leave a company due to a lack of work life balance.

In my experience, unfortunately too often employees who are struggling to balance their work and their life do not seriously consider what they can do and ultimately what they can ask of their employers to do before looking externally and leaving an organisation. If you’re in this situation, I strongly recommend that you look within yourself first. You may very well leave your current employer and because of your work habits, create the same situation to occur with your next job. It is important to get to the source of why this imbalance is occurring. Please, please, please do this first! Next would be to speak with your Manager with some suggestions on how you can start addressing this issue. Always come with practical solutions, don’t expect your Manager to know what will work for you.

Every year AHRI acknowledges a range of organisations for their excellence in supporting diversity within their organisation. Diversity is about acknowledging and respecting the differences of the people who make up our workforce, from age, culture, disability and gender, and building a more inclusive working environment.

I am extremely excited to pay particular recognition to our clients who have not only been recognised for their work life balance achievements, however for their leadership in providing inclusive workplaces.

Please see the finalists below and you can visit their employer profiles by clicking on the company links:

I had the pleasure of attending a very informative “Becoming an Age-Friendly Employer” presentation by Geoff Pearman from Staying On recently.

I was aware, like most, we have an aging population and we need to start addressing this from an attraction and retention perspective.  As I said, I was aware of this, however Geoff clearly highlighted this issue is bigger than what we are placing importance on now and if don’t start taking it seriously, we are going to see further resourcing difficulties.  I’m speaking with a lot of different employers throughout industries, sizes and geographical location and most haven’t even brushed the concept of addressing the main issue in the age priority – that of course being around our aging population.  Failure for any organisation to start addressing this soon, will mean that you will unfortunately be several steps behind the progressive employers who are years ahead of building and implementing an age-friendly strategy.  The interesting element I found here is that, unlike a number of workplace issues, we are actually aware this is coming and we have the benefit of taking action now… however so many are not.

As Geoff also highlights the age issue isn’t just about our older workforce, but it’s considering and engaging all generations in this conversation.  I interviewed Geoff after the presentation as I was particularly intrigued to discover more about what employers can do and to understand this issue further.

• What are some of the biggest mistakes employers are making in terms of addressing the age challenge?

       “Probably 4 as a starter

1. Not addressing the challenge from a strategic and business perspective
2. Staying in “old paradigm” thinking, still seeing individualised interventions as the solution
3. Fixating on older workers and age – we need to be age friendly across the life span. You can’t disentangle age from gender, ethnicity etc
4. Paralysis by analysis. You can over research the issue and fail to act with the urgency that is required to be an industry leader. The companies age friendly story (based on evidence) needs to simple, compelling and one everyone “gets”.”

• In your opinion, what are the key statistics that HR professionals need to be present to their Executive team that the age challenge is real and that action is required now?

“Firstly I am not sure that HR is best placed to present the statistics that are going to get the attention of the executive. I think they have a role, but if you look at the business and commercial risk you need a sponsor who will champion the business case and bring together not just people data but also financial and customer data. On statistics, what I would say is that many cite average age, a waste of time; look at the percentage of staff over 50, 60 and segment it by occupation, locations etc. Look at your unplanned leave, cost of workers compensation etc. Understand your inflow and the supply of new labour. Be aware that your retirement trend line will be unreliable given the number of people turning 65 this year has increased by over 18%. Past performance is no indicator of future performance (sounds like an investment statement).”

I’ve been asked a few times recently of the different opportunities in Australia to be recognised as an Employer of Choice, leading work life balance or flexible employer. It turns out there are a lot! I’m developing a comprehensive list to give access to my network some of the opportunities they have to position their employment brand as one of the most desirable places to work in the country.

If I have missed or need to modify any, please send me an email at [email protected] I’m looking to grow this list to be a comprehensive source for all national, state/territory or industry specific Employer of Choice awards.

… and more! Click on the link below for further Employer of Choice awards and recognition.

If most of Australians want flexibility and if you’re an organisation that you’re considering or only partially offering it, then you could potentially miss massive opportunities to position yourself as an Employer of Choice to attract and retain the best talent to your organisation. According to a recent study, 95% of Australians would prefer to work less than 30 hours per week. Let’s consider that, that is almost everyone would prefer to work less. What would you do with that extra time? Do you think you’d be more productive if you had less time at work to complete your tasks?Flexibility is not just about working less, but can also be about working at different times and locations. Flexibility means different things to different people

Flexible working arrangements describe when work is completed outside the normal business practice or outside the traditional organisation’s working agreement.

Flexible working arrangements may take a variety of forms and to help highlight some of the popular options, we have described and provide an example of these below-

The perceptions of working from home do impact those who choose to conduct work in their same living space, particularly in relation to the people in our lives. Being able to honour our relationships and our work is a necessary skill to make these arrangements work for you professional and personally.