Work-Life Balance: It’s the Law!
September 1st, 2008 by Cali & Jody
Love this story coming out of Victoria, Australia. Starting today, employers have to make sure they do not “unreasonably refuse” to accommodate an employee’s need to work in a non-traditional way to fulfill their personal responsibilities to their families. Although we’d like to see the law extend to anyone, whether or not they have family responsbilities, we’ll comment on things as they stand today.
As the last line in the article says, “[w]ork-life balance is a frequently used but not always honoured catch-phrase. From Monday that catch-phrase will be given teeth.”
While we applaud this news, we don’t believe that it’s a magic bullet. It’s one thing to enforce better treatment of employees. It’s another to give those same employers the tools they need to live up to the change.
Here are some thoughts for the good people in Victoria:
1. Don’t panic
Some employers will respond to this news by thinking that the law will open the floodgates for employees to take advantage. Relax. There will always be people who are out to defraud their company, but that’s a small percentage of the population. Most people want to do their jobs and live their lives. Don’t punish the many for the sins of the few.
2. Communicate, communicate, communicate
We hope this law encourages employers and employees to communicate better about expectations. People who work “non-traditional hours” still need to get their work done. If the expectations are clear, then they are more likely to succeed, in their lives and in their work. Good communication is the cornerstone of clear expectations.
3. When things go wrong, talk about the work - not the schedule
Even in a traditional work environment, things rarely go smoothly. But if managers are looking to the schedule to fix what’s broken, they will miss out on an opportunity to focus on the work. After all, you can’t solve a problem just by throwing more time at it.
4. Trust people and you will be rewarded
Any kind of discussion about work-life balance is ultimately a discussion about trust. You either trust people will deliver outside a traditional schedule or you don’t.
Our challenge to employers is to take a look at their relationships with their people. If you can’t trust people to deliver without watching them, then what does that say about how you run your business?
If you can trust them to deliver, good for you. Then the question becomes how to maximize that relationship. How far can you take them?
And for those employers who aren’t sure where they stand with their employees, then understanding that relationship should be #1 on your list. Whatever you do, don’t ignore the trust issue. Like it or not, it’s the invisible engine that drives everything.
[...] article from Cali and Jodi talking about Work-Life Balance. “It’s one thing to enforce better treatment of employees. It’s another to give those [...]
what an interesting post. It makes me ponder over this topic
Thanks for the link! Great points you’ve made as well - trust is a key issue.
Thank you so much for all that you are doing! Luckily I am a recent college graduate so I am not cynical about the workplace yet. I recently read your book and fully intend to implement it as my HR policies/operating manual, etc as soon as I have the opportunity to start my own business.
This is exactly what I’ve been thinking of for myself but was unable to put it into the words that you so wonderfully wrote! Now I don’t need to write my own manual… I have yours and will undoubtedly buy more copies to share with my future workforce.
Gen Y knows that this is how they want to live (as do many other workers of all ages), but feel pressured to conform to tradition. Thanks for your help and keep up the good fight!
@Elizabeth - you don’t know how happy we are to hear that Why Work Sucks will be the HR manual for your business.
No more conforming to tradition - it’s time to deliver results and live life!