Stress busting: The haves and have nots of workplace flexibility

Friday, 21 September 2018

Cigna's global annual wellbeing survey found the proportion of respondents who felt they had a good work life balance had dipped from 65 per cent in 2016 to 61 per cent in 2018.

It's a modern workplace divide.

On one side are the full-time workers with the power to flex their hours, working when they want, from where they want, able to balance home life with earning a living.

On the other are the workers tied to their employers' timetable, who have no say in the hours they labour.

Work-life balance

is a top priority for job seekers, and employers claim it increases the productivity of workers, and lifts morale.

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But research also suggests that flexible working leads people to work longer, and to find it hard to switch off.

Home care support worker and E tū union delegate Tamara Baddeley can't afford to work on her own terms.

Work flexibility has been heralded as the answer to lifting productivity and boosting employee performance. But at what cost?

Baddeley works two jobs as a support worker in Wellington, and has 10-hour days six days a week.

Yet she gets called on her day off, Sunday, or during her break, or after finishing for the day, to pick up another job.

'Just last week I got asked to take on a job at 9.30pm. I decided to go because it was just around the corner and finished at 10.20pm,' Baddeley said.

'I'm forever having to justify why I say no. I was rung to do five one-hour jobs on my day off just last weekend because they were so short staffed. If I did that I wouldn't get a single day off.'

Baddeley has been working as a support worker for over 17 years and said flexibility had gotten worse over time due to a skills shortage.

'If we say we can't do it, we can't do it. We're entitled to have some sort of a life and have to be aware of health and safety issues. I can't be driving around after 10 hours.'

'We have a life to live as well as doing our job and that gets forgotten.'

Research on flexible working shows it can improve productivity as well as raising morale, decreasing absenteeism and reducing turnover.

Founder of Umbrella and clinical psychologist Gaynor Parkin said employers must stop encroaching on their worker's lives outside of work.

It's easier to achieve in a big corporate, and in roles where work deadlines are more flexible.

Insurance company Southern Cross offers flexibility to almost all its workers.

Southern Cross Health Society's chief of people and strategy Vicki Caisley said the company would have lost several highly paid, talented employees had it not offered flexibility.

'We have people working remotely who we had lost from our organisations. We've got people in Tauranga, our finance person works from Alexandra, we've had people who have decided to move to Christchurch working with an Auckland based team,' Caisley said.

'They are so engaged and appreciative.'

Southern Cross employee Kim Rutherford said she saw no down side to flexibility.

'If I have deadlines I need to meet, or my workload demands it, I work outside of these hours from home,' Rutherford said.

Home support worker Tamara Baddeley based in Wellington works six days a week and wants flexibility to 'have a life'.

'I love working at home in the evening. Sometimes I will have a glass of wine as I work, it's quite enjoyable.'

'If I had to work 8.30 am to 5.00 pm it would almost be physically impossible to get to my son's after school care in the timeframes required due to Auckland traffic. When I took full custody of my son I had to change my hours, so I could have a balance for him in my life. We get home at 4.45 pm now, do homework, and have dinner at a reasonable hour.

But the appreciation of flexibility comes with some drawbacks.

People with fexible work spend several hours overtime on their job.

A study last year in the US found those with more control over their work also spent more hours working.

Researchers found this was because employees felt the need to work harder to prove they could be trusted with autonomy.

It seems there's an increasing number of people struggling to juggle work and home life.

Cigna's global annual wellbeing survey found the proportion of respondents who felt they had a good work life balance had dipped from 65 per cent in 2016 to 61 per cent in 2018.

Caisley said in terms of managing flexible work hours, the onus lay on both the worker and the employer.

'As tempting as it might be, because it's your day off, it's important that work doesn't creep on,' Caisley said.

'There's a personal responsibility about not going back to work on days off but also the responsibility of the employer side that they don't encroach on that time as well.'

Founder of Umbrella and clinical psychologist Gaynor Parkin said whatever work patterns people had, studies had repeatedly shown a clear need for periods of time where workers are completely switched off.

Parkin said this culture had to be driven from the top down.

'Senior teams and managers must demonstrate they respect their team members and employees' off times.

'We recommend senior leaders to not send emails after hours because they create an expectation they have to also be working off time. Even if its a convenient time for the manager, its a power imbalance. Delay the send time on the email till the morning.

'Leader behaviour dictates everything,' Parkin said.