Meeting documents
Cabinet
Wednesday, 11th October, 2006
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Bath & North East Somerset Council |
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MEETING: |
Council Executive |
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MEETING DATE: |
11 October 2006 |
AGENDA ITEM NUMBER |
14 |
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TITLE: |
WorkSMART Update |
EXECUTIVE FORWARD PLAN REFERENCE: |
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1390 |
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WARD: |
All |
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AN OPEN PUBLIC ITEM |
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List of attachments to this report: Appendix 1 - Recommendations approved in December 2005 Appendix 2 - Summary of affordability options for WorkSMART Appendix 3 - High Level Cash Flow Forecast Appendix 4 - Project Dependencies Appendix 5 - Summary of other authorities & organisations experiences |
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1 THE ISSUE
1.1 This report presents an update to the approved Business Case for the WorkSMART project in terms of affordability.
1.2 The recommendations to implement this project were approved by the Council Executive in December 2005 (Appendix 1), subject to funding, which at the time was not available on an Invest to Save basis. In January 2006 (Background Paper 2), the Executive approved further work to explore a revised business case, on a Save to Invest basis.
1.3 Accordingly the decision on whether or not to do the project at all has not been revisited and the focus of this paper is on making this project affordable, in terms of funding, financing and benefit release, over the short, medium and longer terms (Appendix 2).
1.4 The results of this work - including the costs of the project and the expected benefits associated with increasing productivity - are incorporated and reported here as a high level cash flow forecast at Appendix 3.
1.5 WorkSMART represents medium to long term opportunity to release valuable resources and meet the Council's targets for efficiency gains in a structured and transformational way.
2 RECOMMENDATION
The Council Executive is asked to agree that:
2.1 All of the recommendations approved in December 2005 (Appendix 1) are implemented over a 5 year period, rather than a 3 year period from April 2007.
2.2 As a result, the phasing of various workstreams of people, technology & property in the project, is amended to reflect the 5 year phasing.
3 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
3.1 The expenditure requirement for the project should be noted and the principle that costs will be funded from capital receipts and prudential borrowing (agreed in December 2005, see Appendix 1), remains in force.
3.2 The high level business planning assumptions for paying for the project set out in Appendix 2 should be recognised as being the basis on which this business case has been prepared. Funding for this project will be found through the Council's normal budget management process.
3.3 The first call on revenue savings as a result of productivity increases delivered as a result of the programme will be the repayment of the revenue costs including the costs of the capital investment.
3.4 Any cost variations will be managed as part of the Council's normal corporate and financial planning processes in future years.
3.5 There will be large benefits from this project as evidenced by other Councils and organisations. To achieve long term productivity and efficiency savings substantial investment is needed. However these savings will out weigh the investment and the Council must be committed to ring fence benefits to support the delivery of the whole programme.
3.6 Whilst the balance between cash savings and re-investment into improved services is one for Members to decide, it should be an expectation that the Council's investment is at least recovered by savings identified on an annual basis in service plans over a maximum of 5 years. This process would start in 2007/08.
3.7 No major costs will be incurred until savings are actually generated. The programme is flexible and can be adapted or stopped should savings not meet expectations.
3.8 A variety of technologies could be used to deliver this project. As technology is constantly changing, options that are preferred at the time of writing this report could be different when it comes to implementation. An example of this is the advent of wireless technologies. No major expenditure commitments will be made on the project unless implementing solutions can be managed within the financial forecasts that this business case sets out.
3.9 The costings in this project make some provision to support the cultural shift required to ensure that all of these benefits will be realised and in this the change projects in the Council's Change Programme are mutually supportive of each other and interlinked. Dependencies are shown in Appendix 4.
4 COMMUNITY STRATEGY OUTCOMES
WorkSMART specifically contributes to the following Community Strategy outcomes:
> Sharing resources, working together, and finding new ways of doing things
> Taking responsibility for our environment and natural resources now and over the long term
The Council has staff who reside in neighbouring Local Authority areas. With neighbouring LA's and Partners such as the PCT and Police, the Council is working towards greater access to public sector resources for greater numbers of staff. This will support staff in achieving efficient and effective service delivery for communities, for example by reducing travel.
5 CORPORATE IMPROVEMENT PRIORITIES
WorkSMART specifically contributes to the following Improvement Priority outcomes:
> Improving customer satisfaction
The drivers for this project originate from the Council's Corporate Plan (background papers 1 and 3). A summary of the principal drivers is to:
> get better value from investment in office accommodation and internet technology
> create financial headroom, releasing revenue through productivity improvement
> create greater organisational flexibility
> introduce sustainable practices as a means to achieve organisational shift and increasing capacity through more efficient use of resources
> review asset holdings
> scrutinise current custom and practice to identify ways to free up staff resources without loss of service.
Project Objectives
The objectives of this project are to:
Improve customer service
Modernise ways of working
Provide affordable and flexible office accommodation
Facilitate Culture Change
Success factors of this project
Reduced costs by becoming more efficient
More effective service(s) delivery evidenced by improved productivity
Measurable increase in customer access which is expected to lead to improved customer satisfaction
6 CPA KEY LINES OF ENQUIRY
WorkSMART contributes in the following ways:
Ambition for the community - i.e. What the council, together with its partners, is trying to achieve
Prioritisation of ambitions
Increasing capacity of the council to deliver ambition for the Community to ensure we achieve what we say we will
For the organisation, WorkSMART puts in place a working environment and tools that facilitate and sustain productivity increase which is delivered by:
Greater integration of services - significantly enhanced communications and speed of delivery as services are brought closer together to achieve common goals in service design and delivery
Services more accessible to the public - longer opening hours, increased access points, increased and improved levels of customer contact
Service provision more efficient - by introducing flexibility through the use of enabling technology, increased work/life balance work time and place flexibility, reducing waste, unnecessary travel, filing/ administration and an effective and more efficient working environment.
7 THE REPORT
7.1 WorkSMART is a major culture change project affecting where, when and how we work. It supports the Council's corporate targets to improve customer satisfaction (by increasing access to services) and increase productivity (do the same, or more, for less cost).
7.2 This project reports that if flexibility is introduced, and it is supported by appropriate technology and accommodation infrastructure tools, then the Council could reasonably expect at least a 5% improvement in productivity (Appendix 5, page 12). This will begin to take effect over the short, medium and long term. Work to date also shows that by working more flexibly, the Council could manage with approximately 35% to 45% less office space - providing the accommodation is modern and investment is made to support the movement from how we work now to the future ways of working.
7.3 The Council has to respond to a number of external drivers such as Gershon, legislation (e.g. changes to provision of Children's and Adult Services), the Climbie review, the Government performance improvement agenda (CPA) and local unmet customer demand e.g. customers want some services provided outside of traditional hours - the same service they get from many other organisations, as well as financial pressures. The effect of these is that the Council needs to modernise to have the capacity to be able to respond.
7.4 In December 2005 the Council Executive approved recommendations (Appendix 1) to implement this project subject to funding and in January 2006 agreed further work to develop an affordability cost model.
7.5 Appendix 2 is therefore only concerned with the affordability of the implementation of this project, not the potential for the business case.
8 RISK MANAGEMENT
8.1 The report author and Lead Executive member have fully reviewed the risk assessment related to the issue and recommendations, in compliance with the Council's decision making risk management guidance.
8.2 The risks in this project are planned to be managed downwards by reaching greater levels of certainty and preparedness at each stage before committing further significant resources.
8.3 The programme is flexible and can be adapted or stopped should savings not meet expectations. Business case planning assumptions are described at page 8.
9 RATIONALE
9.1 The original premise for doing this project was approved by the Council Executive in December 2005. This report makes recommendations for how to proceed regarding the affordability of this project.
9.2 The rationale for preferring a 5 year rephasing is covered in Appendix 2, section 2.
10 OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED
10.1 These only relate to phasing & are referred to in Appendix 2.
11 CONSULTATION
11.1 Consultations this financial year has been carried out with the following stakeholders:
Executive Councillors; Trade Unions; Overview & Scrutiny Panel; Staff; Other B&NES Services; Stakeholders/Partners; Other Public Sector Bodies; Section 151 Finance Officer; Chief Executive; Monitoring Officer
11.2 Attendance at Director Management team meetings.
11.3 Individual meetings with Senior Officers.
11.4 Financial projections have been discussed with Senior Officers and Executive Members in the Council.
11.5 Directors Group and Informal Executive August 2006.
11.6 Roadshow for office based staff (April 2006)
11.7 Consultation with Trade Unions has already taken place before agreement of the business case in December 2005. The project has continued dialogue with visits to TUCAB (Trades Union Consultancy Advisory Board) - June and (planned for) September 2006.
11.8 Updates at public meeting to Resources OS Panel July 2006 and 14 September 2006. Feedback from 14 September meeting to Executive to consider in it's decision making is:
The panel fully supports the business case
The Executive is encouraged to bring this (implementing the project) as far forward as possible
The Executive needs to see this project through
12 ISSUES TO CONSIDER IN REACHING THE DECISION
12.1 The following issues should all be considered when reaching a decision about the recommendations in this paper
Customer Focus; Sustainability; Human Resources; Property; Equality (age, race, disability, religion/belief, gender, sexual orientation); Human Rights; Corporate; Health & Safety; Impact on Staff; Other Legal Consideration.
13 ADVICE SOUGHT
13.1 The Council's Monitoring Officer (Council Solicitor) and Section 151 Officer (Resources Director) have had the opportunity to input to this report.
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Contact person |
Angela Parratt WorkSMART Project
Manager - 01225 396576 |
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Background papers |
1. Report to the Council Executive 7 December 2005 2. Report to the Council Executive January 2006 on the Financial Plan Appendix 3. 3. Council's Corporate Plan February 2006 4. Spatial Standard report to Executive October 2003, Appendix 2 |
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Please contact the report author if you need to access this report in an alternative format |
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APPENDIX 1 Recommendations approved in December 2005
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1. Introduce flexibility across all office based staff |
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a. includes changing the annual leave year so that it is no longer co-terminus for majority of office based staff |
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b. location flexibility means staff could continue to be based in the office, based at home, work peripatetically or could be remote workers. The working location will be determined by the work that the job requires. |
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c. Time flexibility includes working patterns such as compressed hours (annualised hours, rolling 9 day fortnights or 4 day weeks), early/late start or finish, flexi- time etc |
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2. Implement changes to Property as: |
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a. Inform all forward plans using the spatial standard approved by the Executive (subject to consultation) in October 2003 of 8m2 to 10.5m2 per FTE |
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b. retain and modernise The Hollies - in planning this work review other local opportunities that may be present e.g. as part of Radstock Regeneration |
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c. procure a new building for 800 FTE |
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i. construction to be built at developers risk |
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ii. all other buildings currently accommodating officers could be disposed of or vacated |
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iii. give approval to go to the market to look and test for available sites to accommodate a new build |
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iv. bring detailed site specific costings to the Executive before the end of this financial year, recognising that any new build is expected to be in place within 3 to 4 years |
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v. review alternatives to data centre in new build before making final decision on where data centre will reside |
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d. introduce landing sites in strategic geographical areas and hot desks at office sites for flexible workers to support working away from the office |
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e. Establish a joint Member / officer working party to determine better use of the Guildhall at lower cost to the Council. Officers will move out of the Guildhall in the short term as location and time flexibility and new build are introduced |
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f. Plan on the basis that the new build could accommodate Council and debating chambers |
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g. introduce a Facilities Management role and underpin good use of property by introducing charging for corporate property resources |
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3. Introduce EDRMS1 (electronic document records and management system) or similar |
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4. Introduce other technology (includes centralised mailroom)2 to |
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a. support flexible time and location working practices b. design out system and process proliferation c. facilitate delivery of a part of the Council's ICT Strategy |
1) HIGH LEVEL PLANNING ASSUMPTIONS
All costs shown in this report are `true' costs and relate to actual money, as opposed to notional costs, which are required for accounting purposes, such as internal rents and recharges
This paper is focused on affording the WorkSMART solutions, not the full potential of the business case.
The original business case was phased for introduction over 3 years; this business case assumes phasing over 5 years.
All calculations on cost assume 125 home, 350 peripatetic and 125 remote workers as these were the original estimates. The balance of office based staff will continue to work in council offices.
Savings estimates were adjusted to reflect feedback from senior management about the savings potential within their service.
Of the total benefits expected from the project's introduction, at least 70% of the potential benefit is assumed to be recovered in the high level cash flow forecast shown at page 10 (first 6 years only).
Cost of borrowing capital / realising capital receipts is factored at 9.5% - as per the Prudential Code.
Requirements of office space are based on the Spatial Standard of 8 to 10.5m2 per FTE as approved by the Executive in October 2003 (background paper 4).
All costs for Hollies refurbishment, New Build and Data Centre will need to be recast and an updated business case presented, before commitment to this expenditure can be given.
Business case includes sunk costs to date being recovered across the 5 year business case period.
The Council needs a medium / long term solution for Office Accommodation. This means that the Council may bring forward the dates on the Property recommendations if it is appropriate to do so.
No account has been taken of the Guildhall in this cost model. Better use of the Guildhall leading to reduced cost to the Council would improve the cost case. Better use of the Guildhall will be investigated as part of implementing the project recommendations.
2) OPTION APPRAISAL
A number of different ways of implementing the Recommendations made in December 2005 have been considered. These include looking for alternative sources of funding e.g. extracting value from a long term lease arrangement to pump prime the whole project; to doing work over both shorter and longer timescales.
The results of this work and the many conversations that have been held with senior officers and Members are summarised in the Recommendations made in the covering report.
Affordability of the Recommendation at Section 2 of covering report
The way in which the project has been re-phased allows the project to proceed on the basis that all of the original recommendations can be implemented, it also provides the opportunity for further re-phasing or exit to be done annually, to take account of actual results.
This makes a significant contribution to de-risking project implementation and financial commitment. In this way the Council continues to have the option to exit from the longer term implications of this project before it gives undertakings for major expenditure.
The cash flow forecast at page 10 assumes a financial contribution from services to fund the resources to put in place the changes that are expected to lead to productivity gain.
HIGH LEVEL CASH FLOW FORECAST - FIRST 6 YEARS
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Implement project over 5 years |
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25 YEARS |
2007/8 |
2008/9 |
2009/10 |
2010/11 |
2011/12 |
2012/13 |
Remaining 19 yrs |
Average per Year |
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£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
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TOTAL CAPITAL COSTS |
37,560 |
193 |
77 |
4,141 |
28,213 |
224 |
285 |
4,427 |
233 |
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TOTAL NET OPERATING EXPENDITURE (Revenue) including anticipated savings |
-62,801 |
3 |
-174 |
-139 |
-1,625 |
-2,661 |
-2,789 |
-55,415 |
- 2,917 |
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Borrowing costs |
50,446 |
7 |
26 |
145 |
1,199 |
3,104 |
3,079 |
42,887 |
2,257 |
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Total Revenue Costs (inc borrowing) |
-12,355 |
9 |
-148 |
5 |
-426 |
443 |
290 |
-12,528 |
-659 |
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This table indicates that this project can be delivered on a Save to Invest basis.
Project dependencies
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What this project is dependent upon |
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Corporate solution for Terms and Conditions to support flexibility being introduced |
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Children's Services |
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PCT integration |
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Culture Development project |
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HR Strategy implementation |
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Customer Access Programme |
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Other projects in Change Programme Management Group (CPMG) |
Summary of other authorities and organisations experiences
North Wilts said "The network allows home-workers to access the full range of council applications, together with email, the intranet and the Council's computerised telephone network. In some cases, productivity has risen by more than 20%,94
Leeds City Council: DTI Challenge Fund to undertake major Work Life Balance Project = 30% reduction in sickness absence and 50% reduction in special leave.
London Borough of Camden: Introduced a Work Life Balance Strategy in 2001 and reported a 2.5% reduction in the cost of sickness absence in the first year of the schemes operation.
Merton Council introduced 7am to 7pm flexi time and home working - sickness absence dropped by 50% and absence due to medical appointments dropped by 75 %.)
Oxfordshire CC claim that although annual average absence levels in the public sector are 10.3 days compared to 6.8 days in the private sector, their average is 6.74 days.
Lancashire CC (pilot conducted in Social Services)
Performance on waiting times for assessments have improved
It is now possible to spend more time with the service user than before
Those who have used the technology have been able to spend less time travelling and more time working
Sickness returns and sickness rates for the pilot offices dropped by thirty percent. There is a feeling in short term sickness that people would say they would not come into work but they feel able to work from home. The HR department were very pleased with this, as sickness in social services is a major issue.
Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in a pilot run by Repairs Services (Housing)
Improved customer service - 93right first time94
Improved productivity via more efficient working methods
Ability to make appointments on-site with the tenant.
Reduction in paperwork estimated to be 27,500 forms per annum.
Improved management information and statistics
Extra time for Void Managers to visit new tenants, and carry out accompanied views and address issues with vulnerable tenants
Surrey
Productivity increases of between 10 and 50%
Reductions in staff travel 30,000 vehicle miles
Savings in buildings, telecoms and IT of£25-£50m over 25 years. (£11m capital, £0.5m annual).
Business benefits range from financial benefits due to reduced property costs, to increased productivity to environmental benefits linked to the County Travel Plan.
East Riding
Increased productivity, lower sickness, recruitment and retention
Building Control Chester City Council pilot - the most prominent measure of productivity is the processing of applications and this was 5 weeks ahead of 2003 despite two members of staff being off on Long Term Sick.
Scottish Legal Aid Board (330 staff)
Reduced recruitment and agency costs by 75%
Reduced self certified sickness absence by 25%
Staff turnover reduced from 16% to 10%
Staff productivity metrics have risen - overtime reduced by 45% and customer satisfaction higher whilst cases handled in shorter time.
89% enjoyed working for the organisation compared to 67% in previous year
87% said good work/life balance compared to 53% in previous years. (See table below also)
Research organisations
Study by Working Families found that flexible working had helped a wide range of organisations - from private firms to local authorities - to cut absence levels.
TUC supported the findings 93A more flexible approach to work not only makes for less stressed employees, it can also have a positive effect on a company's sickness absence records94
Perceptions of 93family friendliness94 are associated with greater job satisfaction and staff who feel that they are valued/involved (by being given options for flexible working and clear messages about performance expectations) and who have good relationships with their colleagues/immediate managers are more likely to feel satisfied in their jobs. Staff who are satisfied are more likely to be retained and factors which best predict the intention to stay or leave include recognition by the organisation that employees can balance life and work commitments.
Research conducted by the Flexecutive (with the Chartered Institute of Marketing and People Management in 2001) suggests that despite the high priority and publicity given to flexible working over the past five years, the way in which we work has not evolved to anything like the same extent as the markets, customers and technology that define the world of work today. Flexible working isn't a process, it's a culture change and to be effective it has to be a value that is embraced by all. It requires organisations to be truly 93output94 drive, to have managers and individuals who can communicate unambiguously their intentions and goals to each other.
John Taylor from ACAS "There are many advantages to employing part-time workers: they have higher productivity and lower absence rates than full-timers and they can provide cover for busy periods or to extend the running of expensive capital equipment without adding full-time shifts or incurring overtime payments.94
Extracted from: Department of Trade & Industry - Working Parents
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Organisation |
Flexible Working Practices (Specific Details) |
Reason |
Evaluation/Outcome |
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BT PLC |
Work life balance initiatives 93Achieving the Balance94 Portfolio. Examples: o Flexi time o Part time working o Home working |
Allow staff "the freedom to balance their personal and professional life". |
Saved hundreds of thousands of £s in recruitment, retention and development costs plus £200m in accommodation costs. sickness absence reduced by 63% - average days lost = 3 which includes sickness for engineers who have a lot of accidents |
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Cable & Wireless |
Flexible working practices including: o Variable hours o Part time working o Job sharing o Tele working (hot desking) o Audio/Video Conferencing o Internet and telephone support for staff for information o Six months sabbatical |
Flexible working arrangements meet both the business requirement to provide quality customer service and the employee need for work life balance. |
Flexibility in working practices is "proving to be a key competitive tool in continuing to attract and retain high calibre employees" |
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IBM |
Has established a Global Work-Life fund to support work-life projects such as a day care centre, eldercare schemes and children's summer camps. |
Dependent care responsibilities are significant for both sexes, and a higher proportion of male respondents than women said they would be assuming eldercare responsibilities in the next five years. WLB increasingly an issue for management / executive levels. |
UK results for global survey show that work-life balance is closely linked to staff retention, and good WLB leads to greater employee satisfaction. |
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The Irish News |
General work-life balance policies including: o Paid emergency leave o Job Sharing o Compressed working week o Employment Breaks o Enhanced maternity benefit o Paid paternity leave |
Company believes that its 120 staff work at their best when they can balance work with other aspects of their lives. Staff can apply, but have to suggest solutions to any implementation problems that the company might have, seen as a joint problem solving exercise. |
The chance to balance home commitments has been welcomed by both men and women. Since implementing a range of WLB policies they have reduced labour turnover by 20%, a significant saving on advertising, recruitment and training costs. |
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Barclays Bank |
General flexible working arrangements offered to all staff, such as: o Paid carer leave o Responsibility breaks o Career breaks o Flexible working arrangements o Couples can swap maternity leave o Buddying scheme for everyone going on maternity leave (practical support) |
People Policies at Barclays are based "on a simple premise - staff who are happy and feel valued are more likely to stay". |
Barclays believes that these policies mean that they retain key staff, with 80% of women taking maternity breaks returning to full or part time work. "The goal of becoming an employer of choice needed to extend to all people policies and clearly those that impact on the life and families of employees" HR Policy Manager. |
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"84% of managers said their flexible working arrangements were cost effective" Workplace Employment Relations Survey |
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Domestic & General (Call Centre) |
General adoption of work life balance polities with an assortment of contracts, such as term time, student and weekend contracts, together with measures to boost the number of part-time workers. |
Enable D&G to become an "employer of choice" and wanted to improve the traditional problems of staff retention and sickness absence faced by most call centres. |
Increased ability to recruit, positive press coverage plus diversified contracts which are so successful that many are over subscribed and proportion of staff employed flexibly has increased from 26% in 2000 to 33% in 2002 |
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HSBC 48,000 staff nationwide |
Family friendly initiatives operating since 1998 include 850 nursery places, 300 of them on bank premises (most are joint ventures with public or private sectors). Childcare programme supported with other WLB initiatives such as: o Part time and flexible working o Job sharing o Paternity and family leave o Access to Open Line, in house confidential advice, research and referral helpline to assist employees in managing dual demands of home and work life |
Retain skilled staff. |
Family friendly initiatives have been very successful in achieving better retention of skilled staff. Providing a childcare programme has considerably reduced the number of women who leave after having a baby. From 70% to 15% in 13 years. This represents a massive budget saving - the average service of those leaving was 11 years and the average cost of replacing each one was about a years salary. |
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Legal & General 8,000 staff nationwide |
Formal flexi time was introduced in 1970, but by the mid 1990s it was found to be too restrictive. The company decided to introduce proper flexible working to enhance the work life balance of its employees. The scheme is based on the individual, team and manager agreeing the hours needed to get the job done. This can be regular hours or leaving when the work is done. Staff are counted as FTEs rather than on individual headcount to encourage management acceptance of part time working. |
A commitment to equal opportunities and recognition of the need to persuade women with young children to keep their careers, offering flexible and part time working to encourage them to stay in the workforce. |
"L&G believes that the flexibility of its employees has been key to the success as it gives benefits to both individuals and the company, enabling a fast reaction to events" Geoff Tucker, Head of Remuneration. A staff opinion survey showed 51% were satisfied with the company's family friendly approach and 61% were satisfied with the flexible working approach. |
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Lloyds TSB 76,000 staff nationwide |
Work Options started 1999. 34% of the workforce work flexibly (16% men and 18% managers). Options include: o Reduced hours o Job sharing o Variable hours o Compressed working o Teleworking Any employee can put forward a business case for flexible working to their line manager, and a solution will be found that works for the bank and the employee. The reason for requesting flexible working is not relevant to the decision making process and applications are accepted unless there is a clear business detriment. Team based applications to work flexibly have been particularly successful, such as the 12 strong manpower/information team who work a compressed 9 day fortnight. |
A range of factors has influenced the work life balance agenda including: o Customer expectations o Requirement for innovative and flexible delivery channels o Intensive competition in recruiting & retaining quality staff Bank believes that productivity and motivation increased and absenteeism and stress reduced through effective work-life balance strategies. |
Benefits have been tangible, the level of service given is better than ever, creating better support for business units which ultimately has a good impact on the whole organisation. "Traditionally work-life balance and in particular flexible working policies can be seen to be about women and parents, so we are pleased it's being taken up by men and managers". Senior Manager, Equality and Diversity. |
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Royal Bank of Scotland 110,000 staff nationwide |
General flexible working and commitment to work-life balance, including option to: o Allowing staff to vary working practices o Offering part time work o Compressed hours o Term time working o Job Share |
Retention, commitment and motivation difficulties. |
Reduced staff turnover, increased retention of key skills and experience and raised employee commitment and motivation are some of the business benefits achieved by the work-life balance policies adopted by the bank, they have also helped to develop a more diverse workforce. |
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Royal & Sun Alliance 20,000 staff Nationwide |
All employees, including management, are able to apply for a change in their working patterns. This includes flexible hours eg: o Part time o Job sharing o Compressed working week o Term time working All requests are considered, subject to meeting the organisations commercial and operational requirements. |
Company believes that the desire of some employees to start early or late, and finish early or late, fits perfectly with the needs of the business to provide access during extended hours. This mutual benefit creates a healthier working environment, with a diverse workforce which is motivated and focused. |
Motivated and focussed staff has led to better productivity and improved satisfaction, as well as positively contributing to staff recruitment and retention. "We need to help employees to balance their home and work lives effectively if we are to recruit and retain skilled people" People Risks Manager. |
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Yorkshire Building Society 2,000 staff Yorkshire etc |
Company has introduced flexible working practices to improve the work-life balance of its 2,000 employees. Policies such as: o Job sharing o Flexi time o Working from home o Compressed hours |
Retain experienced staff who, without flexible working, would have been forced to leave. |
Tangible dividends including a much higher return rate after maternity leave (from 60% to 82% in just two years). "In one year the annual cost of stress related absence dropped from £120,000 to £105,000" HR Projects Manager |
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M&S 75,000 staff nationwide |
Developed an extensive range of work-life balance initiatives, these include benefits such as: o Flexible working o Home and part time working o Job share o Educational sponsorship o Secondments and career leave o Flexible retirement |
80% workforce is female and mothers going back to work after maternity leave have a range of options, including a "child break" scheme for those not wishing to start work immediately. Similar support is available for those with other caring responsibilities. |
Work life balance initiatives make a major contribution to the morale and loyalty of 75,000 staff across 294 stores. Flexible working has increased the retention of talented staff and their development within the organisation. This has had a commercial benefit - more return after maternity leave, saving on costs of recruitment and training. |
1 EDRMS - to ensure efficiency is realised the Council needs to accept that working practices will in some cases need to be determined by the functionality of the software rather than the other way around.
2 Implicit in the recommendations in December 2005 and included as part of the description of EDRMS