Work-life Balance 14 th December 2004 Pauline Kemp Head of Customer Service - Current Account & Savings Operations

Work-life Balance  What does this mean?  Have we done enough? or gone too far?

What does Work-life Balance Mean?  “Allowing people to work in a sensible way that allows them to balance earning a living with looking after children, in a way that is good for business too” Rt. Hon. Patricia Hewitt – Secretary of State for Trade & Industry  “It is about people having a measure of control over when, where and how they work. It is achieved when an individual’s right to a fulfilled life inside and outside paid work is accepted and respected as the norm, to the mutual benefit of the individual, business and society” Employers for Work-life Balance, “The Work Foundation”  “It is about adjusting working patterns, regardless of age, race or gender to find a rhythm to help combine work with other responsibilities or aspirations” dti  “… whatever works for you” Ruth Spellman – CE of IiP UK

Industry  4,825 call centres (UK)  530,000 agent positions  850,000 employees  2.99% of all UK jobs (NE 4.63%)  Single biggest market segment is Financial Services = 32% (MINTEL)  Average salary £13,052 (NE £11,750 London £17,000)  Significant drop in growth rate this year (off-shoring) ↑ 76% ↓ 16% Call Centre Europe, Issue No

UK Trends  The worst long hours culture in Europe (but not as long as USA or Japan)  Average 4 weeks holiday per year France and Germany = 6 weeks USA and Japan = 2 weeks  8% of employers allow staff the opportunity to buy extra holidays (CIPD)  80% of workers would not reduce their hours if it means a reduction in pay (Sunday Times, 28/11/04)  The vast majority of workers list time off as a priority – in 1970’s and 1980’s pay was listed as the priority (Sunday Times, 28/11/04)  66% of women believe having children hampers their career Employers for Work-life Balance, “The Work Foundation”

Alliance & Leicester  Leave  Flexible Working  Holidays  Childcare Vouchers  Nursery (5% discount)  Other benefits - Computers- Dental / Optical - Private Medical- Discounted Leisure Activities - Share Schemes- Pensions / Life Cover Context of “best practice” as defined by the Employers for Work-life Balance

Leave  Maternity Leave: this goes well beyond the statutory offering, enabling women to take a longer break by providing full salary for the first 14 weeks of leave  Adoption Leave: same as Maternity arrangements, but with 12 weeks pay for newer starters  Parental Leave: again this goes well beyond the statutory - it is unpaid, but people can take all 13 weeks in one go (subject to operational needs), or can take it as a reduction in hours  Special Leave: a flexible approach for short-term parental emergencies and commitments.

Flexible Working  Flexible Working for Parents: gives employees (with children aged under 6 or disabled children under 18) the right to request a different working arrangements or different hours to better fit with their work/life responsibilities.  Flexible Working Hours: available to all staff - we encourage part-time working, job-sharing, term-time working, flexible annualised hours working, shift working, etc, to match business and personal needs.

Holidays  Holiday Plus: allows anyone to “bank” surplus holiday to build up to an extended paid leave of weeks.  Flexible Holidays: Allows buying / selling of up to 5 days per annum and may be linked with the Holiday Plus scheme if required, e.g. buy 5 days and “bank” it, thereby spreading the cost of the extended leave (or creating a “savings plan” of holidays, depending on your perspective!).

Childcare  Childcare Vouchers: discounted childcare option (saves around 10% per annum overall), as the vouchers are a salary sacrifice scheme that save the employee NI contributions.  Carlton Park Nursery: an on-site facility that is reassuring for parents, high quality and easy to access at the start and end of a working day.

Balanced or not? Finances - Secure - Retire early - Investments - Savings Health & Fitness - Exercise - Vitamins & supplements - Diet, Check-ups Friends & Family Children - Visits - Support (£ + emotional) - Career & Learning Career/role related - Personal development - Reading - Travel -

Done enough or gone to far?  Improved maternity & paternity rights  EU working time directive  Greater choice of working patterns  Wider “care” benefits  TUC would like us to move closer to the holiday levels of other European countries  Tube staff get 52 days per year holiday (add to normal weekends this = 43% of time a year off)  “Some police forces can stack up so much overtime that 1 officer works in the UK 7 months a year and lives in New Zealand for the other 5 months” Sunday Times 28/11/04

Future  Massive increase in global competition  Agricultural Age  Industrial Age  Information Age  Conceptual Age  Manufacturing, servicing and now information jobs going to developing countries “Reuters plans to triple jobs at site in India”New York Times 8/10/04  Tom Peters believes we will need to work much longer hours and be more productive if we are to compete with India and China Tom Peters “Re-imagine – Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age” in

Final Thought… About a year ago I hired a developer in India to do my job. I pay him $12,000 to do the job I get paid $67,300 for. He is extremely happy to have the work and the high salary. I am happy that I only have to work about 90 minutes per day. I still have to attend meetings myself, and I spend a few minutes every day talking code with my Indian counterpart. The rest of the time my employer thinks I’m working from home. They are happy to let me work from home because my output and productivity is higher than most of my co-workers. I’m now considering getting a second job and outsourcing it too. The extra money would be nice, but that could push my workday over five hours. posting at Slashdot ( ), reported by Dan Pink