Sharing is caring – a common phrase used with children to instill the importance of sharing from a very young age. Indeed, sharing remains vital throughout our lives, particularly in adulthood, as the concept of sharing responsibilities, shared parenting and shared domestic responsibility is prevalent. Gender roles have evolved to align with the changing demands of postmodern societies by seeking a balance between work and domestic responsibilities.
However, working long hours to meet work demands or due to financial necessity may be in conflict with the needs of an employee to honour personal commitments. But how does this issue of hours of work affect employers?
First and foremost, employers must ensure that their staff do not work more than 48 hours per week on average (including overtime), over a reference period of up to four months (https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/human-resources/working-hours-holiday-leave/working-hours/index_en.htm). Moreover, employers may encourage a balanced lifestyle for their employees by enforcing lower expectations of work hours and less presence at the office as well as offering more flexible solutions.
Some employers are already giving the opportunity to their employees to choose the working hours and convenient time slots in line with their family responsibilities. The most common changes to the work schedule include arriving late, leaving early, or taking time off during the day.
Employers must ensure that their staff do not work more than 48 hours per week on average
Working remotely is also another suitable alternative that may be offered to employees as this leaves them with more time to engage in home life by reducing the need of commuting. Also, working from home or any other alternative site allows employees to work during unconventional hours that may better suit their lifestyle. Employers may even go a step further and offer the possibility to employees to work on a reduced hours basis.
These alternatives are being considered by employers even if they pose major difficulties to the operations of an organisation. While employers stand to gain by offering flexible working hours, in terms of retention of experienced and knowledgeable employees; changing working patterns can also create problems for business continuity and accountability. In fact, employers need to ensure that such requests are doable and will not adversely affect the business prior to giving their consent.
The major challenge for employers is to find ways and means of how to entertain working pattern requests and limiting additional costs by reorganising work among existing staff or by introducing job sharing. The latter typically involves two employees who are engaged on part-time or reduced hour basis to perform a job that is normally carried out by one person working full-time. Other measures, such as recruiting additional employees, may not be financially feasible for the employer.
Ideally, employers should consider these flexible arrangements at the designing stage of a new job or during a reconfiguration of an existing role. This needs to be done as certain flexible working arrangements do not work for specific roles.
Bottom line – top employers are after results, not the number of hours an employee puts in, as they are cognisant that providing work-life balance opportunities incentivises employees to produce more.
Tania Camilleri works at the Office of the Chief Officer, Ethics & Employee Development, Bank of Valletta.