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Family-friendly policies: Find the balance in your life!
02 Oct 2009
Clinical Research
Juggling family life with a career is a difficulty that has been faced by working mothers and fathers for many years, an issue that has become increasingly recognised by employers in modern times. Companies have realised that enabling employees to maintain a good work-life balance can be beneficial for motivation and, therefore, productivity.
However, the onset of the economic downturn may have caused some organisations to place less focus on flexible working initiatives while they attempt to readjust to the challenging conditions. But the happenings in the economy do not change the fact that parents must meet the needs of their children, while trying to keep their careers on track.
Flexibility is the "first thing" that most parents look for in a prospective employer, according to Sarah Jackson, the chief executive at Working Families. Her organisation has just published a list of the top 20 family-friendly employers, including firms in finance, professional services, the public sector and the automotive industry. No pharmaceutical company, however, made it into the list.
This could be an issue that pharma firms may wish to address if they want to tap into the resource that is the UK's working parents. Flexible arrangements are "top of the list" for this group, Ms Jackson said, pointing out: "If you've got kids, you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow."
Larger organisations, she argued, should have the resources at their disposal to offer help to mums, dads and parents-to-be whose skills are valued within the workplace.
One pharmaceutical firm that has introduced a range of benefits for families is AstraZeneca. Mike Wilkins, director of performance and reward at the firm, explained that the company aims to offer incentives and help programmes to parents that are "significantly" above the minimum requirements.
A scheme called Advantage has been implemented by AstraZeneca, which allows employees to tailor their benefits according to their personal needs.
"So for families, they can take more holiday if they want it, over the standard in exchange for money. It's a typical flexible benefits scheme but it is very flexible for families, and they can also get childcare vouchers," explained Mr Wilkins.
The company has a programme called the Balance Living Charter, which offers support to staff who have "external demands" on their time and may experience problems in balancing their workload.
"We're working from the base that this is about being an interactive employer. We believe that people will give it their best if we take account of the demands that are upon them. If we can do anything, it is about making sure that people feel good about working for the company," Mr Wilkins stated.
And he claimed that these principles should apply across the whole workforce, not just for parents.
"It's a wider policy, really, that covers everybody. It's part of a bigger philosophy," he said.
So, it appears that gaining an understanding of the needs of employees and tailoring working practices around them could form a large part of a company's responsibility to its employees. Parents are one group that will have obvious pressures placed on them by a new arrival - and indeed throughout their children's progression through school and into adulthood.
But firms may also wish to take Mr Watkin's advice into account and apply these values across the board. In doing so, they could find that employee happiness, motivation and in turn, performances, see a marked improvement.
