2. A TRADITIONAL WORK LIFE
• 9-5pm Work for an Employer - live for the weekends and holidays -
worry a lot and be generally unable to control your own destiny.
• “A Family Gathering”!! Skip it.. As your Boss wont allow you the
Leave! “Keep Sulking”
• Retire on a reasonable pension at 60 or 65, or 55 if you are lucky -
continue to worry, and now add feelings of regret and maybe even
bitterness.
• Rapidly decline due to lack of stimulus and die quite soon.
“WHATS THE POINT!!!”
3. DISADVANTAGES OF TRADITIONAL
WORK LIFE FOR EMPLOYEES
• Unable to meet Personal Needs, Family needs,
and life responsibilities conveniently.
• Increases consumption of employee’s commuting time and fuel costs.
• Stress of commuting during rush hours.
• Decreased feeling of personal control over schedule and work
environment.
• Increases employee burnout due to overload.
• Forces people to work monotonously, when they do not feel freshest,
and not enjoy working.
Eg. (Morning person vs. Night person)
4. SOME ILL EFFECTS
• National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, states that
recent studies show that
“The Workplace has become the single Greatest Source of Stress”.
• 4 out of 10, Private Sector Employees stated that their Jobs are
“Very" or “Extremely" stressful.
• 74% Employee’s showed symptoms of Illness, Back aches, and
constant Sadness.
• 17% Employee’s, showed signs of Increased Alcohol consumption,
Smoking and Binge Eating To Resolve Stress.
5. AS A SOLUTION,
EMPLOYERS NEED TO BE:
• More responsive to the diversity of needs of employees - a one size
fits all approach no longer works.
• Increasingly open minded about work practices, such as flexible
work arrangements, working from home, parental leave and the
focus on long hours rather than performance.
• More understanding and supportive of employees work/life needs
and priorities.
AND, THUS WAS THE EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPT
“WORK LIFE BALANCE”
6. WORK LIFE BALANCE
“Work-life Balance is the ability to experience a sense of control and to
stay productive and competitive at work while maintaining a happy,
healthy home life with sufficient leisure. It’s attaining focus and
awareness, despite seemingly endless tasks and activities competing for
your time and attention”.
“Work-life Balance entails having some breathing space for yourself
each day; feeling a sense of accomplishment, while not being
consumed by work; and having an enjoyable domestic life without
short-changing career obligations”.
7. COMPONENTS OF WORK LIFE
BALANCE
• SELF MANAGEMENT: Sufficiently managing one’s self can be
challenging, particularly in getting proper sleep, exercise, and
nutrition. Self-management is the recognition that effectively using
the spaces in our lives is vital, and that available resources, time,
and life are finite. It means becoming captain of our own ship; no
one is coming to steer for us.
• TIME MANAGEMENT: Effective time management involves making
optimal use of your day and the supporting resources that can be
summoned – you keep pace when your resources match your
challenges. Time management is enhanced through appropriate
goals and discerning what is both important and urgent, versus
important or urgent.
8. STRESS MANAGEMENT: By nature, societies tend to become more
complex over time. In the face of increasing complexity, stress on the
individual is inevitable. More people, distractions, and noise require
each of us to become adept at maintaining tranquillity and working
ourselves out of pressure-filled situations. Most forms of multi-tasking
ultimately increase our stress, versus focusing on one thing at a time.
CHANGE MANAGEMENT: In our fast-paced world, change is
virtually the only constant. Continually adopting new methods and re-
adapting others is vital to a successful career and a happy home life.
Effective change management involves making periodic and concerted
efforts to ensure that the volume and rate of change at work and at
home does not overwhelm or defeat you.
9. TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT: Effectively managing technology
means ensuring that technology serves you, rather than abuses you.
Technology has always been with us, since the first walking stick,
flint, spear, and wheel. Now, the rate of change is accelerating,
brought on by vendors seeking expanding market share. Often there is
no choice but to keep up with the technological Joneses, but you must
rule technology, not vice versa.
LEISURE MANAGEMENT: The most overlooked of the work-
life balance supporting disciplines, leisure management
acknowledges the importance of rest and relaxation- that one
can’t short-change leisure, and that “time off” is a vital
component of the human experience. Curiously, too much of the
same leisure activity, however enjoyable, can lead to monotony.
Thus, effective leisure management requires varying one’s
activities.
10. BENEFITS OF WORK-LIFE
BALANCE FOR EMPLOYEES:
• Being able to effectively manage multiple responsibilities at home,
work and in the community without guilt or regret.
• Being able to work in flexible ways so that earning an income and
managing family/other commitments become easier.
• Being part of a supportive workplace that values and trusts staff.
BENEFITS OF WORK-LIFE
BALANCE FOR EMPLOYEERS:
• Getting and keeping the right staff
• Getting the best from staff
• Being an ‘employer of choice’ and future proofing
• Improving productivity
12. WORK LIFE BALANCE IS A MYTH!
• Searching for the mythical “Balance” leads to frustration, guilt, and
disappointment—causing career professionals to step back or step
out of their company.
• There is no such thing as “Balance.” Life is not a zero sum game or
an equation that needs to be solved.
• Look at Balance as a longer-term goal. Instead of trying to achieve
it every day, work to achieve it over the course of a year.
• Let go of the idea of achieving Balance and pursue “Purpose and
Passion” instead.
• Finding time for both work and life is more about “Rhythm” than
Balance.
14. WHAT ARE THESE ROM-COMS TRYING
TO TELL US??
• “I Don’t Know How She Does It”
• “The Devil Wears Prada”
15. GOODBYE WORK LIFE BALANCE!
HELLO WORK LIFE INTEGRATION
• “Work-life Balance” implies a Separation and seems to say
the Two Worlds are not meant to Collide.
• “Work-life Integration suggests the Marriage of one’s
Professional and Personal lives.
WORK LIFE INTEGRATION :
“It’s an outcome of people exercising control and choice in
their life to meet life’s challenges. This can be in terms of
managing work responsibilities alongside their personal and
family needs. The areas of a person’s life which require
integration will change based on the individual’s life stages.
17. THE CHANGING WORLD OF WORK
• IBM is committed to creating a supportive, flexible work
environment that gives employees more flexibility and control
over their work as an important means to achieve greater
work/life balance and Enhanced Productivity.
• One of the reasons why people come to IBM Is because they
take work life flexibility seriously.
• On any given day worldwide, one third of the IBM’ers are not
at the IBM Location- They are working onsite with customers,
are telecommuting or at Mobile.
19. IBM’S Diversity & Inclusion
Focus Areas:
• Advancement of Women
• People with Disability
• Cultural Diversity
• Generation Diversity
• Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender
20. HOW IT HAPPENS:
POLICY FRAMEWORK
Working from home / Telecommuting,
Part-time work, Job Share
Individualised work schedules, flexible or compressed working week
Self-funded leave, Paid primary care-giver leave, Carer/personal leave
Floating Cultural Holiday, Leave of absence
PROGRAMS
- GET BALANCED
- SHADES OF BLUE
- WORK LIFE MONTH
IN OCT.
MANAGEMENT
PRACTICE
- CHANGE OF
MINDSET
- MANAGERS
MANAGE
- EDUCATION
COMMUNICATION
- ARTICLES
- PODCASTS
- MAIL BUZZ
- CONNECTIONS
PAGE
21. MOBILITY IS A CONTINUOUS
JOURNEY
• IBM began its Mobility program in the early 1990’s and
now supports over 160,000 employees worldwide
MOBILITY OBJECTIVES:
• Increase Customer Satisfaction
• Improve Employee Productivity
• Generate Significant Cost Savings
• Improve Attraction and Retention of talent
22. IBM’S FLEXIBILITY PRINCIPLES
• BALANCING OF NEEDS
• THE ENTERPRISE NEVER STOPS
• TRUST AND PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
• UNDERSTANDING DIFFERENCES
• FOCUS ON RESULTS
23. IBM’ers Have Options on How, When &
Where to Work:
Flexible Work Options (FWOs)
• Compressed Flexible Work Week: Work your full schedule in less than five days.
e.g. work more hours M-Thursday to have Friday off.
• Individualized Work Schedule: Shift my start and stop times / earlier or later than
normal, or take longer lunch break, etc.
• Leave of Absence: For virtually any reason – time off without pay --- education,
community service, elder care, training for Olympics, etc.
• Part-time Reduced Work Schedule: Work less than 40 hour schedule
• Job share: Share a part-time job with another part-time person. Works well with
administrative and even some client facing roles
• Mobile: Work from anywhere - client location, home, hotel, airport – mostly for
client facing persons
• Work-at-home: If nature of job lends itself to and employee has great work habits.
This is a decision between manager and employee. IBM Corporate Program does
not exclude anyone.
24. IBM’S GLOBAL WORK LIFE INTEGRATION
FUND
• Enhance IBM’s position as the Global work/life leader.
• Contribute to the recruitment and retention of top talent.
• Increase supply and improve quality of dependent care where our
employees live and work by providing attainable and desirable
dependent care options to employees … locally recognized as high
quality, desirably priced, convenient.
• Provide support with consideration given to local culture, norms and
standards and international values.
• Recognize and respond to emerging markets and changing
workforce demographics and needs (e.g., mobile, frequent traveller,
aging, young)
• Provide tools/supports for managers and employees to better take
advantage of flexibility
25. IBM’S WORKLIFE PRACTICES
HOW THEY WORK??
- Part-Time Work
- Job Share
- Self-Funded Leave
- Floating Cultural Holiday
- Paid Primary Care-Giver Leave
- Personal Leave
- Leave of Absence
26. WHEN THEY WORK??
• Individualised Work Schedules
• Flexible or Compressed Working Week
WHERE THEY WORK??
• Working from IBM office
• Work from home / telecommuting
• Flexible: work away from the office occasionally
• Regular: work at home on regular basis
• Full-time: work from home on full time basis
• Mobile
