Lack of work-life balance policies highlighted in study

A survey undertaken by the Irish Management Institute has found that 68% of companies have no formal work-life balance policies in operation.

However, while no formal or written procedures were available in a lot of cases, many firms did employ practices which helped employees balance their work and personal lives.

The practice which had the highest impact was job-sharing, with the highest overall impact score on the area of staff retention.

Managers were asked to rate the impact which each of 15 tools had on the four organisational concerns of motivation, productivity, retention and recruitment.

Among the practices mentioned in the survey were study leave, part-time employment, flexi-time, job-sharing, telecommuting, voluntary reduced working time and term-time working.

The managers were asked to rate the impact of each of the headings on a five point scale with one representing a low impact and five representing a high impact.

Commenting on the survey, IMI Director of Training, Andrew McLaughlin said : "The emergence of 'presenteeism' and 'workaholic' cultures in the early 1990s are still evident in many organisations today. The research demonstrates that Irish managers take the work-life balance of their employees seriously," he added.

Following pilot testing, 120 questionnaires were sent out and 73 were returned, a 61% response rate. 40% of respondents were at senior management level and 60% were at middle or supervisory level. 68% of respondents were male and 32% female. The majority of respondents (83.6%) worked in private sector organisations.