Give workers more flexibility, employers urged

WORKERS must be allowed more flexibility to balance their social and family lives with their job responsibilities, a new employer network has urged.

The Work Life Balance Network (WLBN) which brings together six public sector employers with more than 30,000 staff is urging all companies to have more consideration for employees' needs.

WLBN project manager Bernadette Barrington said all firms had a responsibility to help employees achieve a greater balance between the need to earn a decent income and enjoy a full social life.

"One size does not fit all and innovation will arise through employees' participation in the process. At the same time, managers must understand and actively promote work-life balance benefits if they are to result in greater staff retention, improved productivity and customer services, and reduced absenteeism," Ms Barrington said.

The employers which have already signed up to the WLBN include Dublin Bus, An Post, Iarnród Éireann, Dublin City Council, the Office of the Civil Service and Local Appointments Commissioners and Eircom.

IBEC, which is supporting the initiative, warned that employers would lose staff if social and family issues were not considered.

Director general Turlough O'Sullivan said: "Today the majority of our population is in the 20 to 24 year bracket. In 10 years' time many of these people will be working parents. Employers know that in order to attract and retain the best and the brightest, they must continue to develop work-life balance policies."

Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) general secretary David Begg said the correct balance between work and other activities was crucial.

"These arrangements are in turn crucial to meeting the needs of our workforce to balance their work and home responsibilities. They have time and again been shown to enhance worker satisfaction, boosting morale and productivity," he said.

Launching the WLB pack for employers and employees yesterday, Transport Minister Seamus Brennan said politicians were the worst people to tell others about the need to achieve a good balance.

Mr Brennan said most Government ministers and opposition leaders worked more than 72 hours a week and this was not confined to Ireland.

"I recently visited an EU colleague and he had a sign behind his desk reading 'Leaders Also Take Breaks'.

"It was midnight and I asked him, 'When are you taking your break?'. We all need to look harder at how much time we spend in work and how effectively we are using it," he said.