Braintree District Council
Background
Braintree is renowned for being an innovative Council keen to take on new initiatives and challenges. Prior to the Challenge Fund project there were many well-developed work-life balance policies in place and a committed and well-resourced personnel department working to implement them. However, the Group Personnel Advisor, Liz Rymell along with her colleague Helen Krischock, believed there was a need for cultural change in order for work-life balance policies to be applied at ground level. In spite of the range of work-life balance policies in place, the organisation was experiencing problems of low morale and sickness absence related to stress.
The diversity of services provided by the different branches of the organisation meant that it was impossible to have a set of work-life balance policies that was appropriate for all. Home working, for example, was not a valid option for cashier staff! Therefore, the key challenge for Swiftwork, the consultant, was to tailor new work-life balance policies to meet the business needs of each division so that they worked in practice.
Launch Seminar
As part of the Council's ongoing staff communication programme there are regular breakfast seminars for managers. It was decided to use the breakfast seminar to make an interactive presentation on the work-life balance initiative. This approach was appropriate because the Christmas seminar, chosen to launch the project, traditionally had a more light-hearted atmosphere, and the participative approach taken by the consultant fitted with this overall context.
The breakfast seminar gave the opportunity for the Chief Executive Officer to commit visibly to work-life balance. It also allowed Swiftwork to get the message across that work-life balance was not solely the domain of employees with families, but could be beneficial to the entire workforce. One member of the personnel team described the process as the consultant "translating the work-life balance vision into a digestible menu for managers". Some common themes emerged amongst managers at the meeting that have given valuable insights into the managers' position in relation to work-life balance.
The process of obtaining senior manager and line manager commitment and ownership of the project was set in motion at this early stage through this informal, interactive discussion forum.
The Business Case
Following the breakfast seminar, a comprehensive business case for the work-life balance initiative was presented to the senior management. It served to enhance understanding of work-life balance and to secure senior management commitment to the initiative.
Members of the personnel team, who have taken the initiative forward, believe that without the Challenge Fund, the approach to the business case "would have been less consultative and inclusive." In this way, Swiftwork paved the way for a cultural change within the organisation, heightening understanding about the potential business benefits of work-life balance and, through gaining management ownership of the project, ensuring that work life balance policies would be implemented.
Workshop Development
Workshops were arranged for managers, the objectives of which were predominantly to listen to managers' views from their individual and team perspectives and to generate enthusiasm for, and commitment to, pilot schemes. Six workshops were held with mixed groups from different divisions. The sessions were interactive and participative. Managers were asked to act out a sketch, taking the role of the idealist, the critic, or the realist. They were expected to take on opposing roles to their true position, so that the idealist became the cynic and vice versa! This activity challenged participants to look at solutions from different perspectives and further encouraged management ownership of the initiative.
Evaluation forms completed after the workshops showed positive reactions overall to the concept of work-life balance and demonstrated that the majority of participants were willing to volunteer for pilot schemes in their divisions.
Pilot Projects
Pilot programmes, which will tailor work-life balance policies to divisional needs, have been set up. The pilots are not mandatory, managers have been e-mailed to ensure that they are aware of the initiative, and are expected to volunteer their division if they feel it is an appropriate time to take part.
Information and learning from the pilots were fed into a Work-Life Balance Toolkit, compiled by the Swiftwork. This document would set out the Council's portfolio of work-life balance policies and related manager guidelines. It outlined the broad principles under which all the work life balance policies operate and this will underpin the development of new and/or refined policies.
An outline communications plan has been developed to keep a focus on appropriate communications activity. As part of this, written articles have appeared in the employee newsletter and Council members' briefing sheets. Members from the personnel team have also hosted a staff awareness session.
Lessons Learned
This project clearly demonstrates four key features of a successful work-life balance initiative. Specifically:
- programmes involving cultural change are more likely to be successful if they engage people on a personal level. The role play situations with managers provides one example of how this can be achieved;
- projects must have a 'champion' within the organisation who will take the initiative forward in its early stages. In Braintree DC this role was taken by the forward thinking personnel team;
- it is important that the business benefits of work-life balance policies are made clear to managers and staff to overcome any initial scepticism;
- staff and management should have ownership of policy development. This can be achieved through raising awareness and ensuring that there are routes through which staff can feedback their thoughts about potential work-life balance initiatives.