Putting the balance back in work-life balance

Jo Faragher

With improvements in rights to flexible working and plenty of scrutiny on unfair working practices, it still seems surprising that ‘presenteeism’ among employers is on the increase.

According to a survey by the CIPD in conjunction with SimplyHealth, almost a third of employers have seen an increase in presenteeism, particularly in corporate cultures where long hours are deemed to be the norm. Not as surprising is the fact that these employers have also witnessed a rise in stress-related absence.

There are numerous forces at work here. Swathes of redundancies during the recession mean that teams have been cut back, and despite budgets recovering and recruitment freezes coming to an end, plenty of managers are still reluctant to take on new people if they can get as much as possible out of the ones they already have.

This means workers are used to doing more with less, and many would rather keep quiet and keep a pay cheque coming in than admit they’re struggling and could do with an extra pair of hands.

But at the same time, technology has improved to the point where there are relatively few roles that require someone to sit at a desk within such a rigid timeframe, or longer as is the case with many of these employers. Output can be managed around school runs or gym sessions, without an employee feeling guilty for leaving at a certain time – as long as the work gets done.

Productivity tends to dip when workers feel stressed or obliged to sit at their desks. Presenteeism also costs money because of the related increase in absence – employers have to arrange cover or colleagues take on more to pick up the slack, which just makes the problem worse.

As the CIPD points out, organisations need to be promoting wellbeing strategies and a culture of trust, where managers don’t measure success by how many hours someone is at their desk each day, but instead by what they actually produce.

Perhaps employers could take a look at Sweden, where many companies are now adopting a six-hour working day. The aim is for staff to get more done in a shorter amount of time (because it’s easier to be productive over that period, versus an eight-hour day), and ensure people have the energy to enjoy their private lives.

Tipping the balance too far the other way, as these statistics show, is not the route to a healthy workforce.