An article published in The New York Times Last week about Family-Leave Values reassured me that my choice to become an entrepreneur was the right one. It detailed some very depressing cases where people have been let go from their jobs because they were parents. What has this world come to when people are penalized for doing what comes, uh, naturally? Apparently even those who don’t have kids are not safe, either. People have been fired for taking off work to care for a sick spouse or an ailing parent. Some businesses are starting to get it, but it may just be up to us small businesses and entrepreneurs to show them how we bring in profits while caring for our employees.
When I started my first company 12 years ago, my goal was to prove that you could build a (highly) profitable company and honor people’s needs for work/life balance, including my own. We were successful and won several state and national awards for our creative attention to our employee’s needs. I have to admit, though, that it wasn’t always easy. There were several lessons we learned along the way that other companies, even the very small ones, can learn from:
- Work/life considerations must come from the top. Building a company that respects the fact that there is more to life than work requires top-level commitment. It has to trickle down through all ranks of managers from the highest to the lowest.
- Measurements must reflect the company’s commitment to results, not “face time.” Where possible, we had to make sure we valued results, not time in the office. This was especially important for remote workers.
- Managers must be trained to manage flexible work schedules. Not everyone knows instinctively how to manage for results or measure productivity instead of accounting for hours. We found that we had to train our manager in how to manager people remotely and how to develop work plans and goals that reflected what we really wanted in our business – a contribution to our bottom line – rather than just showing up.
- You must be able to say ‘no.’ In our business, not every position was conducive to a flexible work schedule. Some jobs really did have to be present in the office and we had to be prepared to make that call. It can not be flexibility at all costs.
- Policies must be formalized and administrated fairly. Finally, because we sometimes said no, we had to have our policies documented and monitor the implementation for fairness. Any flexible work schedule request that came in had to be reviewed by the employee’s manager’s manager to make sure we were staying consistent and fair.
The benefits of looking after our employees can be monetized by low turnover rate. The cost to hire and train new people is high and it is more economical to keep good people, not to mention the negative impact high turnover can have on morale. By building certain philosophies into the very culture of our companies, we can set a new standard for running profitable businesses that recognize employees as people with lives outside of work.
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Hi
Sorry this really isn't that much of a question but I'm kind of pissed at my mom and I'm just venting sorry?
I like the idea of keeping staff satisfied with a good work-life balance. You want staff who are happy to come to work and give their all because the company gives back to them. I understand how it can be difficult though because a lot of people can get a bit demanding and abuse a company’s kindness.
My story is very related to this topic. I have to give up my job since it already taking up 70-75% of my time. There are lots of things left unattended. kids, personal, family and many things that matters to me. Right now, I am finding my luck here on the internet at the comfort of my sofa.. It is hard but I know I can make it!
how is your company going now, hope everything is going well..
Jane
seo birmingham
Thanks I really needed this.
It is hard work running a successful business as we all know that it takes a lot of time and hours of effort, but the rewards are there when you put in the ground work. Like everything good in life, you have to work at it to get it.
I think that it’s very good that you are leading the way in developing businesses which are more sympathetic to workers needs, whilst simultaneously continuing to make a profit and being successful. It is very inspirational, and I think that more businesses could do with following your lead. Good post.
In an ideal world I would love to give my staff flexible hours and working arrangements that suits them, but at the same time I have a responsibility to my customers to give them the service and to meet the deadlines that have been agreed. In turn this leads to more income and better pay and carrer development for my staff.
I do expect a lot from my staff, but they are well rewarded in more ways than just pay.
Jon
SEO Advice
Life vs Work – it has to be a give and take thing, a symbiotic rtelationship where one can feed the other to the advantage of both.
To often it seams that the higher up a company you go, the less work you do and, at the same time the more benifits you ‘life’ gets. trying to keep things fair and equaly dispite staus in a company can go a long way towards help to ensure a fair and balanced aproach.
Julie, I love work/life focused idea. Too many companies focus only on the company and not the life of the employee. With many places, the people are the company and treating them well makes for a much more productive company.
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