Public Servant Lifestyle

Work-life balance "can be a key driver of organisational success" Brendan Barber*, General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) tells public sector audience.

"Work-life balance is for all: whatever their job, whatever their status, whatever their outside responsibilities," trades union chief Brendan Barber told a national gathering of key professionals from across the public sector.

Pictured (right): Brendan Barber, General Secretary of the TUC.

The TUC general secretary, speaking at the recent Retain & Reward Staff - The WLB Way conference, dismissed the claims of some employer organisations that there is no need to extend rights on flexible working and will call for all the UK’s workers to have the right to request a better balance between work and the rest of their lives.

In his speech, Mr Barber said: "From flexitime to term-time working, we've always been keen to explore new and innovative ways of working. Though perhaps the less said about the three day week, the better.

Term-Time Working

"I want to begin by putting the issue of work-life balance in a bit of context. How we work, the way we balance work with everything else in our lives, is one of the most fundamental questions of our time. Something that cuts across so many of our contemporary debates, from how we raise productivity to how we promote healthier lifestyles.

"Just last week, the issue of work-life balance dominated the headlines after the government proposed to extend the right to request flexible working to all parents during the Queen's Speech. Something the TUC welcomed as long overdue.

"But we think the government should have gone further. Because all workers - whether they have children or not - should have the right not just to request flexible working, but to access it. Our position is clear. Work-life balance is for all: whatever their job, whatever their status, whatever their outside responsibilities.

"That's why we were disappointed by the predictable carping from parts of the business lobby - not least the British Chambers of Commerce - after last week's announcement. We believe greater choice over working patterns is not just good for workers - it's also good for their employers.

"With a little imagination, with the right policies in place, it can be a key driver of organisational success. And that applies just as much in the public sector as it does in private industry.

"Perhaps inevitably, the debate about our public services has become highly politicised. It's reform, restructuring and pay that usually grab the headlines. But behind the scenes, in workplaces up and down the country, issues like work-life balance are arguably just as important.

Politicised

"Indeed the TUC believes that the way public servants work - the choices they have over working hours, working time, and work organisation - is crucial to the wider reform process.

"We know the world has changed. We know that the British people quite rightly demand more from their public services. And we know that public sector workers are increasingly expected to provide services beyond the traditional nine-to-five day. But my argument today is this. Encouraging more innovative ways of working - that deliver a better work-life balance for public servants - can have a dramatic impact on both the efficiency and effectiveness of our public services.

"The trade union movement believes this really is a mutual gains agenda.Not only will it deliver higher productivity, improved recruitment and retention, and better staff morale. Not only will it enhance non-financial reward at a time when the public finances are extremely tight. But it will also dramatically improve the quality of workers' lives and levels of job satisfaction.

"That's why we want to work with employers to deliver a positive model of flexibility across our public services. Before we can work out what we need to do to achieve change, it's worth reflecting on just where the public sector is currently at when it comes to work-life balance. There is an image that the public sector is somehow more progressive than the private sector, but does this really stand up to close scrutiny?

"While making sweeping generalisations about the thousands of employers that make up our public domain is clearly fraught with risk, the evidence suggests that the public sector's record is mixed. On the credit side, the government's latest work-life balance survey shows that the public sector leads the private sector in making flexible working opportunities available.

"Public sector workers are more likely to make a flexible working request, and more likely to have it accepted. And their managers generally have a more positive attitude towards work-life balance than their peers in the private sector. But it's not all good news - far from it. First, long hours continue to be a real problem across large swathes of the public sector.

Flexible wWrking Request

"To coincide with our Work Your Proper Hours Day earlier this year, the TUC released a league table of which groups of workers did the most unpaid overtime, based on official data from the Labour Force Survey.

"Top of the pile were teachers and lecturers, with public service managers, health and social services managers and health professionals not far behind. And trade unions know from experience that many public servants find it difficult to cope with the endless cycle of reform, restructuring and reorganisation of the services they deliver.

"From teachers to doctors, police officers to civil servants, workers report being demoralised by the plethora of targets that now dominate their day-to-day working experience - with significant implications for workloads. And second, many organisations often talk a good game on work-life balance, but simply fail to walk the walk.

"Last year, the Work Foundation did some groundbreaking research looking at the attitudes of 1,000 UNISON members towards work-life balance in the organisations they worked for.

"The results made for fascinating reading. While three-quarters of those quizzed said their employer had policies on work-life balance - higher than the whole-economy average - there was widespread frustration that implementation was not being taken seriously.

"In short - there was a big gap between rhetoric and reality, with too many employers paying lip service to the idea of work-life balance. Despite clear demand from staff, just half those surveyed said they had any real choice about their working arrangements, with a third reporting their employer was not committed to helping them achieve a better work-life balance.

"So how do we move forward? How can employers and unions work together to deliver positive change? Well, I believe we have everything to gain by working in partnership - at national, regional and workplace level. Ensuring new ways of working are agreed not imposed. Ensuring all workers have the opportunity to benefit. And ensuring new policies are implemented on the ground, rather than just written on paper.

Management & Unions

"If all this sounds a little theoretical, think about those organisations where management and unions have already made a difference by working together. Take the London Borough of Merton. When it was faced with recruitment and retention problems, it launched a joint initiative to improve access to flexible working. And a result, productivity has gone up, sickness absence has been reduced from 12% to 2%, and there has been a general improvement in staff morale.

"Or think about Bristol City Council, where the TUC worked with the local authority on what we called the 'Time of our lives' project. As the Council was under pressure to deliver better services and improve flexibility, many staff wanted more leisure time, with one in four wanting a better balance between work and childcare.

"So we worked with management and unions - GMB, T&G and UNISON - to develop what we called 'a positive model of flexibility'. At its core was a commitment from management that flexible working initiatives had to reflect staff views.

"And the results speak for themselves. In Bristol's Library Service, there was demand for Sunday opening. But rather than force staff to work Sundays against their will, we developed a system where workers volunteered and everyone was able to organise their hours by themselves and with colleagues. The upshot - an increase in library use, with the service appealing to a much wider group of people. And for staff - much more control over their working time.

"In Environmental Services, we agreed a new flexitime system, because many workers employed from 8.30 to 4.30 were spending a lot of their time stuck in Bristol's notoriously bad traffic. This has enabled the Council to deliver services outside traditional hours and freed staff from gridlock.

"The key point is this. By sitting down and talking - by working collaboratively - employees, unions and managers can work out what works best. Developing policies that both improve performance and enhance the quality of workers' lives. Showing that flexibility can be something that cuts both ways. And enabling as many people as possible to benefit.

Stressed-Out Managers

"Because the debate about work-life balance is not just about relieving the pressure on stressed-out managers and professionals, important though that is. We believe all workers - the low-paid, the low-skilled, those in their '50s and '60s, and people with disabilities - have the right to be able to balance work with everything else in their lives.

"As technology advances, as systems of work organisation become more sophisticated, all workers can enjoy greater flexibility. Cleaning and catering staff may not be able to work from home, but they can benefit from flexitime and self-rostering.

"All it needs is a bit of imagination. Nobody pretends it will be easy. Change of this magnitude never is. But I believe the public sector can and should be the driver of change, a beacon of excellence for the rest of the UK economy. And none of us should lose sight of the potential prize. More efficient, effective public services. And a much better working environment for public servants. So let's get to it."

This article originally appeared on our sister website Working Balance.

*Brendan Barber is General Secretary of the TUC, which represents 59 unions with a total membership of around 6.5 million working in all sectors of the economy.

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