Let them work late

By Andrew Stokes

Tuesday 1st October 2002

Prakash Iyer is maintenance scheduler for big international methanol producer Methanex, based in Taranaki. He works a 40-hour week that, until last year, involved working 7.30am to 4pm Monday to Friday. Not any more. The pressures of two sons and study for an MBA meant Iyer needed a more flexible schedule or he would have to leave.

He went to his bosses and between them, using a comprehensive template developed by Methanex as a way of combining workers' desires for workplace flexibility with the needs of a 250-person manufacturing operation, they came up with a revised schedule. Now Iyer starts work at 9am, after dropping the boys at school, and makes up the remaining 7.5 hours working from home in the evenings or at weekends.

Iyer isn't the only one. Methanex introduced the flexible workplace template in May last year in response to rising turnover, after extensive research on what Methanex employees wanted and what had and hadn't worked in companies that did well in last year's Equal Employment Opportunities Trust Work and Life Awards. Since introduction of the template, 38% of total staff and an astonishing 100% of the maintenance division have opted for some kind of non-standard work schedule. Many have chosen a four-day week or nine-day fortnight model. Two workers currently job share, says human resources manager Jayne Francis, and she expects further interest from women and from some older plant operators who would prefer part-time work or job sharing as they approach retirement.

Liz Lyons is in the senior executive team at Frucor, New Zealand's second-largest beverage company with 600 employees in Australasia. When she was headhunted from an ad agency 15 months ago, her key criterion for taking the job was not being in the office more than three days a week. Now she works approximately 35 hours a week, some of it from home.

"Traditionally, companies looked down their noses at part-time workers," says Frucor's group general manager human resources, Teva Loos. Until recently, having a senior manager in a part-time role would have been simply unacceptable - a sign of a lack of commitment from that worker. But with the move from an attendance-based culture to an output-based one, companies have realised you don't have to have your bum on the seat for 10 hours a day to contribute at a senior level.

Whether formalised like Methanex, or on a case-by-case basis like Frucor, times are changing - in some New Zealand workplaces. And they are going to change a whole lot more in many more companies, according to recruitment consultant Heather Kean, if they want to recruit and keep management staff. A recent survey conducted by Kean's company, Pohlen Kean, discovered the majority of companies were out of synch with their managers on the importance of flexible work practices. In a survey of 1187 New Zealand workers and their 22 employers, Pohlen Kean discovered organisations rated part-time work as only the sixth-most important work/life balance policy. Their management staff, however, saw the same factor as "the only organisational policy that related to their organisational loyalty". In English, the ability to be able to work flexible hours or part-time was the only work/life balance issue respondents in management positions said would persuade them not to quit their jobs. Not childcare, or company picnics or pool tables in the office. But it's an option that barely rates on the corporate radar screen.

This is going to change, Kean predicts, although the trend has been slower to gain momentum than she expected. Companies need to urgently think about developing more flexible and part-time options for managers and professional employees. "Three years ago, women coming back into the workforce thought they would have to get a 'pretend' job. Someone who might have been an IT manager, for example, would have been prepared to work as a part-time accounts person. Now, women still want part-time work, but aren't prepared to let their careers go backwards ... For companies that get it right, flexible working has the potential to be the jewel in the crown in the talent war. The ones that don't will continue to fight over a smaller and smaller marketplace of people just interested in who pays most."

As an example, the survey cites a highly qualified human resources manager prepared to take a pay cut (and here we're talking about a $120,000 position) in exchange for one day off a week.

Being flexible can save more than just part of a salary. Staff turnover is a significant drain on a business - Pohlen Kean says the cost of replacing staff can be as high as 150% of salary for a senior professional or manager.

Part-time jobs have been on the rise in the past decade. Statistics New Zealand data shows part-time jobs make up just under 23% of the total workforce and their number has grown 3.9% in the year to June. According to figures collected by the OECD, that puts New Zealand about fifth among its member countries in terms of the percentage of part-time workers. The Netherlands tops the list, followed by Australia, Japan and Britain. In nearly all cases, women hold more than two-thirds of part-time jobs.

The Economist has reported that efforts to reduce hours in France have boosted productivity in some industries. Based on this, identifying the most loyal, productive workers next time you visit an office will be easy - they'll be the ones who aren't always there.

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