In Touch: Flexibility still rules!

With companies battening down to weather tough economic times, work flexibility tends to get put on the back burner and that’s not good either for organisational health or employee motivation, suggests EEO Trust CEO Philippa Reed.
She says shift in employment priorities is showing up in submissions for the 2009 EEO Work and Life Awards with more emphasis on the “Tomorrow’s Workforce” and new “Skills Highway” categories than on “Work & Life”.
“I think in the current economic environment that organisations are bit more reluctant to put their heads above the parapet to promote their work and life policies and that’s real shame. Looking after people through bad times will inevitably pay off when the situation improves – and when it comes to employee commitment and discretionary effort, often it’s not about the money.
“Providing people with flexibility around how and when they work actually tends to generate more discretionary effort.”
She notes that workplace flexibility is now gaining more attention as means to help reduce overheads, with employees being encouraged to work nine-day fortnights and take career breaks or unpaid leave. “Employees are being asked to take these options rather than the other way round – and might find it really suits them.”
This year’s awards categories include new focus on efforts to boost workplace numeracy and literacy and that is proving popular, says Reed. The Skills Highway award takes the total number of categories to six including Walk the Talk, Workplace Work & Life, Workplace Diversity, Work & Life/Diversity Initiative, and Tomorrow’s Workforce.
As previous winners note, it’s easy to enter – template questions allowed NZ Post to structure an entry which “conveyed the key essence of what we’d done. It made us reflect and we felt immensely proud,” says NZ Post’s HR manager policy Vicki Bazalo. It also brought “great kudos” for the group.
But would-be winners need to get their skates on. Entries close at midday on Thursday 23 July and judging takes place over the following month. The presentation dinner will be held at the Auckland War Memorial Museum on Thursday 29 October.