Thursday, October 09, 2003
U.K. has legislated the right to flexible hours but workers are fearful of consequences in workaholic culture
Survey says...
... "The government has also introduced flexible working laws, meaning that firms now have an obligation to give parents of young children the option of changing their hours or even working from home.
However, although offering perks to staff is increasingly popular, UK workers still work the longest hours in Europe and suffer high levels of stress.
Croner said that a culture of long hours, skipping lunch and pressure from colleagues has led to many employees turning down staff benefits and becoming increasingly stressed."
Survey says...
... "The government has also introduced flexible working laws, meaning that firms now have an obligation to give parents of young children the option of changing their hours or even working from home.
However, although offering perks to staff is increasingly popular, UK workers still work the longest hours in Europe and suffer high levels of stress.
Croner said that a culture of long hours, skipping lunch and pressure from colleagues has led to many employees turning down staff benefits and becoming increasingly stressed."
Monday, October 06, 2003
Failure of leadership to model work/life balance
National PEP Your Workplace Week - How to be an effective leader
"'And how do you find time to lead? By learning basic
organizational skills required to prioritize your leadership role and the
activities of your team.'
An business article recently confirmed that managers can't find the time
to solve problems of which they are keenly aware. 'A good leader is not
someone who runs so far ahead of the pack that the rest of the team can't keep up. Leaders need to be accessible to help their people produce solutions,' Searles added.
As more corporations pay lip service to 'work life balance', their
employees are not impressed by managers who model 70 hour work weeks.
Moreover, those crushingly long hours rarely include time to focus on problem
solving and leadership. Such simple things as interpersonal communications,
teamwork and clear individual and collective goals fall by the wayside.
Managers who cannot - or will not - take the time to delegate often fail to
develop a long-term vision for their teams. When the 'leaders' finally burn
out, no one can easily replace them, because no one was ever allowed to do so."
National PEP Your Workplace Week - How to be an effective leader
"'And how do you find time to lead? By learning basic
organizational skills required to prioritize your leadership role and the
activities of your team.'
An business article recently confirmed that managers can't find the time
to solve problems of which they are keenly aware. 'A good leader is not
someone who runs so far ahead of the pack that the rest of the team can't keep up. Leaders need to be accessible to help their people produce solutions,' Searles added.
As more corporations pay lip service to 'work life balance', their
employees are not impressed by managers who model 70 hour work weeks.
Moreover, those crushingly long hours rarely include time to focus on problem
solving and leadership. Such simple things as interpersonal communications,
teamwork and clear individual and collective goals fall by the wayside.
Managers who cannot - or will not - take the time to delegate often fail to
develop a long-term vision for their teams. When the 'leaders' finally burn
out, no one can easily replace them, because no one was ever allowed to do so."
