Over here in Europe we may think we've got issues
with a long hours working culture and problems in
achieving a desirable work-life balance. But that
has to be set in the context of a century of
campaigning and legislation to achieve progressively
shorter working days, holiday entitlements and more
recently the Working Time Directive. These
haven't, though, done away with a competitive
working culture in many large organisations where
being seen to be there early and late is part of the
down-payment on a ticket to the top. The need to
be there is even more intense in the cities that are
flourishing in the vibrant economies of Asia.
But what is the cost for the individual? And
is there a business case for companies in Asia doing
more to help their employees establish a better
work-life balance? In Hong Kong there is a group
of companies who are trying to take action to
promote greater work-life balance. Key to this
is being able to drive forward changes to
organisational culture. Last week in Hong Kong was
Work-Life Balance Week, organised by local
non-profit membership organisation Community
Business, which saw the launch of a new work-life
balance guide: Driving Cultural Change to Achieve
Work-Life Balance. This guide - the latest in
a series of guides produce by the organisation -
highlights the need for Hong Kong businesses to take
action to retain talented and enthusiastic staff and
to recognise the impact that poor work-life balance
is having on their bottom line. Current state of
Work-Life Balance in Hong Kong
The report begins with a report on its annual
survey into work-life balance in Hong Kong
companies. The survey revealed that the majority
of employees (39.1%) perceive that their employers’
top priority is to maximise profits without regard
for their workload, resulting in companies taking on
more projects and assignments than employees can
deal with.
The second biggest reason for workers feeling
overloaded at work is insufficient resources. More
than 30% (33.1%) of the Hong Kong working population
thinks that their companies have insufficient
manpower or are understaffed. The following chart
shows the problems that arise form poor work-life
balance:
In all that's around 78% of employees who feel that
work-life balance problems affect their performance
in some way. The survey also provided strong
evidence supporting the fact that long working hours
and the culture of presenteeism reduces
productivity, and that working longer does not
necessarily mean that more work gets done:
- 33.3% said they spend time on activities not
related to work, e.g. surfing the internet and
visiting social network websites, to de-stress
during office hours.
- Nearly 1/3 of the respondents (29.7%) felt
they were less efficient during the working day
as they know that they will have to work until
late.
- 26.7% have had to take sick leave in the
last 12 months as they have been too tired from
work.
Identifying and overcoming the barriers to
change
The guide identifies ten barriers to change -
barriers cited by managers in researching the
guide.
- Educating employees to take ownership of
their work-life balance
- Companies struggle to develop a robust
business case
- Companies fear work-life balance will
make them less competitive
- Mangers don't think senior posts can be
part-time
- Work-life balance is not an option for
senior roles
- A widespread assumption that visibility
= productivity
- Managers are not embracing work-life
balance
- Work-life balance means a loss of
control for managers
- Work-life balance is simply not possible
in a 24/7 environment
- There is no way to measure the success
of work-life balance initiatives.
For each of these perceived barriers
there is practical advice from practitioners
from around the world, and there are case
studies of Hong Kong companies such as
PepsiCo and Standard Chartered Bank who walk
the talk on work-life balance to show that
it really can be done. Robin Bishop, Chief
Operating Officer of Community Business, is
keen to work with businesses to demonstrate
how small changes can make a big difference:
“Work-Life Balance has always been a
challenge for the Hong Kong workplace
culture.
"Our concern is not only for the 50%+
of our working population who currently
feel stressed and overwhelmed by
workload - it is also for businesses.
Those companies who fail to recognise
the impact that poor work-life balance
is having in terms of turnover and
productivity are at running serious
risks to their bottom line.
"We recognise that this is an ongoing
journey, but those that persevere will
reap the benefits. They will
differentiate themselves in the
marketplace and creating loyal and
motivated employees.”
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