31 January 2008

Can we work anywhere we please so long as we get the job done?

One of the most difficult question facing employers is on “how to keep the people who keep you in business”. As history reveals, the traditional method to attract and retain talented people is to throw money and more money at them. While this “old school” approach appears effective until greed consumes some of them, an appealing solution is to engage talented employees particularly the younger generation with flexible work practices.

According to Marcia Hall, owner of Reputation Counts, an American Severna Park-based firm that provides workforce development and productivity training, a work-life balance is particularly important to members of the "millennial generation" who were born in the early 1980s. They not only grew up under intense pressure to get into the best schools but also have become more aware of their mortality with the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and other tragic events, she said. "The effect has been that their tomorrow is unpredictable," Ms. Hall said. "That means time for family and time for their personal life."

Money isn't the key to keeping Kiwi workers either - it's improving their work-life balance and supporting their careers. Remuneration consultants DSD Consulting reported on the importance of work life balance in their recent remuneration and market trends survey of 65 leading companies in New Zealand.

"Companies need to realize that, for many New Zealanders, their career and work-life balance is increasingly important. They want to work and be appreciated for what they do but they also want to be able to spend time with their families and pursue their other interests," says DSD director Susan Doughty.

DSD says the research shows bosses also need to accept that Generation Y employees don’t stay in jobs more than three or four years, so notions such as long-service bonuses don't appeal anymore. Employers need to think differently to remain interesting to their work force, especially when unemployment is so low and jobs are readily available.

Technology has allowed people to stay connected from anywhere. Perhaps, flexible working practices and "family-friendly policies" that help employees achieve a balance between work and life should be the alternate reward management practice as baby boomers retire later and employers search for talented people in a tight labor market.

With escalating fuel prices, additional taxi fee surcharges, increase on mass rapid transport (MRT) and bus fares, and more recently, an increase in the number of electronic road pricing gantries in Singapore, there is really no merit in merit pay increase.

Compensation and benefits management practitioners need to work harder than simply rely on benchmarked salary surveys to stay on the job. Instead of the 5 C’s in Singapore, "we talk about the four Fs being the key to what employees value - that's finance, future, fun and features. It's the combination of pay with a range of other factors - both financial and non-financial - that determines whether your staff will stay or not." DSD director, Una Diver commented.

Should we rethink the traditional boundaries of a “9 to 5” workday? Are flexible working arrangements and unstructured work environments crucial for recruiting and retaining talented people? Can we cultivate a flexible work culture by allowing people to work anywhere they please so long as they get the job done. Can we retain employees by introducing job sharing?

More importantly, can we work anywhere we please so long as we get the job done relevant to the (overseas)Chinese work communities?

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