It’s very unlikely that Robert Owen had ever heard of Work-Life Balance. And the women who worked a 12-hour day in his New Lanark Mills didn’t know much about flexi-time or entitlement to extended maternity leave either. Yet contemporary 19th century accounts from this radical experiment to improve mill workers’ working and living conditions show that the benefits made not just ethical but business sense. Robert Owen spent money on better houses for his “living machinery” (not a term which would be acceptable today). He offered nursery care and primary education to their children – the workers of the future - and in return he saw productivity rise and profits soar.

When, more than ¾ of a century later and with working days stuck obstinately at between 10 and 12 hours, the Cadbury family moved their loyal workers from the slums of Birmingham to the green fields of Bournville, it was not labour retention which was uppermost in their minds – though sickness rates dropped after good food was provided in the factory dining halls, medical and dental attention in on-site treatment rooms and sport and leisure facilities on those same green fields.

Much has been written about these famous Victorian philanthropists whose problems seem so different from those we face in the Internet and, largely, service economy. But does their motivation in adopting “family friendly” policies hold a lesson for business leaders today? How apt that the Bournville interactive learning website should carry this 100-year old quote from Edward Cadbury: “My first aim is to make the business profitable. My second aim has been to try and make Bournville a happy place.”

In creating a happy and profitable place to work, today’s employers have to comply with employment legislation unknown to the Victorian factory owners mentioned above (many of them, indeed, fought hard against successive Factories Acts which tried to shorten working hours). Yet, for many of us, the term “family friendly” will only come to the top of our crowded business agendas in April 2003 when the provisions of the Employment Act 2002 come into force. To remind you, the Act will:

Though the last provision has stuck fear into the hearts of the tabloid press, it is already the case that the majority of women in the UK who share the care of their children with a partner in full-time employment work part-time. It is unlikely that the flood gates will open except for companies which have rigid definitions of “full-“ and “part-“ time employment. In fact, companies with flexible working policies may be able to tempt talented women back into making a greater contribution to the business than before. Meanwhile, the fathers who reported to a recent CIPD study (“Married to the job”, June 2001) that the strain placed upon them by juggling work and family responsibilities had a negative effect on their family relationships and health, will also have the opportunity to balance their lives.

It is often quoted that the benefits of flexible working arrangements for the employee include:

All the above may contribute to greater productivity and less time off work. In the evaluation of Scottish Enterprise’s flexible working environment the Workplace of the Future, the majority of participants report significant increases in personal productivity.

Instead of fleeing from legislation or reverting to Victorian philanthropy, today’s employers need to concentrate on capturing benefits for their organisation through flexible employment policies. These benefits may include:

The Institute for Employment Studies has estimated that a small business may save up to £250K on its budgets by using family friendly policies (reducing sickness and absence cover and cutting recruitment costs).

To help employers make the business case for work-life balance, the DTI launched the Challenge Fund in 2000. Over the last 3 years, 226 employers in England and Scotland have used the £10.5M fund to audit their current policies and to develop the right work-life balance strategies for their companies. In addition, companies have used the DTI Partnership Fund to set up joint internal initiatives to secure productivity improvements. 4-consulting has registered with the DTI to receive news of new rounds of funding in 2003.

If you would like to hear about this or to talk about how flexible working can improve your business, please get in touch by emailing ros.southcott@4-consulting.com.

Ros Southcott is a director of 4-consulting, click here to view her profile.

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