Work-Life Effectiveness - Shared by Harvinder

[BIPIN MAYEKAR]

Work-Life Effectiveness: Work-Life Balance Enhanced by Kellye Whitney As the war for talent consumes an ever-growing portion of talent managers' time and attention, work-life concerns are increasingly of interest. Gen Y employees in particular see work-life balance as a key factor when deciding to join and/or stay with an organization. Beyond recruiting and retention activity, however, work-life balance also is of concern from a performance management perspective. Top performers who are happy in their positions likely will continue to meet or exceed performance expectations. This works for the individual and the organization, and it is this win-win perspective that sparked the development of a new approach called "work-life effectiveness" at global nonprofit organization Catalyst. "Workplaces depend on flexibility, " said Meryle Mahrer Kaplan, Ph.D., vice president of Advisory Services at Catalyst. "In today's highly competitive environment, people are asked to be agile all the time, and workplaces really benefit from that agility. [But] how is it that work gets done? We typically find in workplaces, work is not getting done well enough, so the focus on effectiveness is very, very helpful." Kaplan said work is not being done well enough because of constant disruptions; the fact that there's more work to do, thanks to the speed of modern business; and, in the quest to complete tasks under high-pressure deadlines, talent managers don't always step back and evaluate work processes. "The center piece of our approach is being strategic about work," she explained. "What are the core priorities? What does it mean to get the key deliverables done? Being strategic makes sense for the organization and for individuals, as well. First and foremost, what are the parameters about how work needs to get done, what's working effectively currently and what's not? That's the first step. "The second step is really understanding that it's people who do the work - sometimes combined with machines - but it's people doing the work, and what are their peak performance needs?" Kaplan said work-life effectiveness also factors in employees' big-picture career goals. What career goals do they aspire to reach, what excites and engages them about work and what are their short-term life concerns? She said the new approach looks specifically at people in terms of performance, broadly in terms of career and then currently to find out what's going on in the day-to-day work environment. Once these determinations have been made, the work-life effectiveness approach identifies mutually beneficial solutions that are good for the workplace, as well as employees.. "I know from talking with managers that they are sometimes very concerned they have to say 'yes' to every request, [but] if you expect responsible solutions for the workplace, that's really what you're going to find. "[For example], somebody really needs quiet time to get a lot of work done. They have long hours to put in, and they're going to be able to work more effectively if they work out of the office. They're working out of the office is not harming anyone else in that particular workplace. A win-win solution means it's got to work for other people on the team, as well. Unless a talent manager is dealing with someone in an emergency circumstance where what their need has to come first - a death in the family, cancer treatments three times a week - we're saying, 'Here are the parameters folks.' Solutions can't have negative repercussions for their peers." Once the parameters have been set, Kaplan said the talent manager must monitor them to ensure they don't just sound great on paper, but actually work in real life. "That refining and feedback loop becomes really important. Our goal is a really high-functioning team. Be a role model. It's very important for managers to pay attention to their own effectiveness, and talk about what helps them be sustainable and effective." Being a work-life effectiveness role model also means not tolerating employees' disparaging remarks. "Like, 'Oh, you're leaving early today,' when you've just been working like crazy. It just doesn't belong, and it makes it very hard for people to feel like their performance is being recognized. Peers can be very helpful, but managers not appreciating those kinds of comments can be very helpful, as well." [About the Author: Kellye Whitney is managing editor for Talent Management magazine.] Regards, Harvinder

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