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Life/Work Balance in HBOS GRR

A confidential report for the SMTNovember 2004

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Contents

Preliminary remarks: What is Life/Work Balance?

Executive summary

The issue

What we did

Findings

Recommendations

Next steps

Draft guidelines for managers

Appendix

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Preliminary remarks: What is Life/Work Balance (LWB)?

Remuneration

Work-time/effort

Job content

Flexibility

Trust/recognition

Workcommunity

Life/Workbalance

Letsdolife believes that good LWB requires a good result in each of the six areas opposite,in the context of :

• an appropriate work culture

• well-designed LWB policies, and

• good communications technology.

All these areas were flagged up by GRR colleagues.

The model is used to structure the sections of this summary report. Supporting evidence is available from Letsdolife.

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Executive summary

Life/work balance in GRR needs to change. A culture that supports diversity, and expects colleagues to become trusted advisors, must encourage flexibility and trust senior colleagues to manage their own working arrangements. Good progress has been made in Leeds and in some teams in both Edinburgh and Halifax.

However, in some areas, long working hours constitute a risk factor while morale is weakened by misunderstandings over access to informal flexibility. New initiatives are required to maintain momentum.

In the short term, Letsdolife recommends

– The adoption of new, informal LWB guidelines by senior management– Transfer of expertise within GRR through facilitated workshops– Inclusion of life/work balance in standard feed-back mechanisms,

including the Colleague Feedback Questionnaire and the Smileometer

In the longer-term, the Letsdolife team recommends

– Development of new programmes of management training on LWB– Integration of LWB elements into core training programmes

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The issue

MORI 2004 found only 55% of GRR colleagues satisfied with their life/work balance.

Letsdolife was asked to:

– Investigate the diversity of experience, needs and aspirations for LWB inside GRR

– Analyse the cultural reasons for low take-up of both formal and informal LWB policies in different areas of GRR

– Gather ideas from GRR about more flexible and more efficient working arrangements

– Recommend steps to take in the short- and longer-term

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What we did:

Questionnaire on LWB

– Received 100 replies (around 90% effective response).– The results, circulated in summary form in July 2004, were used to

set up the focus groups and interviews.– The summary report is available to the SMT as a separate document.

Interviews and focus groups

– 62 colleagues were interviewed: 41 individually and 27 in the four focus groups (6 people were in both).

– There was good coverage of colleagues working on/off site; all but one SMT members were interviewed.

– The Appendix gives more details.

Examination of existing LWB policies

Analysis of the “fit” between the developing GRR culture and current LWB practice

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Findings: Introduction

This report runs through each of the key areas shown in the diagram above.

It also reports on variations between centres and teams.

(As in all workplaces) there was a great variation in personal preferences for LWB at all levels.

In GRR, the results for the 1-3 and 4+ groups were strikingly different.

The 1-3 group were generally happy with their life/work balance. Most of the issues requiring attention were found in the 4+ group.

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Findings: Cultural "fit"

Culture is driven by underlying, implicit assumptions that determine values and guide behaviour. A good “fit” between the business culture of GRR and its LWB culture is essential.

The emerging GRR culture is one in which more professionals work as trusted advisors to their clients. This requires a life/work balance culture of openness, in which the same professionals are trusted to work in efficient ways.

Such a culture was found most strongly developed in Leeds. Both Edinburgh and Halifax contain teams whose culture is more favourable to life/work balance than others. In a few cases presenteeism and long fixed hours were still valued.

The GRR/HBOS culture also emphasises equality and fairness. This helps to explain the good results for the 1-3 group. It militates against giving greater flexibility to the 4+ group.

The long hours worked by some GRR clients can stretch hours worked inside GRR.

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Findings: Formal LWB policies

Standard life/work balance policies in HBOS are wide-ranging and go well beyond statutory requirements in areas such as maternity leave.

In addition, procedures are in place to allow additional flexible working policies to be put in place, by means of proposals to line managers.

Half the 4+ group said they were not well informed about the policies available to them. The 1-3’s thought they were better informed.

Informal arrangements between colleagues and managers are also encouraged in GRR policies. However, they appear to work more satisfactorily in some areas than others (see below).

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Findings: Technology

The current state of technology is quite inadequate to support GRR's ambitions to work closer to clients.

It is also a considerable brake on the development of an appropriate life/work balance culture.

Slow, unreliable remote access is a particular problem. In particular, we were told that remote access from home became impossible for colleagues in Edinburgh when they upgraded their home connection to broadband.

There were some complaints about lack of hot-desk facilities.

The main problem appears to be a proliferation of legacy systems at the level of HBOS.

There may also be a need for education in the best use of the existing systems – such as transferring landlines to mobiles most effectively and management of e-mail inboxes.

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Findings: Work time/effort

There were few reported problems in the 1-3 group (where standard hours were not often exceeded).

35% of the 4+ group reported working over 48 hours in the previous week; over half of the 4+ group were concerned that their hours were unsustainable and were affecting their health; two-thirds of the 4+ group felt unable to recuperate from long hours.

Some teams, and their managers, appeared to work much longer hours than others.

Virtually all colleagues reporting low levels of job satisfaction were found to be working long hours; a few colleagues reported specific health problems they felt were linked to overwork.

The overwhelming reason given for long hours was high workload in relation to resources - especially when posts remained unfilled for long periods.

However, some managers also stressed the need for upskilling and changes in working practices to meet new business conditions.

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Findings: Remuneration

A number of colleagues said they regarded remuneration as a key element of their life/work balance.

Opinions on current levels of remuneration varied. However, many in the 4+ group said they felt unsettled when new recruits received higher pay than they did. The rates paid for associates’ services were also a cause of unease for some.

Some colleagues in the 1-3 group in the Edinburgh centre felt they had lost out through a change in the way bonuses were calculated.

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Findings: Job content

Most colleagues reported that the work of GRR is demanding and stimulating - job content was often a strong motivational factor.

The changing role of GRR and the new skill-sets required were welcomed by some, but a source of insecurity for others.

Colleagues working on the road as internal consultants generally appeared to have high job satisfaction and the development of relationship management skills via the Springboard programme was much appreciated.

A number of colleagues felt that they gave more expertise to external associates than they received in return – these were often colleagues concerned to maintain technical excellence in their specialist areas.

A few colleagues, in different areas, reported feeling isolated from the rest of HBOS.

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Findings: Flexibility in place

The range of formal flexible working arrangements in place is quite restricted - we were told it compared unfavourably with some other parts of HBOS and even Group.

The reasons appeared to be mainly cultural; though limitations in technology were also important.

The 1-3 group reported some flexi-time and some part-time but no compressed hours (such as nine-day fortnights). The 4+ group reported flexi-time while 1 in 4 worked from home for part of the time.

Where flexible working patterns were being used they were generally appreciated. In almost all cases, colleagues believed that GRR also gained through the arrangement

However, a few 4+ colleagues felt flexible working did not help their LWB; on average, working at home was currently associated with slightly lower job satisfaction and longer hours.

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Findings: Flexibility desired

Regular working off-site for part of the week would be more widespread if the technology was better and management were perceived to be more supportive. However, some colleagues would not wish to work at home, either because it was not a suitable place to work or because they liked a good separation between personal and work life.

There was considerable interest in compressed hours working (e.g. nine-day fortnights), especially among the 1-3 group.

Some managers were much more open to requests for formal changes in working patterns (e.g. changes in scheduled hours, or part-time working) than others. Over a fifth of colleagues reported “concern over management reaction” as a reason for not seeking to work flexibly.

Line managers agreed they would be happy with the idea of seeing more of their staff work flexibly. However, the majority felt they needed more training in managing flexible work.

22% of colleagues in the 4+ group said they often missed important personal events owing to work. In a few areas, it was felt that requests for informal flexible working arrangements were not welcomed (see below).

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Findings: Trust/recognition

Previous research (and statistical analysis of the results for GRR) shows it is crucial that colleagues feel their manager is prepared to give them enough informal flexibility to deal with urgent family or personal business. This is a vital element of trust and provides recognition and some compensation for long working hours.

However, colleagues in some areas reported that they felt unable to ask for flexibility: “It’s not just that the answer is likely to be ‘no’ - you learn not to ask.”

Some managers appeared to be against working at home and or compressed hours on principle, on the grounds that this would reduce output.

A number of colleagues argued that guidelines could help overcome uncertainty about what was acceptable in practice.

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Findings: Work community

There was a strong desire for greater interaction between different parts of GRR and for colleagues to have a better understanding of each other’s roles and job challenges. This was true both in terms of geography and work function.

There was considerable appreciation for past occasions to get to know colleagues from other areas face to face.

There was enthusiasm for the new communication efforts, including Town Hall meetings and the newsletter.

Some managers expressed concerns that increased levels of flexible working could impair the sense of team, overburden colleagues working at their desks, and weaken interaction with clients.

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Recommendations: Introduction

The research reported above has flagged up concerns in all of the areas covered, with the exception of the range of formal LWB policies, where the range available in principle appears to be wide-ranging and generous.

Technology is a significant impediment to flexible working, but lies outside the remit of the report.

This section offers recommendations in the areas of cultural "fit", work time/effort, flexibility and trust/recognition.

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Recommendations: Cultural "fit"

A flexible work culture, allowing greater flexibility in working arrangements, is needed to fit with the emerging GRR work culture. It is also the best way to facilitate a more diverse workforce within GRR.

A renewed effort to move towards a more flexible culture throughout GRR is now required. In some areas and teams it will need greater changes than in others. It must be led by the SMT, who must fully buy in to the principles underlying flexible working and assist their outworking.

A key element is to trust colleagues of levels 4+ to organise their working arrangements in efficient ways, which both achieve objectives and safeguard teamworking.

A variety of methods, including guidelines, facilitated workshops and new training initiatives, are required to preserve the momentum of cultural change.

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Recommendations: Work time/effort

It is important to reduce the incidence of long working hours.

Very long hours in some parts of GRR currently pose an appreciable RISK. In addition to causing negative attitudes to work, we were told that chronic fatigue and inability to recuperate are tending to lead to lower quality of output, important work left undone, continual fire-fighting.

Some managers said there was no time to give to coaching their people.

From the individual point of view, there is the risk of damage to health.

On the other hand, reduced levels of workload would help make GRR an employer of choice.

While all this raises general management questions beyond the scope of this report, it seems clear that empty posts should be filled as quickly as possible.

Management should address the problem of excessive hours partly by example. (The proposed new time-recording system may help managers understand how long they are actually working.)

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Recommendations: Regular/formal flexible working

Increased levels of flexible working are both possible and desirable.

For the 1-3 group, flexibility could be considerably increased by greater use of formal policies, including: compressed hours schemes, reduced hours/part-time working, and job shares. Compressed hours working may be particularly successful in the larger teams of colleagues working in similar jobs

For the 4+ group, changes in GRR working methods are set to call for more working off-site. Reduced hours working at higher levels of management may be useful to facilitate increased diversity.

Information about the management of flexible working should be integrated into all 360˚appraisals, including the Colleague Feedback Questionnaire.

Training in managing flexible working should be a core element of all management training programmes. One crucial element in this is the ability to maintain and strengthen teamworking when colleagues are together less often than at present.

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Recommendations: Trust/recognition

In a small number of areas, requests for informal flexibility are perceived as unwelcome: it is essential to change such perceptions, which have clear and deleterious effects on morale.

In the short-term, guidelines may be useful as one step towards this – see the proposal below.

Repeated re-emphasis of the new cultural norms will be required to change attitudes and reinforce a culture of openness and mutual respect.

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Next steps

Short-term

– Fill existing vacancies as quickly as possible.– Adopt a set of guidelines on informal flexible working practices (see

the suggestions below).– Hold facilitated discussions within the SMT to exchange experience,

identify success stories, finalise and buy into these guidelines.– Inclusion of life/work balance in all standard feed-back mechanisms,

including the Colleague Feedback Questionnaire and the Smileometer

Longer-term

– Development of new programmes of management training on LWB– Integration of LWB elements into core training programmes– Carry out an audit of areas where flexible working could work well.

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Draft guidelines for managers (1)

In order to promote life/work balance, and remembering that colleagues do what management does – rather than what it says, managers are encouraged to:

Take some time off after heavy work assignments, for example, late-night or early-morning travel, weekend working.

Take time during the working day to attend to important personal concerns, such as doctor’s appointments, big family events.

Work outside the office when this is more efficient.

Take full holiday entitlements, arranging to be contactable only in emergencies.

Refrain from sending e-mails late in the evening or at weekends (defer transmission if necessary).

Avoid regular, very long hours of work in the office.

Follow the rules above, and make sure colleagues know this is the case.

Accept that changes in personal work arrangements may be needed to encourage colleagues to work in ways that they find more efficient and sustainable.

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Draft guidelines for managers (2)

To change the culture towards better life/work balance in the longer-term, management is encouraged to:

Work with FACTS:

Frequency (of reminders of management concern about LWB)

Appreciation (for the work and effort colleagues put in)

Consideration (for colleagues’ special personal circumstances)

Trust (give colleagues an inch and they will give you a mile)

Success stories (about changes in working patterns)

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Appendix: Interviews and focus groups

Note: In both Halifax and Leeds, three people took part in both interviews and focus group. All but one of the SMT were interviewed.

Grades

1-3 Grades

4+ Women Men Total

Interviews at: Edinburgh 5 7 6 6 12 Halifax 4 9 6 7 13 Leeds 3 12 7 8 15 Other 1 1 1 Total 12 29 19 22 41 Focus groups at: Edinburgh 7 11 4 8 15 Halifax 6 1 5 0 6 Leeds 2 5 1 4 6 Total 15 17 10 12 27