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Keeping your staff at work is easier than you think

Today absenteeism costs Australian industry $7 billion per annum, that's just over 2% of GDP. And yet some 18 years ago in 1985, Dena Blackman then CEO of DIAL-AN-ANGEL® placed a large advertisement in the Australian Financial Review that could provide a creative solution to reducing absenteeism. It stated

"KEEP YOUR STAFF WHERE THEY BELONG - AT WORK!"

Dena believed that the time was approaching when employers would value their key staff enough to provide rewards for long hours away from their families; she understood that the conflicting demands of workplace and home placed huge strains upon young parents; she pre-empted the situation where companies would want to provide staff incentives and rewards to enable the company to meet their deadlines in a competitive marketplace.

Apart from a few desultory responses to the advertisement, the first major reaction to the idea came 15 years later. Within one month in the year 2000, she had 3 major institutions approach her with the "novel" idea that they would pay for home help for their executive staff!

This has expanded over the past three years to encompass ALL the staff of a great number of far-sighted companies. Now, if one of their staff is working long hours of overtime, has a sick child or a frail elderly parent, they simply dial an Angel. It's a "win-win" situation! The Companies keep their experienced staff on the job instead of calling in temps or overloading the other staff. They welcome the fact that their employees are appreciative and unstressed. The employee no longer suffers pangs about staying at home and feeling guilty or going to work and feeling even guiltier.

In times of high property values, the Company does not have to find space for a crèche on their premises for the employee's children; or to appropriately staff it; nor does it have the additional expenses of adding to the payroll and Superannuation, sick leave, annual leave or staff absenteeism. They simply open an account the Agency and provide the names and authorisation codes of the employees - and pay the bill at the end of the month.

A few companies even pay for their PA's and single parent staff members to have after-school care during the school-term and vacation care during the school holidays. The employee does not have to rush home (concerned about delays in the Public Transport system or traffic jams on the roads). They are secure in the knowledge that their pre-school and school aged children will be supervised by professional carers until the parent reaches home - even when delayed by unforeseen circumstances.

Eldercare is also a major issue for employees. Nearly 600,000 Australians provide care for older relatives or friends and one of the main reasons employees take time off work is to care for their parents. Interestingly enough of those people working prior to taking on the "carer" role, 15% made changes to their work hours due to their responsibilities for caring. It's no wonder that some companies have extended this facility to employees with frail relatives to whom they have obligations. Some companies have even been pleased to provide domestic help so that their staff can relax on the weekends rather than come to work on Mondays exhausted from trying to keep up with domestic duties, home maintenance and garden chores.

There is no doubt that businesses are reaping real benefits from introducing policies such as these. More and more studies are showing that achieving work-life harmony is a critical issue for employees. In a recent study of more than 200 Australian companies, the Work/Life Initiatives: The Way Ahead 2003 Benchmarking Study showed that having good work/life strategies in place reduced staff turnover by 6%, cut absenteeism by 4% and saw a quarter more employees return to work after parental leave. These figures all represent major savings to business.

The costs of turnover are real and significant, especially in the case of employees who play a key role in the implementation of strategy. The benefits of retention are just as real; the Harvard Business review reports that a 5% increase in retention results in a 10% decrease in costs and productivity increases ranging from 25% to 65%.

Sean Kirk, Director, Coaching Workshop has a number of clients who come to him to address work-life balance issues and he agrees, "in working with executives from a large cross-section of industries we consistently find that any company that provides creative solutions to work-life balance issues will retain talented motivated people. Addressing these issues for people allows them to be more focused at work; and this is reflected positively in the bottom line."

Everyone agrees that conflicts between work, family and lifestyle responsibilities are now a 'bottom line' business issue. Effective work-life strategies that meet the needs of both your organisation and its employees are vital to maintain a competitive edge in today's rapidly changing business environment. It's a simple statement - but it's been a long time coming!

Dena Blackman founded DIAL-AN-ANGEL over 40 years ago and today it is the only national agency specialising in the provision of home and family care. The company provides childcare, nannies, occasional babysitting, before and after-school care, emergency "fill-in" child carers, as well as housekeeping services, Eldercare-at-home®, in-home nursing, handyman services, in-home entertaining and corporate functions.

For further information contact Danielle Robertson, CEO, DIAL-AN-ANGEL Pty Limited on 02 9362 4225 or email on administration@dialanangel.com