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Deloitte & Touche’s work-life balance practices have been held up as an example of good practice by the Trade and Industry Secretary Stephen Byers.
He praised the flexible working policy of the financial services company, which has ex- perienced rapid growth and increased profitability.
Under the initiative, all staff who have been employed for at least six months have the chance to apply to work part-time.
Steve James, HR director for Deloitte & Touche, said Achieving Work Life Balance was introduced three years ago and has proved popular with staff.
But he emphasised that its introduction was largely market-driven because of the need to attract and retain quality staff.
James said, “We discuss their personal performance and the needs of the business. We allow requests to work part-time where we can.
“We are responding to the marketplace and to the demands of our people, both those who are already in the firm and those we would like to recruit.
“We are putting in place a degree of flexibility which allows us to respond to this demand.”
James said in the past three years the number of employees working part-time at the firm, which has 6,500 staff, has grown to 350 from only a handful in the past three years.
