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.
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