Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Latest NewsHR practiceWork-life balance

Groups unite to promote work-life balance in UK

by Personnel Today 6 Sep 2005
by Personnel Today 6 Sep 2005

The government, employers and trade unions have joined forces for the first time to try and agree on the best way to promote work-life balance in the UK workplace.

The Department of Trade and Industry, together with the CBI and the TUC, is to launch a new report in London today.

Managing Change: Practical ways to reduce long hours and reform working practices is the result of discussions between the three parties, as well as nine masterclasses held between July 2004 and June 2005, in which top-performing companies shared their experiences of creating and running flexible working practices.

The report lists nine top tips for employers considering implementing flexible working practices.

There is no mention of contentious issues such as the UK’s opt-out from the EU Working Time Directive, which allows staff to work more than 48 hours a week. However, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said the report showed a clear business case for reorganising working patterns away from over-reliance on extra hours at work.

“Long hours reduce labour productivity and lower the quality of work due to the onset of fatigue,” he said. “Businesses are also hampered by the ill-health associated with working excessive hours, increased labour turnover, and a constrained recruitment pool.”

Gerry Sutcliffe, minister for employment relations, said the report showed that reforming working patterns could improve work-life balance and have a positive impact on the bottom line.

“One of the key lessons to emerge from the report is that businesses need to make sure they have the trust of their workforce and their active input when considering and introducing changes,” he said. “A management style that empowers people rather than controls them will facilitate change and make it work in the longer term.”

John Cridland, deputy director general of the CBI, said maximising company performance by modernising working patterns was a key issue for UK firms.

“These case studies demonstrate the valuable lessons learned from involving employees in developing new patterns of work – and the considerable benefits to be gained,” he said.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Nine tips for reforming working practices



  1. A strong business rationale based on improving business performance and employee satisfaction is essential
  2. Effective employee involvement will deliver appreciation of the need for change and the willingness to embrace it
  3. Vision and leadership from senior leaders and line managers will drive the change agenda throughout the organisation
  4. Improve employee relations – productivity will improve if employee relations are based on mutual trust and respect
  5. Empowerment – maximising employee input is vital to driving continuous improvements in productivity at team level
  6. Training is often a major factor in successful change initiatives. Improved business performance usually pays back any investment in new skills
  7. Reward – using criteria which reward staff for innovation, quality and quantity, rather than for the hours they put in, reinforces the business case for implementing change
  8. Measuring, monitoring and evaluating enables the reviewing and testing of new practices to ensure they meet the needs of the business and the staff
  9. There is no one-size-fits-all model – changing working practices involves realigning culture and people management practices to boost business performance and enhance the quality of workers’ lives.

Source – Managing Change report

Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

previous post
BBC unveils HR supplier shortlist
next post
Assessments jeopardise government skills plan

You may also like

Company director wins £15k after being told to...

4 Jul 2025

Skills shortfall in construction threatens housing target

4 Jul 2025

MPs demand Home Office tightens visas to protect...

4 Jul 2025

It’s all about the Monet: how art transforms...

3 Jul 2025

Stop chasing quick fixes: return to the office...

3 Jul 2025

Asda hails major upgrade in employees’ benefits

3 Jul 2025

100% success for latest large-scale four-day week trial

3 Jul 2025

NHS 10-year Health Plan sets out vision for...

3 Jul 2025

Microsoft to cut 9,000 jobs globally as role...

3 Jul 2025

Decline in workplace deaths: falls from height remain...

3 Jul 2025

  • Empowering working parents and productivity during the summer holidays SPONSORED | Businesses play a...Read more
  • AI is here. Your workforce should be ready. SPONSORED | From content creation...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+