Work-life balance: Are you lucky to have it?

Talent management is such a tightrope walk because on the one hand you've got to keep thousands of employees happy, and try and do it without going overboard (and finding the right things to do in the first place.)

A lot of employers are now realising that their human resources are their real treasure trove, and keeping them happy and healthy has become a priority for many of them. A Catalyst report called 'Expanding Work-Life Perspectives: Talent Management in India', highlights the following companies' efforts to do good by their workforce:

1. Procter & Gamble: Employees can work from home or work reduced schedules.
2. PricewaterhouseCoopers: Commute support, women’s networks, mentoring.
3. Infosys: Wellness programs, stress-relief programs, counseling, sabbaticals, return to-work training, enhanced maternity leave. 
4. Wipro: Wellness counseling, on-site “day camp” during school holidays.
5. Tata Group: Provides employee programs to connect parents with their children.
6. Ernst & Young: Returnship programs for new mothers, flexible work arrangements, reduced schedules, on-site nursery.
7. Google: Taxis on-call for family and personal emergencies.

Following are the highlights of the report:

• Regardless of gender, future leaders in India are highly focused on their jobs and their career advancement; they also report a strong dual work-family emphasis and the desire to have a good work-life fit.
• Despite having similar levels of career interest and ambition as men, women in India report more challenges managing work and personal life, suggesting the need for companies to consider how current work cultures and work-life policies fit the experiences of all their talent.
• Both women and men reported that their current focus is on their job but also reported a strong dual (work and family) focus.

• They also stated that they wanted to advance further in their careers and aspired to senior leadership roles.
• Both also said that having a good fit between life on and off the job was very important to them and appreciated their company’s flexibility options.
• But women were more likely to report challenges managing work and family life.
• Women were also more likely to convey a mismatch between their flexibility needs and what the company offered.

What's really telling is the above pie-chart, which shows that a whopping 80% of men and 90% of women, don't feel that their workplace meets their work-life (balance) needs.

I guess more corporates need to look at this report and do some brainstorming for solutions.

See the full report here:
http://www.catalyst.org/file/621/expanding_work_life_perspectives_talent_management_in_india_final.pdf