Case Study
 Work Life Balance is Meaningful DAILY Achievement
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and Enjoyment in each 4 of our Life Quadrants:
WORK
FAMILY
FRIENDS
SELF
 Global privately held company.
 8,000 Employees 45 Locations Worldwide
 Innovative Business Style: “To make money and have
fun”.
 Organizational culture is founded on a team-based
environment.
 Employees have no job titles.
 Leaders emerge naturally
 4 Basic Principles
 Fairness to each other and everyone with whom they
come into contact
 Freedom to encourage, help and allow other associates
grow in knowledge, skill and scope of responsibility.
 The ability to make one’s own commitments and keep
them.
 Consultation with other associates before undertaking
actions that could affect the reputation of the company
by hitting it “below the waterline”.
 Associates manage themselves by being fair.
 There are very few company policies; practices develop
naturally and do not need to be framed.
 There are no set working hours.
 Personal and Family responsibilities are okay; no need
to explain for missed days of work.
 Challenges: “Very easy to get caught up in the positive
environment and find yourself over-committing”
 What are key elements in the corporate culture that
may prevent employees from taking advantage of there
being no set work hours?
 Looking back at the 4 basic principles: Fairness to each
other and everyone with whom they come into contact,
and the ability to make one’s own commitments and
keep them.
 If everyone in the corporation is being treated fairly and
staying committed at the same time then employees
may feel bad if they take advantage of the company
because they’re not being mistreated.
 What are some challenges employers may face when
trying to implement W.L. Gore’s distinctive approach
to work-life balance in different countries of its
operations?
 One mane challenge that is most likely faced would be
the no set working hours, because some groups of
people don’t have that level of morale that this company
expects. Associates will miss days and not care because
they know they will not get into trouble.
 Key Points
 When they are part of a clearly understood management
style, work-life balance arrangements can work without
being supported by formal policies and procedures.
Work-life balance can be an integral part of a holistic
management approach.
 Organization should focus on life issues for
employees/associates and actively work on these as well
as work development to ensure the balancing of work
and life.
 Good leadership and mentorship are important to
encourage employees to balance work and their
professional life.
 Founded in 1928 in the U.S
 Currently employs more than 100,000 people
worldwide
 Employs 1,530 staff in East Kilbride, Scotland where
700 are operators
 Operates plants 24 hours a day, seven days a week
 Work-life Balances Arrangements Offered
 Part-time work
 Dependency leave
 Employee assistance program
 Job sharing
 Health care
 Special shift arrangements
 Study leave
 Emergency holidays
 Only offered to premier employees to attract high
caliber people
 Recognize and reward
 Major change in work hours in the year 2000 at the
East Kilbride plant
 Today full-time operators work seven 12-hour shifts
over a 2 week span
 Four days one week 3 days the next week
 When work hours changed job sharing was offered
 2 people share a full time job between them
 Equally splitting number of hours worked
 Mary McDonald was a single parent with two children
 Full time was too strenuous
 She wrote a letter to the HR dept. Her application was
successful and she was matched with a job partner
 She says the system has worked very well for her
 “I’m full of energy on the days I work – Motorola gets 100
percent from me”
 She says it’s very good for her family life
 Neil McKinven is a senior life manager
 Believes job sharing plays a high-profile role
 Helps plant remain competitive
 Helps retain high pool of job talent
 Most job share employees are women
 Family Commitments
 Maternity leaves
 Problems with job sharing
 Temporary employees during holidays
 Unfamiliar with work
 Management has to step in
 Keys elements of job sharing
 Processes have to transparent and understood
 Everyone must be aware of expectations
 Maintain good communication
 Identify any issues
 How does Motorola’s job sharing fit their business
needs?
 Maintain high profile workers
 Retain pool of highly qualified and well trained talent
 Benefits to company’s high rating
 America’s 100 Best Corporate Citizen award list
 What are the advantages and disadvantages of job
sharing to job sharers and their managers?
 Flexible schedule
 Competitive work environment to obtain benefits
 Holiday temp do not know work
 Managers have to step in
 Swedish home furnishing retailer.
 Global Business: 150 stores in more than 20 countries
 25 stores in the U.S.
 Dream: “to create a better everyday life for the many
people.”
 HR Idea: “to give down-to-earth, straightforward
people the possibility to grow, both as individuals and
in their professional roles, so that together we are
strongly committed to creating a better everyday life
for ourselves and our customers.”
 Organizational Culture based on Swedish national
values of commitment to, and time with, family and
community, combined with concern for a healthy
environment.
 Emphasize coffee breaks so that employees can
socialize.
 Work-Life Balance Expressed: Paid days off for all
staff for first day of school leave, marriage leave and
“moving house leave”.
 All employees can take advantage of free podiatry and
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massage sessions during work time.
Shows investment in workers.
Most recent health initiative would be IKEA’s fit for a
week program.
Work-Life Balance = Win Win Situation
It increases morale and commitment by improving
psychological contracts and gives “something tangible
to staff so they perceive IKEA as a caring company that
they enjoy working for.
 Key Points
 Work life balance is tied closely to organizational
culture.
 Work-life balance is not just about flexibility in work for
life outside work, it also works the other way around:
“Bringing aspects of wider life-like health initiatives and
socializing-into work can be fun”
 “The best way to engage more people in work-life
balance programs is to let co-workers who have
experienced it advocate it by word-of-mouth.
 52 court sites
 employs approximately 1,000 civil servants
 Extends throughout Scotland
 Divided into 3 operational headquarters
 Agency headquarters, Supreme courts, Sheriff courts
 Did not get serious about work-life until 98-99
 Lost key employees over paternity leave and family
issues
 Women compromise 57 percent of workforce
 Today SCS has a high variety of work-life balance
arrangements
 Flex-time (start work anywhere between 8 and 10)
 Long as specified amount of hours worked every week
 Home-working
 Job sharing
 Study Leave
 Emergency and special
 Public community (voluntary work )
 Care leave (ill family member)
 Parental leave
 Childcare financial allowances (nursery care)
 Joe Smith – executive officer at Dumbarton Sheriff
Court
 Daughter Rebecca born with complex heart disease
 Not expected to live
 Beat the odds with 13 operations at the age of 3 days
 Now in first year of elementary school
 Spent 18 months of her life in hospital
 Faces a heart-lung transplant in future
 Smith tried to manage work through all of this
 Driving 84 miles a day after a promotion
 Contacted management about this problem
 Smith was granted a special leave
 Also accessed SCS Employees assistance program
 Private counseling and free for employees
 Smith felt supported and seen benefits
 He states, “all the managers have supported me and it’s two
way”
 Key Points
 Important for staff to align their expectations or work-
life balance initiatives to business needs
 Employees are more likely to benefit if they ask the
people directly affected what arrangements they want
 Understand situation from individuals point of view
 Support line managers making the decisions on
implementing the WLB policies through training and
coaching
 Student
 Work, school, and extracurricular activities
 Is your work and school life balanced?
 Does your job offer flexible hours or special time off
during finals week
 Do you often find yourself sleeping in class?
 Maybe you should research and consider work-life
balance