Fiexibility At Work // Issue Five

// Issue Five

Issue Five

Contents:

Executive Director, Kevin Cass-Ryall on creating a flexible workplace

Executive Director, Kevin Cass-Ryall on creating a Work & Family Award Winning organisation. Part one of his interview with Kerry Fallon Horgan considers the drivers for change, the role of leadership and the types of flexible practices at Hollywood Private Hospital - the 2000 ACCI National Work & Family Gold Award winning organisation.

What have been the drivers for change to a more flexible workplace?
"Analysis of our workforce data showed that the majority of our staff are in the child-rearing stage of life and therefore would have a strong requirement to work in an organisation that recognised and supported the requirements placed on them during this critical and important stage of their life. Also the market that we target in terms of our recruitment and selection and specifically for nursing staff is also predominately in the child-rearing age group and we needed to have work arrangements that could accommodate the needs of both parties. We invest a lot of resources in the attraction, retention and development of our staff and therefore it makes good business sense to nurture and explore ways to meet the needs of staff. We also recognised that the school system places certain expectations on parents and that the labour market is changing particularly with the increasing desire of employees to work less hours, each of these factors if not recognised and addressed could compromise our delivery of a premier service to our patients and clients."

What has been your role as the organisational leader in creating a flexible workplace?
"My role as Executive Director has been to develop and maintain a culture whereby staff feel valued, empowered and supported. Our values-based culture strives to achieve this. When staff feel valued, respected, supported and treated as an individual rather then a number then they are more likely to embrace and operationalise the hospital’s values and culture. My role is also to ensure that managers have the necessary skills to develop their staff and to work with them to achieve our goals. Meeting the needs of our staff and the organisation enables Hollywood to provide a premier service."

What are the types of work/life needs of your employees?
"Mainly in the need for lifestyle friendly working arrangements, which includes flexible rostering, family leave, opportunities to balance work and family/lifestyle."

What flexible work practices have you implemented?
The hospital has introduced the following flexible work practices:

Part-time work

Flexible hours

Work from home

Request-driven rosters

This option is proving very successful amongst our nursing staff. By allowing some degree of choice and control over selection of shifts many of our staff can accommodate their family or lifestyle commitments while at the same time providing a valuable contribution to the workplace.

Family leave Like most organisations our staff can utilize up to five days sick leave to care for a sick family member. We looked at our absenteeism rates and were very satisfied that we did not have a culture of abuse. We utilized the result of such analysis to broaden the use of family leave to include more positive events such as participation in the school tuck shop or reading roster. Such events and participation is an expectation of parents who have kids in the school system. We purposely choose not to define a ‘family event’ as this can mean different things to different people. We trust our staff and our data shows that such trust is welcomed and not abused.

Ability to trade salary for additional leave This option is growing in popularity particularly amongst our nursing management. It allows staff to make some choice over how they wish to be paid - money or leave.

Child care and school holiday programs. We do not have a childcare centre on site, however we are within easy access to a range of excellent childcare centres. We did research the need for a hospital-based childcare centre and found that our staff were mainly in the child rearing rather than bearing stage and therefore there was a greater need for pre and post-school care and school holiday programs. Together with Sir Charles Gairdner hospital (our neighbours) we fund the role of a childcare co-ordinator. Her role is to assist staff to locate childcare suitable to their needs and to co-ordinate four school holiday programs per year.

Employee assistance program Available to staff and their families. Staff do not exist in a vacuum and family problems are not left at the door when we come to work. Staff attend an independent and confidential facility to discuss either work or non-work related issues. Our view is if something is on their mind irrespective of whether it is work related or not it will affect their performance at work.

School contact hours This option is utilized mainly by our corporate managers who want to maintain full time employment while at the same time accommodate their school and family commitments. The additional time is made up after hours at home at the convenience of the employee.

Paid parental leave. In April last year the hospital introduced paid parental leave for all full-time and part-time staff. Staff can access up to six weeks paid leave. This payment is paid up front and there is no requirement for staff to return to work upon completion of the leave. 95% of our staff return from parental leave and of those 82% change their hours to accommodate their new family commitments - hence the need for our flexible working arrangements and options.

Employee Wellness Program Staff well-being is of paramount importance and as identified previously is very important to our staff. Many of our staff who join our organisation have been influenced by our wellness program and in some cases place a greater emphasis on this over monetary benefits. Our wellness program is very heavily subsidised and some of the activities are made available to families as well as staff. Over the last twelve months staff have enjoyed the following:

Subsidised tennis lessons This program commenced almost two years ago and is ongoing. A professional tennis coach is brought in to conduct a range of lessons tailored to suit different levels of skill.

Subsidised gym facilities with individual assessments and program design We are fortunate to have a fully equipped gym on site which is available to both our patients and staff. Staff must undergo a personal assessment before embarking on any fitness program.

Other activities we offer to staff include the following:

Healthy heart and cholesterol testing

Stress management programs

Healthy eating and lifestyle programs

Subsidised Yoga

Structure eight-week weight loss and exercise program.

Subsidised entry fee for the city to surf fun-run (447 entrants this year)

Family Zoo Day

This year to coincide with the launch of family week we invited all staff and their families to a free family day at Perth Zoo. We were overwhelmed with the support for this event with a turnout of 850 people. These included staff, grandparents, children, grandchildren and family friends".

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Is your boss a bully?
By Jane Keighley

Nearly everyone will encounter bullying at some stage of their lives. It usually begins in the schoolyard and it’s expected that as we mature, the bullying will stop - but does it?

Schoolyard bullying - the torment of one child by another - is often carried through to the workplace. It represents a grab for control by an insecure, inadequate person in an attempt to exercise power through the humiliation of the target.

Amanda* had worked for the same company for over 10 years and she was happy in a job she loved. But after a sudden re-structure, things started to go horribly wrong and Amanda became the object of victimisation and workplace bullying.

For 12 months the bully continued and shattered Amanda’s Life. She became stressed, depressed and started having panic attacks. She was simply too scared to go into work. And she has no idea why she became the target of her boss’ torment.

"It was a terrible time. I’d worked really hard for years and was happy in my job. I’d won awards for my work and had been involved in developing many successful ventures. Then after several changes of staff, the nightmare began," says 34-year-old Amanda.

"I was yelled at, undermined and had work confiscated by the head of the company. I would attend meetings only to be ignored and put down if I made a suggestion."
Sound familiar? According to Paul McCarthy co-author of ‘Bullying: From Backyard to Boardroom’ (Federation Press) and member of the Bullying Research Team, Griffith University, Queensland, Amanda isn’t alone.

Although there are no official national figures on the incidence of workplace bullying, based on proportionate statistics gathered in the UK, it’s estimated that one in four Australians are being bullied.
"The best international research shows between 25 and 50 per cent of employees will experience bullying at some time in their working lives. In some occupations the figure is up to 95 per cent," says Paul.

Bullying is one of the major factors behind workplace stress complaints. In Victoria last year nearly 1,100 WorkCover claims arose out of either harassment at work or exposure to workplace violence. And this is a figure that may be under-reported.

"This may be due to victims’ fears of being labelled troublemakers, being accused of lying, making the workplace harassment worse or losing their jobs," says Paul.

"What is bullying?"
The Beyond Bullying Association defines workplace bullying as "the repeated less favourable treatment of a person by another or others in the workplace, which may be considered unreasonable and inappropriate workplace practice."

Apart from physical violence it’s behaviour that’s offensive, intimidating, humiliating, or that degrades, ridicules or insults the person at work. It includes yelling or screaming abuse and insults, belittling opinions or constant criticism, undermining work performance, increasing demands, impossible deadlines, isolation from normal work interaction, unexplained job changes or being assigned meaningless tasks.

Bullying occurs across all sectors of the work force but it’s been found that the most likely targets are young people, women, casual or temporary workers, contractors and trainees. And the most common fields are education, health services and public administration.

Giovinella Gonthier, author of ‘Rude Awakenings: Overcoming the Civility Crisis in the Workplace’ (Dearborn Trade Publishing) says that most bullies exhibit similar behaviour.

"Bullies are weak, mean-spirited people who display hurtful and destructive behaviour. They thrive on bullying those who are vulnerable in some way or those they feel professionally or personally threatened by. Many become managers because of the position of power, and as such no one is likely to check up on their behaviour. They generally have no interest in conforming to acceptable behaviour in society and often think they are a law unto themselves," says Giovinella.

"Bullies derive pleasure from inflicting psychological damage on the victim but what they often don’t realise, until it’s too late, is that they can actually be doing severe damage to themselves."

"At what cost?"
The financial implications on Australian companies due to absenteeism, paid sick leave, staff turnover, redundancy, staff training and legal and compensation costs arising from complaints and grievances is staggering.

"A recent impact and cost assessment calculated that workplace bullying costs Australian employers between six and 13 billion dollars every year," says Paul.

And the psychological affect on the victim can be just as crippling. It’s not uncommon for people to turn to drugs or alcohol and some are never able to work again.

"I’m normally a strong person," says Amanda, "but the whole experience nearly destroyed me. I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

I could barely leave the house and my relationship with my husband was in ruins. I started drinking more than usual as a way of trying to drown out the misery of my day at work.

"I even thought about suicide. I officially complained about the bullying but nothing was done so in the end I had no option but to leave my job. Looking back I can’t believe that one man nearly destroyed my life. It’ll never happen to me again," she says.

Amanda is lucky. Through counselling she has regained her confidence and her panic attacks have stopped.

"Although I’m still on anti-depressants I feel that I can move forward and put the past behind me. Counselling has made me realise that the problem wasn’t mine."

"What are your rights?"
As bullying is such a grey area most employees are unaware of their rights. They often believe that they just have to "put up with it", but they don’t.

Under occupational health and safety law, an employer has an obligation to protect employees form acts of violence, both physical and psychological. A complaint can be lodged with the health and safety representative at work or with a health and safety inspector in your area.

If you’re unable to work due to stress you can file a claim with WorkCover. You should be aware that the process can be lengthy and as bullying can often be difficult to prove, not all claims are accepted.

Despite legislation in all States outlawing bullying, some employers are still unaware of their legal responsibilities. Many companies are, however, seeking advice on how to deal with bullying and actively implementing anti-bullying strategies.

Kerry Fallon Horgan, Managing Partner of ‘Flexibility at Work’, a national Sydney-based Diversity Management Consultancy, advises employers on how to effectively address the issue of workplace bullying.

"The foundations of a high performing workplace include trust, respect, empowerment and feeling both physically and emotionally safe. These fundamental building blocks are shattered by bullying behaviour that can occur at any level in the organisation," says Kerry.

"Addressing bullying requires both individual and strategic workplace culture change. Strategies we recommend include the implementation of guidelines such as visible senior management commitment to zero tolerance for workplace bullying, training in dealing with workplace bullying that should start at the top of the organisation, undertaking regular workplace audits to determine the types and extent of bullying, protection for people who complain about bullying and following up all complaints."

Unfortunately for Amanda, even though her organisation did have an anti-bullying policy, it made no allowance for the bullying being committed by the head of the company.

"I was accused of not following the correct procedures when it came to the bullying guidelines but where did I have to go? The last point of contact was the head of the company," says Amanda.

However, many employers are now taking workplace bullying seriously as they realise the devastating affect it can have, not only on the victim, but also the business’ bottom line. And if all companies take Kerry’s advice and have a zero tolerance policy against bullying, the happier and more productive the workplace will be for everyone.

And as Amanda says, "no-one should have to put up with being bullied - ever."

*Names have been changed
(Amanda is currently taking legal action against her former employer)

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