Support work life balance with flexible working for your employees
This week, 7-11 October 2019, celebrates National Work Life Week. Your ability to maintain a work life balance can be affected by many factors relating to your workplace and working conditions including:
The flexibility and quantity of hours that you work;
Sick and holiday leave provisions;
Availability of support structures within the workplace (e.g. childcare facilities); and,
Your commute to and from work
According to the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) over 24 million people commute to work each day in England and Wales – With an average commute time of 56 minutes.1
Commuting can reduce mental wellbeing, negatively impact physical health such as raising blood pressure and also, reduce the time available for health promoting activities, such as physical activity. In fact:
Over half of commuters (55%) say the commute increases their stress levels
Over one third say the commute decreases the time they spend sleeping
More than two in five (41%) say the commute decreases the time they spend being physically active1
The main causes of commuter distress include:
Journey delays
Overcrowding
Anti-social behaviour
Uncomfortable temperature
Journey length1
How can flexible working help your employees?
Job satisfaction can be improved and stress levels reduced if workers have opportunities to cut their commuting time. Flexible working could help achieve this by either working from home occasionally or staggering their hours.
More than 1.5 million people in the UK now work from home – an increase of nearly 20% (241,000) in the last decade. But that is still only 0.5% of the total UK workforce.2
Flexible working arrangements are gaining in popularity, with 31% of employees saying they would rather avail of flexible working arrangements, such as working from home, rather than take a pay rise.3