Occupational hazards - October 23

FLEXIBLE WORKING and work-life balance are terms we hear about regularly. A quick search online will throw up many different stories from around the world, some good, some not so good. 

It can’t be denied that having a good balance between the hours people work and the time to do personal things, including seeing friends and family and recreational activities, has a positive impact on workers. The ability to work flexibly is also important in the modern workplace.

This was recognised when new regulations were introduced in the UK earlier this year which enable people to request to work flexibly from day one of the job.

On the other side of the coin, long working hours can have a negative impact on people. According to the latest global estimates by the World Health Organization and International Labour Organization, long working hours led to 745,000 deaths from stroke and ischemic heart disease in 2016, a 29 per cent rise from 2000.

The same organisations say that working long hours is known to be responsible for about one-third of the total estimated work-related burden of disease. 

So, what can be done about it?

One thing that is clear is that there is no one single answer. One way of working which suits a particular individual won’t suit another. This, along with other factors, makes it a real challenge for employers.

IOSH recommends regulators and organisations are aware of and recognise the need for more family and worker-friendly workplaces, with awareness of the wider benefits this approach brings.

A flexible organisational culture needs to expand the approach beyond work location and working hours, by being responsible, accommodating individual needs, and essentially having a whole-person management approach that values and supports people.

Improvements in work-life balance, in the quality of working conditions, and increasing levels of independence and flexibility, facilitate workers to lead healthier and more sustainable lives. It can also lead to them experiencing greater job satisfaction and productivity, positive mental health and physical health and lower absenteeism or presenteeism. All of these can bring significant benefits to businesses as well as the employees themselves. 

Such improvements can include arrangements like telework, working pattern or location changes, and having the ability to disconnect from work-related electronic communication during non-work hours. On this latter point, reports suggest it is common that people feel they cannot disconnect from work, an issue which has risen since remote working became more common during the Covid-19 pandemic.

IOSH believes that work life-balance and flexibility in working arrangements should be seen as part of job and career conversations and considerations. It should start from the very beginning of employment and be an ongoing process that requires human-centric leadership to be open to exploring and learning from continuing experimenting, adjustment, and adaptation. 

It also needs open and constructive conversations with workers, with businesses well-equipped to consider varying flexibility requests from employees. This is of particular relevance with employers and workers currently negotiating remote or hybrid work practices or dealing with return-to-office requirements.

Enabling all workers to benefit from flexible working arrangements, where possible and appropriate, shouldn’t remain a pipe dream. 

If the new regulations in the UK around the right to request flexible working are to prove successful, aligning flexibility and protection practices need to be extended to different forms of atypical working time, to cover segments of the workforce working at night, on weekends, on shift work, or in other forms of on-call work including the platform economy and on-demand work.

Dr Ivan Williams Jimenez is senior policy and public affairs manager at the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH). For more information, visit www.iosh.com