The IBA GEI ‘Balancing Report’: Strategic Trends in National Laws and Multinationals’ Policies on Work-Life Balance and the Implications for Human Resources Law reveals divergent views between what work-life balance might help to achieve, including the promotion and integration of women in the workplace, and the reduction of absenteeism – and what it is actually achieving.
The report also identifies a gap between the perspectives of senior HR managers’ and HR lawyers’ on the issue, with HR managers unanimously defending work-life balance as a tool to attract and retain talent, and lawyers not recognising a clear correlation. Salvador del Rey, Chair of the IBA GEI, remarked: ‘It is generally recognised that adapting to the needs and wants of a changing workforce is of increasing global importance. However, the 2012 IBA GEI report highlights achieving equilibrium between an employee’s work life and his or her family/private life is a specific area demanding particular attention.’ He added, ‘The issue of work-life balance is of strategic importance in HR planning because it affects the recruiting and retaining of employees, which is increasingly important for multinationals dealing with the international mobility of employees. Further, there is no escaping that work-life balance is a multidimensional issue influencing areas such as discrimination, employment law, and corporate social responsibility’.
As part of the research for the IBA GEI Balancing Report the opinions of HR directors across 153 large multinationals with headquarters in 32 countries, and 45 lawyers from 45 countries were surveyed. Participants in each group were asked to rate the importance of certain issues on work-life balance in their company policy or national law. Almost 64 per cent of HR managers surveyed said they did not have a policy on work-life balance. Despite this response a significant majority considered the issue of work-life balance ‘somewhat’ or ‘very’ important within the company’s policies. Furthermore, 60 per cent believed that in the next ten years the issue will be ‘very important’ with most of the remaining respondents considering it ‘somewhat important’. Of the polled lawyers, 85 per cent considered the issue of work-life balance to be a ‘somewhat’ or ‘very’ relevant issue in current national laws, and almost unanimously (92 per cent) foresee that it will become more relevant in their national law in the next ten years. According to other survey results, multinationals show little hesitation recognising the positive effects that work-life balance could have on reducing absenteeism. However, with a high percentage of multinationals admitting that they still lack a sufficient specific policy on work-life balance there appears to be a gap between recognition of the issue as important and the necessary implementation of policy. There also appears to be reluctance to introduce work-life balance policy into national laws.
In addition, there is a gap between the perspectives of senior HR managers and HR lawyers in relation to the positive effects that multinationals see in work-life balance as a means to promoting and better integrating women to the workforce, with HR lawyers not considering this potential in their laws. The IBA GEI Balancing Report concludes that the relationship between national legislation and multinationals policy is, and will continue to be of a synergic nature with each influencing the other. The 2012 IBA GEI Balancing Report is the second report from the IBA GEI. It will be presented together with the conclusions drawn by the IBA GEI at a session of the IBA Conference – The Paradigm of Employment Law. The Conference takes place on 29 and 30 March 2012 in New York (USA) as is presented by the IBA Employment and Industrial Relations Law Committee and the IBA Discrimination Law Committee and supported by the IBA North American Regional Forum. At the event HR managers and lawyers will discuss ways to develop the appropriate strategies and policies to address the issues raised in the report in the future.
