By Aoibhinn Mc Bride
Is work-life balance the ultimate status symbol for working women?
ADVERTISEMENTA new study conducted by the University of Oxford’s Well-being Research Centre has found that when it comes to fostering a positive working environment, reducing stress, and boosting employee resilience, flexibility is one of the most effective - and most coveted - elements required to create a healthy work-life balance.
The study also found that individual mental health interventions including mindfulness classes or well-being apps did little to truly benefit employees and that wider-scale support and more empathetic management practices had a more beneficial impact.
"There’s growing consensus that organisations have to change the workplace and not just the worker," commented Dr William Fleming, Research Fellow at the University of Oxford’s Well-being Research Centre, and author of the study.
This data correlates with a separate study which found that post-pandemic, 72 per cent of women are prioritising purpose and balance at work, and are looking for the flexibility that facilitates this.
The great debate
Despite the evidence suggesting otherwise - organisations that facilitate flexible working arrangements have experienced a surge in productivity and employee performance - it is becoming increasingly apparent that many employers are backtracking on flexible working arrangements and resorting to employee monitoring to keep tabs on in-office attendance.
ADVERTISEMENTIn the UK, employees at consulting firm EY are being monitored by senior staff via swipe card entry to ensure adherence to the company’s hybrid working guidelines, which require them to be in the office a set number of days per week.
Meta and Citigroup have also instigated employee attendance monitoring via turnstile access to determine who is coming into the office - and how often they are doing so.
Meanwhile, in the US, the Bank of America has sent a written warning to its employees to highlight that their attendance at the office is compulsory.
These "letters of education" warned that failure to follow return-to-office orders would result in disciplinary action.
Taking control
So, how can workers advocate for more flexibility if their employer seems determined to get them back to the office?
In the EU, legislation gives all working parents of children up to the age of eight the right to request flexible working arrangements and gives carers a right to request flexible working arrangements too.
Individual countries within the EU have also implemented legal rights on a national level that allows workers to request flexible working arrangements.
This includes Austria, Latvia, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain, which all adopted new legislation surrounding the right to teleworking at the beginning of the pandemic.
Ireland's Work-Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023 means that employers must provide a detailed reason if they reject an application.
That said, often the only way to truly enshrine workplace flexibility is by working for a company that is fully on board.
ADVERTISEMENTIf your current employer isn’t open to a conversation about offering flexible start or finish times or is insisting on in-office attendance five days per week, it could be time to look for a new opportunity in a company that facilitates flexible working arrangements, such as the three below.
You can also find many more on the Euronews Jobs Board.
Sporting giant Adidas has implemented a revised remote-working policy after conducting an
Employee Listening Survey with all corporate, retail, and distribution staff.
Its HQ located in Herzogenaurach, Germany allows employees to work remotely for 40 percent of the week and the company has also introduced a "work from anywhere" initiative to "provide flexibility to support employees’ unique needs and experiences".
It is currently recruiting for several positions, including a Senior Manager responsible for Transportation Control & Billing and a Senior Director working on Global Payroll based in Herzogenaurach or Porto.
In Dublin, gaming company Keywords Studios facilitates hybrid and fully-remote working models and says it is committed to championing "diversity of talent and ideas from every corner of our global community".
Openings include a Global Information Security Specialist (EU) and a German LQA Specialist.
Globally, insurance organisation AXA has implemented its Smart Working programme, a strategy that aims to combine office and remote work on a voluntary basis.
In 2023, 85.8 per cent of its European staff had participated in a hybrid-working model. In Paris, AXA is seeking a Data Protection Officer and a Security Operations Center Product Expert.
For more information about great job opportunities across Europe, explore Euronews Jobs today
