Work-Life Solutions with a Creative Touch
Rockwell Automation demonstrates the power of listening to employees and creative thinking when creating effective work-life strategies.
29 Jul 2019 Case studies Work-life harmony Best practices
Profile
Organisation
Rockwell Automation Singapore
Rockwell Automation is a multinational company that provides industrial automation and information for businesses. In 2006, the Asia Pacific Business Centre was formed in Singapore and currently employs an estimated 600 staff.
Industry
Manufacturing
Employment size
> 600
Employment profile
Corporate, administrative, operations, technical staff and engineers
Business Case
Rockwell's work-life programmes are an integral part of its overall business strategy; creating differentiation and establishing itself as a progressive employer that balances organisational and employee needs.
Senior Human Resource Manager, Ms. Susan Neoh shares that the company’s Work-Life initiatives are an integral part of its overall business strategy; creating differentiation and establishing itself as a progressive employer that balances organisational and employee needs.
Work-Life Programmes
At Rockwell Automation, employees working regular office hours are offered work-life programmes with a creative twist. As a result of listening to employee feedback, the management has devised several flex options that allow staff to enjoy greater personal time without compromising on their quality of work.
These include:
- Compressed work schedule, offered during the school holidays in June, November and December. Under this initiative, employees can leave office at 12.30pm every Friday to spend a longer weekend with their families. They make up the shortfall of the 40-hour work week by putting in the additional hours from Monday to Thursday of the same week.
- Family Day, where employees can opt to leave the office at 4.30pm every Friday in order to spend more time with their families.
- Flexible lunch time, where employees can choose to take their lunch hour at a time that best suits their schedule.
- Staggered time, where employees are given the flexibility of varying their daily start and end times to suit their work and personal commitments, as long as they are working during the core hours of 9am to 4pm.
- Telecommuting, where employees are offered monthly internet broadband allowance for employees who work from home.
- Voluntary service leave, where employees are offered two days of leave per year to volunteer with a non-profit organisation of their choice.
Implementation
The company conducts an employee engagement survey, the Global Voices Survey to gather staff feedback on attitudes towards work, managers and the overall organisation. Through the survey findings, the management is able to assess the existing work-life culture and identify areas for improvement. This survey is followed up with employee focus groups where staff are invited to recommend changes to improve and innovate in targeted areas of employee engagement.
Rockwell Automation also practises an Open Door policy where employees are encouraged to speak openly with their managers and Human Resource should they face Work-Life issues that need to be resolved. Work-Life integration and flexibility is embodied in the organisational culture and the management team fully supports this.
Outcomes
With the successful implementation of these various Work-Life initiatives, the company now experiences a lower employee attrition rate, increased employee engagement and morale and ease of hiring quality talent. Rockwell Automation has clearly shown that listening well to employees and ‘out-of-the-box’ creative thinking are important factors in creating a targeted and effective Work-Life strategy.
This case study was first published in 2017, and has been adapted from TAFEP's Work-Life Resource Portal.