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1 Engaging Workplaces, Effective Relationships Report written by Charlotte Sweeney Jonathan Swan Strengthening relationships Creating a Template for Action

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Engaging Workplaces,Effective Relationships

Report written byCharlotte SweeneyJonathan Swan

Strengthening relationships

Creating a Template for Action

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OnePlusOne Engaging Workplaces, Effective Relationships – Creating a Template for Action © 2014

MetroBankNationalgridLondon School of EconomicsChelsea and Westminster Foundation TrustByrne-deanCiti

Trade Union CongressEffective HRMMiskin Manor HotelM-R-S Communications LtdSchoolhouse Daycare Nurseries

About Working FamiliesWorking Families is the UK’s leading work-lifeorganisation. Drawing on 35 years ofexperience, we provide evidence-basedinsight, research and benchmarking fororganisations and employees. Using ourtrusted expertise we help employers createworkplaces which encourage both work-life balance for everyone and enhancedindividual and organisational performance.

Working FamiliesCambridge House1 Addington Square, London SE5 0HFT: +44(0)207 253 7243Parents and carers helpline: 0300 012 0312Website: www.workingfamilies.org.ukEmail: [email protected]

Follow Working Families on Twitter@workingfamUK

Registered Charity No 1099808. Company No 04727690

About OnePlusOne OnePlusOne is a UK charity that strengthensrelationships by creating resources that helpfamilies and frontline workers tacklerelationship issues early.

We help couples and parents through arange of web-services, while our onlinelearning equips frontline workers with the skillsto offer timely and effective face to facesupport to families.

Everything we do is based on the latestresearch evidence. Our research builds theknowledge base on relationships and, bysharing what we know, we influence policyand the creation of services that work.

OnePlusOneStrengthening relationships

1 Benjamin Street, London EC1M 5QG www.OnePlusOne.org.ukT: +44(0)207 553 9530 F: +44(0)207 553 9550

Powering theCoupleConnection.netand theParentConnection.org.uk

Registered charity no. 1087994. Company no. 4133340.

Project Funded by The Department for Education

OnePlusOne and Working Families would like to thank the following organisations:

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FOREWORD 2

GLOSSARY OF TERMS 4

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 6

KEY FINDINGS OF THE RESEARCH 7

OVERVIEW 8

1. SECTION ONE – MINDFUL WORKING TOOL 11

2. SECTION TWO – DIAGNOSTIC TOOL 15

3. SECTION THREE – SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED ENTERPRISES - SMEs 23

4. SECTION FOUR – TOOLS AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES 25

The Business Case: Why Relationships Matter at Work 26

Guidance Statements - Relational Capability Statementsfor Embedding into Employment Policies 28

‘Mindful Working’ Tool – Original 30

‘Mindful Working’ Tool – How to Tailor for your Organisation 32

Diagnostic Tool – creating your own analysis to assess where you are 36

SME Toolkit 37

Other resources available from Working Families and OnePlusOne 43

BIOGRAPHIES 44

Contents

Engaging Workplaces,Effective RelationshipsCreating a Template for Action

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Engaging Workplaces, Effective Relationships – Creating a Template for Action2

Foreword

In 2012 OnePlusOne and Working Families collaborated on a ground-breaking studyto increase understanding about the association between Relationship Quality andWork Engagement. This resulted in our report, Happy Homes, Productive Workplaces,(Burnett et al., 2012)

The project discovered that there is a positive connection between WorkEngagement and Relationship Quality. It also shows that home-life can be a realdriver of motivation and performance at work, and work-life can have a real impacton personal relationships.

We decided to continue working together to develop resources that will supportincreased engagement between employees and employers to deal with theseissues. We are delighted there is much enthusiasm for this from participatingemployers and we’re hopeful this will lead to more innovative workplace practiceswhich recognise how much work impacts on personal relationships and family life.

Today’s workplace is a highly pressurised place. Reported levels of stress are on theincrease at all levels. More demanding workloads coupled with uncertain hoursoften spill into family life. As you will see from this report, many employees speak ofhome as a place where they are present but not really there. Minds focused onwork-related issues. Unable to switch off.

Yet with enlightened employers striving to become more diverse and equal in theiremployment practices, how they deal with workplace stress and its effect on familylife will be of increasing importance. It is also an additional reason to invest insupporting and strengthening people’s ability to form strong personal relationships.

Relational capability is an important asset in the workplace for employees andorganisations. On various measures, good interpersonal skills are associated withbetter employee performance, productivity and lower levels of sickness absence(Carter et al., 2011). Organisations that facilitate effective communication and teamworking – a model known as relational co-ordination – have seen better qualityoutcomes and improved job satisfaction (Gitell, et al., 2008). We have identifiedrelational capability not just as a skill which can be developed, but as an approachto organising work and managing people which will strengthen teams, contribute toresilience and support consistent good performance (OnePlusOne forthcoming).

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Engaging Workplaces, Effective Relationships – Creating a Template for Action 3

We have been encouraged to see how well these tools have been integrated into‘business as usual’ in the companies that have trialled them. This, we believe, isevidence that organisations who are already taking a holistic approach toemployee wellbeing and engagement will find that developing relational capabilityis a natural extension of their activities.

A little goes a long way. Some of the tools seem simple – indeed, they are – but theeffects they have can be significant in providing a vital reality check in the way thatwe are working as individuals. Encouraging mindful self-management at anindividual level is a powerful tool for organisational change.

Sarah Jackson OBE,CEO Working Families

Penny Mansfield CBE, Director OnePlusOne

Stress from work exerts a greater negativeimpact on work performance and family-life,

compared to stress originating from family-life.

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Engaging Workplaces, Effective Relationships – Creating a Template for Action4

Glossary of Terms

Please find below a list of terms that are regularly used within thereport and their meaning:

Diagnostic Tool – process to examine and identify specific issues

Family-Work Conflict - family-life impacting on work-life

Relational Capability – Relational capability is an important asset in theworkplace for employees and organisations. On various measures, goodinterpersonal skills are associated with better employee performance,productivity and lower levels of sickness absence (Carter et al., 2011).Organisations that facilitate effective communication and team working – amodel known as relational co-ordination – have seen better quality outcomesand improved job satisfaction (Gitell, et al., 2008).

Internal Capability and Relational OpportunityOur concept of relational capability differentiates between ‘internalcapability’ and ‘relational opportunity’ that together form a concept ofrelational capability.

Internal capability describes the skills, attributes and characteristics essentialto establishing and maintaining relationships. The distinction between initiatingand enhancing or maintaining relationships is helpful in identifying thedifferent characteristics associated with each. Research on relationalcompetence, from which we draw heavily, suggests the skills associated withinitiating relationships include assertiveness, self-confidence, extraversion andwell-developed communication skills (Hansson et al., 2004). ‘Enhancing’relationships involves the skills and attributes required to nurture, develop andsustain relationships and requires traits such as empathy, flexibility, friendliness,likability, understanding, the ability to see the other’s perspective, and altruism(see Carpenter, 1993).

Relational opportunity refers to the opportunity to exercise those internalcapabilities. In other words, an environment that freely enables or evensupports individuals to establish and nurture relationships. This directsattention to the conditions and circumstances in which we live and theirimpact on our ability to establish and maintain relationships. It could includethe family home and, for example, the impact of the child’s home environmenton the ability to develop internal relational capability and establish theplatform that enables him or her to participate in society. It could also refer tothe work place, or the fabric of local neighbourhoods and communities and theextent to which they foster or hinder relationships with others. On a largerscale, relational opportunity also encompasses the factors that create theconditions in which we live, such as economic, political, legal and culturalinfluences.

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Engaging Workplaces, Effective Relationships – Creating a Template for Action 5

Relationship Quality – a partner’s subjective evaluation of a romanticrelationship. It is this subjective interpretation of relationship state which islinked to relationship stability and conversely, relationship breakdown

Work Engagement - a positive work-related state of fulfilment that ischaracterised by ‘vigour, dedication and absorption

Work-Family Conflict - work-life impacting on family-life

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Engaging Workplaces, Effective Relationships – Creating a Template for Action6

In 2012 Working Families and OnePlusOnecollaborated on a ground-breaking study toincrease understanding about the associationbetween Relationship Quality and WorkEngagement.

The study concluded that Relationship Qualityand Work Engagement are positivelyassociated, with high or low levels in eithercorrelating respectively to high or low levels of theother.1 The study also found that Work-FamilyConflict (work-life impacting on family-life) has astronger negative influence on both WorkEngagement and Relationship Quality than Family-Work Conflict (family-life impacting on work-life).In essence, stress from work exerts a greaternegative impact on work performance andfamily-life, compared to stress originatingfrom family-life.

Although this is not an issue that is activelydiscussed within UK organisations, withworkplaces becoming more pressurized andreported levels of stress on the increase this is asubject that should move from the margins to animportant part of a company’s commitment toemployee engagement. This may be seen as a‘soft’ management issue, however, the impact isvery real and can impact on the ‘hard’ and moretraditional management issues. Indeed, this is asubject that is starting to gain some attention inthe United States with publications such as theHarvard Business Review debating ‘How CouplesCope with Professional Stress’ and how a goodrelationship at home gives people emotional,cognitive and physical vigour, which isadvantageous for the workplace.2 3

To respond to the findings of the research, anadditional review was conducted to translate thefindings and recommendations into tangibleactions that could be used back in the workplace.

Executive Summary

1. http://www.workingfamilies.org.uk/articles/new-thinking/happy-homes-productive-workplaces2. http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/01/how-couples-can-cope-with-professional-stress/3. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1111/joop.12045/asset/joop12045.pdf;jsessionid=4467D3F2D989CEAD5B190726F3F9EB1F.f04t04?v=1&t=hsvtj95k&s=9ddc4685322fd665c5b111df8ff1781c70997132

4. Federation of Small Businesses - http://www.fsb.org.uk/stats

This phase of the review was designed to do thatin two ways:

• Create and pilot the use of a ‘Mindful WorkingTool’ which translates the recommendationsinto work environments with two largeorganisations

• Create and pilot a diagnostic tool to identifythe gap between an organisational aspirationto support employees to manage relationshipseffectively and the reality experienced byemployees.

The review also considered how the originalresearch could be translated into tangible actionsfor small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)given that 47% 4 of the UK private sectorworkforce are employed by SMEs.The review was conducted with a number of largeorganisations, employing between them over100,000 people in the UK, covering both thepublic and private sectors and a diverse range ofindustries. This does not take into account theirglobal reach. A number of SME organisationswere also engaged in a number of interviews tounderstand their perspective on this issue.

In essence, Senior Leaders, Human Resources (HR)Professionals and employees could identify theimportance of relationship quality to employeeengagement and motivation. Many were able toshare clear examples of where work-life and stressfrom work had a negative impact on their homeand personal relationships or where they hadseen this in a colleague. Although all agreed thatthis is a subject that is important and should betaken more seriously by companies, very few wereactive and pro-actively responding to thechallenges. The findings and recommendationscan be found on the following page.

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Tools to Support

The Business Case

Additional resources available fromWorking Families and OnePlusOne(Refer to page 43)

‘Mindful Working’ Tool – Original

‘Mindful Working’ Tool – TailoringGuidelines

Diagnostic tool

The SME Toolkit

Guidance Statements for Policies

Additional resources available fromWorking Families and OnePlusOne(Refer to page 43)

Guidance Statements for Policies

The SME Toolkit

Additional resources available fromWorking Families and OnePlusOne(Refer to page 43)

The SME Toolkit

‘Mindful Working’ Tool – Original

‘Mindful Working’ Tool – TailoringGuidelines

Engaging Workplaces, Effective Relationships – Creating a Template for Action 7

The Key Findings of the Project

RecommendationEnsure the business case for relationalcapability is designed specifically foryour business and is widely articulatedand understood.

Create a strategic vision andimplementation plan to support thebusiness case.

Review the ‘Mindful Working’ tool.Create a version that is appropriatefor your organisation and identifyhow to integrate into existingopportunities, such as performancemanagement or training anddevelopment.

Although organisations promote theseas effective management tools theycan be packaged in a holistic way topromote the positive impact the useof these skills can have in other areasof life. Review your training anddevelopment programmes andidentify how you can promote theskills and how they are used both inthe workplace and within personal life.

Review all policies and identify howrelational capability statements can beincorporated into them andcommunicated to all employees.

Ensure all line managers undertakesome form of relational capabilitytraining for their role and ensure thereare explicit links between how this canbe used in the workplace and inpersonal situations.

Ensure clear boundaries are discussedand agreed between work andpersonal relationships.

From all phases of this practical research there are a number of consolidated findings andrecommendations which are listed below. The table also highlights the tools and information availablewithin this report that will enable to you to review your current status and how to progress within yourorganisation.

FindingThere is a clear understanding thatrelational capability and theconnectivity between work-family and vice versa is a critical element tothe emotional wellbeing andproductivity of an employee.However, there is limited articulationof the impact this has or any widerfocus on activity.

The ‘Mindful Working’ tool pilotshowed that its use was highlyeffective and encouraged individualsto think differently about their workand the impact their work behavioursand habits had on their personal lifeand relationships.

Many organisations have training anddevelopment programmes whichfocus on relational capability themessuch as conflict resolution, havingdifficult conversations and negotiationskills from a workplace perspective.However, these are transferrable skillsin all aspects of life.

There are limited references viacompany policies and procedures tothe importance of relational capabilityand how this feeds into policies suchas flexible working, maternity leaveand employee wellbeing.

It is critical for line managers to havethe appropriate relational capabilityskills to be able to undertake their roleand support their employeesregardless of what may be happeningin their work or personal lives.

For SMEs there were additionalchallenges where businesses werecreated with family members and thelines between work and personalrelationships were increasinglyblurred.

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WORK ENGAGEMENT

HIGHER RELATIONSHIP

QUALITY:Not working flexibly,Not being a parent

HIGHER WORK

ENGAGEMENT:Flexible working,

women, private sector, senior roles, seeing

work as central to life

LOWER WORK

ENGAGEMENT: Not working flexibly, men, public sector,

less senior roles, not seeing work as

central to life

LOWER RELATIONSHIP

QUALITY: working flexibly,being a parent

Work-family and family-work conflict

negatively associated with Relationship Quality and

Work Engagement

Work-family conflict has a stronger influence

compared to family-work conflict

RELATIONSHIPQUALITY

Engaging Workplaces, Effective Relationships – Creating a Template for Action8

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In 2012 Working Families and OnePlusOnecollaborated on a ground-breaking study to increaseunderstanding about the association betweenRelationship Quality and Work Engagement.

In the context of the original research, RelationshipQuality refers to a partner’s subjective evaluationof a romantic relationship. It is this subjectiveinterpretation of relationship state which is linkedto relationship stability and conversely,relationship breakdown. Work engagement isdefined as a positive work-related state offulfilment that is characterised by ‘vigour,dedication and absorption’.

The study, Happy Homes Productive Workplaces,conducted an online study in February 2012,receiving 2027 responses.

Overview

The study concluded that Relationship Qualityand Work Engagement are positivelyassociated, with high or low levels in eithercorrelating respectively to high or low levels of theother.5 The study also found that Work-FamilyConflict (work-life impacting on family-life) has astronger negative influence on both WorkEngagement and Relationship Quality than Family-Work Conflict (family-life impacting on work-life).In essence, stress from work exerts a greaternegative impact on work performance andfamily-life, compared to stress originatingfrom family-life.

A model summarising the findings can be foundbelow:

5. http://www.workingfamilies.org.uk/articles/new-thinking/happy-homes-productive-workplaces

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6. http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/01/how-couples-can-cope-with-professional-stress/

7. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1111/joop.12045/asset/joop12045.pdf;jsessionid=4467D3F2D989CEAD5B190726F3F9EB1F.f04t04?v=1&t=hsvtj95k&s=9ddc4685322fd665c5b111df8ff1781c70997132

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Although this is not an issue that is activelydiscussed with UK workplaces, with workplacesbecoming more pressurized and reported levels ofstress on the increase, this is a subject that shouldmove from the margins to an integral part of acompany’s commitment to employeeengagement. This may be seen as a ‘soft’management issue, however, the impact is veryreal. It can also affect the 'hard' and moretraditional management issues. Indeed, this is a

subject that is starting to gain some attention inthe United States, with publications such as theHarvard Business Review debating ‘How CouplesCope with Professional Stress’ and how goodrelationships at home give people emotional,cognitive and physical vigour which isadvantageous for the workplace. 6, 7

In response to the findings of the original research,a number of recommendations were created:

Engaging Workplaces, Effective Relationships – Creating a Template for Action 9

• Employers should view Relationship Quality as an asset that requiresinvestment: from online relationship support or counselling, to providing support for parents.

RelationshipSupport

• Employers can address long-working hours, provision and take up offlexible working options, and lack of awareness towards caringresponsibilities.

• Managers should be up-skilled and employees enabled to takeresponsibility for ensuring the work environment remains positiveand productive.

Work-FamilyConflict

• Employers can improve job design, ensure employees takeadequate breaks, provide stress management sessions, andallocate work appropriately.

• Senior figures should model this behaviour, to show it is no barrierto success.

Presenteeismand Overwork

• Employers may need support in managing the interface betweenwork and home-life.

• Employers should develop a mutually beneficial culture of flexibility.• Senior figures should model this behaviour, to show it is no barrier to

success.

Flexible Working

• Employers should avoid the assumption that women will not want tofocus on their careers if they have children, and monitor the effectsof unconscious bias.

• Employers should monitor men more closely, and ensure flexiblepolicies are aligned and communicated so men are able to accessthem equally, without concern over it damaging their career.

Gender

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An important factor in any research is the ability,and opportunities, to translate the findings andrecommendations into tangible actions that canbe used back in the workplace. The second phaseof the study was designed to do that in two ways:

• Create and pilot the use of a ‘Mindful WorkingTool’ which translates the recommendationsinto work environments with two largeorganisations.

• Create and pilot a diagnostic tool to identifythe gap between an organisational aspirationto support employees to manage relationshipseffectively and the reality experienced byemployees.

The ‘Mindful Working Tool’ was created andpiloted with two large organisations from two verydifferent sectors – Multi-Utilities and Finance. Thefindings from the pilot informed the next phase ofthe research. This was creating and using thediagnostic tool with five employers, again fromdifferent sectors – Multi-Utilities, Services, Health,Finance and Education. Some of the companiesinvolved in the research included:

We were aware that the findings of the originalresearch had to be translated into tangible actionsfor small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)given that 47%8 of the UK private sector workforceare employed by SMEs.

This report shares the findings of the pilot exercisesand recommends the appropriate tools and nextsteps for companies of all sizes to take advantageof the links between relationship quality and workengagement.

8. Federation of Small Businesses - http://www.fsb.org.uk/stats

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IntroductionThe initial focus to convert the research findingsinto practical actions that companies couldidentify with and take forward in a workenvironment was the creation of the ‘MindfulWorking Tool’. This took each of the five keythemes of the original research findings andcreated five activities for line managers and fiveseparate activities for team members to performover a one-week period. The tool was developedwith organisational development experts andleading employees to ensure the activities andtool were both realistic and impactful.

The aim of this section of the research was to:

• Improve employees’ work engagement andperformance

• Integrate into the normal working day withoutdisruption

• Reduce the negative impact of work stress onfamily life

• Improve employee’ family and personalrelationships.

A copy of the original ‘Mindful Working Tool’ canbe found in Section Four.

As the tool was being created, there was someconcern that the recommended activities may beviewed as things that people already do on aregular basis, and therefore would not have thedesired impact or create a behavioural change. To respond to this concern, the tool requiredpiloting.

A small number of companies were approachedto pilot the tool. This required the use of the toolwithin effective, well functioning teams, indifferent sectors. The pilots commenced withinsmall, office-based teams within two largecompanies covering the Multi-Utilities andFinance sector. The tool was also reviewed by aSME and their comments shared, although theydid not complete the pilot process.

The pilot undertook three phases over a two-month period:

Stage 1: Initiation – the tool wasintroduced to line managers and teammembers, explaining the purpose, benefitsand the findings of the research to which thetool was based upon.

Stage 2: Trialling – line managers andteam members use the original ‘MindfulWorking Tool’, for four consecutive calendarweeks. Interim conversations were held witheach team and line manager to support theprocess, answer any questions and respondto any initial findings.

Stage 3: Reflection – focus groups withteam members and separate interviews withline managers were conducted to reflect onthe tool and the impact on workengagement and family and personalrelationships.

The focus groups and interviews were semi-structured, allowing flexibility within the questionsand the ability to drill deeper where there werevaluable insights.

The findings from the use of the tool werecategorised into three main areas:

• Use of, and reflections to, the tool

• Discussing relationships and non-work issues atwork

• Delivering future Health and Wellbeinginterventions.

The FindingsGiven the tool was piloted in two organisationsthat both take employee engagement and well-being seriously, there were some interestingfindings:

SECTION ONE

Mindful Working Tool 1

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Use of, and reflections to, the toolThe overall feedback from those using theperformance audit was largely positive. It was feltthat the tool wasn’t too administrative. For sometaking part in the pilot it felt that these should beactions that would be part of every day life.

‘It was very easy to go through the actualaudit itself. I expected it to be a bit morein-depth’

There were clear examples where the use of thetool had created a change in behaviour by theperson using it. These changes included activitiesthey had started, and stopped, doing during thecourse of the pilot with many acknowledging thatit took a level of discipline to change the habits ofrelatively small actions.

‘This weekend, I consciously didn’t go intothe IPad, email and blackberry; that’s achange for me because I am so guilty of it.It’s been hard because it’s a habit that Ineed to break’

‘It was sort of liberating I guess to be partof the pilot and say I am being forced to dothis; it was good to just bring awareness toit of how much you are online’

Although a number of the comments within thefocus groups highlighted the reduction of timethey spent reviewing emails and being online,there were a number of positive commentsdirectly related to increasing communicationwithin the team.

‘I think the tool was a really good idea.What this has prompted me to do ismessage a couple of people just to say howdid it go, or whatever, to stay connectedand find out more about them’

When asked about the longer-term use of the tooland how this might change behaviour there weresome mixed reactions, which were dependent onthe employer group, the business area and thetype of work.

‘I think it would be useful to be remindedto use the tool on a regular basis as it takestime to change habits’

‘I see the positives in this, my concern isthat when we get to a busy time all thisgood work may go out of the window’

‘There are definitely other areas thatwould benefit from using this as they don’thave the understanding of work-life andeffective balance’

Discussing Relationships and Non-WorkIssues at WorkDuring the focus group discussions, we askedemployees if conversations took place within theworkplace about personal relationships andhome-life aspects. There were some differingresponses, with many feeling that it was okay totalk about ‘run of the mill’ issues.

‘I think actually having a goodrelationship with your team andunderstanding them not just superficially,but as an individual is important’

‘We constantly talk about what ishappening in our private lives within myteam. If we know what is happening andwhat people are going through we canadapt how we work to get the best fromthe whole team’

There were clear acknowledgements that workissues do affect personal relationships...andpersonal issues can affect work.

‘Outside work things do affect work; ifthere is something on my mind then it’s onmy mind [...] it does affect youreffectiveness’

‘We had a situation where someone wasgoing through a divorce and had a changeof manager during that year, a large partof this person’s underperformance wasdown to the messy divorce and thecomplexities in their home life directlyimpacting their work life.’

Unsurprisingly, the relationship between theemployee and the line manager was seen ascritical in deciding if they would share anyinformation about personal issues which mayhave an impact on work performance.

‘If it’s a big enough situation outside ofwork and I know it’s going to affect myperformance and it’s getting me down Iwill tell my manager’

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When asked if line managers were open toconversations about personal issues with theirteam there was generally a positive response fromemployees.

‘The manager is usually trained to spot‘crisis points’ because the first sign ofsomething not right usually hitsperformance. It’s then for the manager tohave those conversations and draw theresponse from the employee to actually sayI’ve got this big problem at home’

‘I would certainly prefer that the personspoke to me about their issues becausethen it gives me additional informationand context that I can use in the way that Icommunicate with the individual’

Delivering future Health and WellbeingContentWithin the companies taking part in this pilotEmployee Health and Wellbeing was certainly onthe agenda. However, there was a view from theemployees that it was quite reactive and left it tothem to find out more information about theinterventions or ask their line managers. Veryrarely did employees mention that they felt theinformation was proactively shared.

‘In terms of well-being we could probablydo a better job of keeping it front andcentre rather than in the wings waiting forsomething to happen’

When asked who they perceive use the Healthand Wellbeing offerings currently available in theircompany there was a mixed reaction and a sensethat they were geared more towards women andthose in junior levels or early into their careers.

‘At a very junior stage of my career I wouldhave gone to these things quite often but themore senior I’ve become I go less and less’

When asked what they would like to see availablewithin their companies to support creating bothwork and personal relationships, there were somevery clear views.

‘Strengthening relationship skills – if it wasdone right I think you would have astampede of people going for this kind ofthing. The skills, tools and techniques thatpeople have they would be able to apply inevery situation’

‘Skills such as how to remain calm, how tonegotiate, how to listen, how to see thingsfrom someone’s perspective are directlytransferable to the workplace, particularlyas a line manager, they are the same coreset of skills that are necessary for personaland work life’

‘I think training and raising people’sawareness in this area is a good thing forthe managers, so an education andtraining piece should go hand in hand

There were also a number of responseshighlighting the importance of emotionalintelligence among the managers, or the lackthereof, in some instances.

‘We have all the right policies in place;some of our managers don’t have the rightskills and knowledge to implement thepolicies’

‘As a result of a personal issue myperformance was affected and I wound upon a development plan. The manager wassupportive because they had to be; mymanager was doing everything by thebook HR wise but it wasn’t necessarilysincere’

Inclusion andDiversity in the

workplace, and striking asensible work-life balance,are important to NationalGrid. We are delighted tohave been a part of thisimportant research, and wewill certainly be seekingopportunities toincorporate the findingsinto our working practiceswherever possible.

Karen Clayton, UK General Counsel & CompanySecretary and Executive Chair of the Work & LifeMatters Employee Resource Group, Nationalgrid.

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CASE STUDY

NATIONAL GRID: Work & Life Matters Employee Resource Group

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Insights and ConclusionsIt was clearly agreed by all involved with thepilot that relational capability and theconnectivity between work-family and viceversa was a critical element to the emotionalwellbeing and productivity of an employee.The discussion points and outputs from thefocus groups were complementary to theoriginal findings of the ‘Happy Homes andProductive Workplaces research, clearlyshowing that, although not currently seen asa mainstream issue or understood by linemanagers, relationship capability has assignificant impact in the workplace and thefocus on this isn’t currently as significant as itshould be.

Although the tool was initially considered alittle simplistic, there were a number ofexamples where using the tool had madeindividuals think differently about their workand the impact their work behaviours andhabits have on their personal life andrelationships. It was acknowledgedthroughout that some of the actionsincluded within the tool would not beapplicable for some roles e.g. not allemployees have a job that would requireemail access and the use of a blackberry.

We piloted the 'Mindful Working' tool in one of our teams with a global reach. The participantsexpressed surprise that something so apparently simple and obvious could be so effective. Mostof those involved in the pilot have continued to use the tool, and we are planning torecommend its incorporation into our suite of tips and techniques on building an inclusiveworkplace.

Within National Grid, when we talk about performance we see how you perform as beingequally as important as what you do. We also recognise that striking a successful balancebetween work and home is important. This is why one of the questions in our Annual EmployeeOpinion Survey (EOS) asks whether the employee’s manager/supervisor is considerate of theirlife outside work – a question which attracts one of the highest positive responses. We also findthat employees with a greater degree of autonomy over their working arrangements tend toscore higher in our performance, engagement and values indices within the EOS.

An important insight was that skills such asconflict resolution, having difficultconversations and negotiation skills aretransferrable and valuable in all aspects oflife. Although organisations promote theseas effective management tools they couldbe packaged in a holistic way to promotethe positive impact their use could haveoutside of the workplace.

Given the encouraging and insightful natureof the findings, they were then progressed inthe following ways:

1. To influence the areas focused on withinphase II of the research to identify whatcompanies actually do to acknowledgethe influence that work-family conflictand family-work conflict have onemployees productivity and wellbeing

2. To fine-tune the ‘Mindful Working Tool’ asan effective tool for other companies touse and adapt as appropriate.

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SECTION TWO

Diagnostic Tool2IntroductionAs a build from phase 1 of the research, this nextphase was created to identify the gap betweenany policy or commitment stated within anorganisation, linking the skills and knowledgerequired to effectively manage relationships in away that translates directly between work andhome and vice versa (both positively andnegatively), with the lived experience of individualemployees. The identification of any gap wouldenable companies to review what they currentlydo, how this is communicated to employees andhow this is demonstrated on a day-to-day basisvia manager and peer behaviour.

It was important for the quality of the researchthat the organisations involved were very diversein terms of size and sector. This was to ensure thata broad scope of findings were created and theopportunity to identify how different the viewswere across sectors. The companies that weideally wanted to be involved in the research werethose who had a track record of progressingemployee engagement activities and could clearlyarticulate the benefits to their business. Thecompanies were hand selected and approacheddirectly to invite them to take part. Thecompanies who were keen to take part employover 100,000 people in the UK and representpublic and private sector as well as Multi-Utilities,Services, Health, Finance and Education sectors.Some of the companies involved in the researchincluded

The research covered a number of stages:

Stage 1 – Interview a Senior HR Professionalto gain their views on ‘Relational Capability’and understand what processes theycurrently have in place to raise awareness and empower employees.

Stage 2 – Conduct desk analysis of thepolicies where ‘relational capability’ may beincluded in some guise. Examples of thesecould include flexible/agile working,maternity and parental leave andstress/resilience management.

Stage 3 – Conduct focus group interviewswith employees (cross section of levels andfunctions) to identify and understand theirlived experience within the company.

Stage 4 – Share feedback with each of thecompanies and gain their insights into thequality and accuracy of the diagnostic.

Stage 5 – Share the collective findings withall organisations involved, looking at thesimilarities and differences of the sectors.

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The questions created for both the senior HRprofessional interview and the focus groupstargeted a number of areas, including:

• Their personal and company view of theimportance of relational capability in theworkplace and how this has an impact on theirorganisation

• How this manifests itself in the workplaceincluding any recent examples

• Their ratings of how successful they feel thecompany is in promoting this aspect ofmanagement and work life

• What the culture is generally like

• The focal points for the future.

Each of the above stages were conducted over asix-month period.

The Findings

All five organisations were given their ownindividual feedback for each section of theresearch. The findings below are a collated version.

Senior HR Professional InterviewsAll of the Senior HR Professional Interviewsfocused on the areas highlighted above to gaintheir perspectives and experiences.

Without exception, all of the HR Professional’sinterviewed saw the value of relational capabilityto the workplace and the impact this could havefrom both a work-family conflict and family-workconflict perspective.

‘If life isn’t good at home our staff are notat the top of their game – we have a caringculture, managers flag issues’

‘Physical, mental and emotional wellbeingwhile at home, work and everything inbetween – all impact productivity’

‘If you have a supportive environment athome it does allow you to do more at work’

‘Relationships do have an impactsometimes and can translate into sicknessabsence’

‘If people are not happy at home they arenot going to bounce into work’

Many cited that they felt this was core to theleadership within the organisation and had veryclear links and synergies to the wellbeing strategy.

‘Certainly think this is important for thefuture but wouldn’t single it out – I wouldlink it to wellbeing – good for business aswell as staff’

‘We want all our leaders to be authentic –the same person at home and at work’

Some also highlighted that many personalrelationships were formed at work, which meantthat the links to family and work were moreevident.

‘There is a young workforce in the callcentres, there are a lot of personalrelationships in there and you can see thison a daily basis…’

‘Many people end up meeting their partnerat work and relationships develop. Ifsomething happens to one person they talkabout it and has a knock on effect on bothwork and home’

All of the Senior HR Professionals saw thechallenges with flexible working and the hoursspent at work being issues that had a significantimpact on work-family conflict and the quality ofrelationships.

‘It’s not uncommon for people to saythey’re too tired to do things with theirfamilies over the weekend’

‘I have heard of personal relationshipsbreaking down because of the time spentat work’

They also shared how important they felt this wasand how seriously this was taken by their seniorleadership teams.

‘The impact of this is taken seriously by oursenior leaders but not the cause’

‘Senior Leaders do take wellbeing seriously,but more focused around customerexperience and then linked to staff, but notthe other way round’

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They were also given a number of questions andasked to rate them on a scale of 1 – 10, rangingfrom 1 = no focus/impact/activity/not considered,10 = significant focus/impact/activity/embedded.The results were collated for each organisationand then consolidated below as a collective view.As you can see from the above table there were anumber of diverse views on this topic (as shown inthe consolidated response range) especially onthe questions focusing on current activity andeffort. The majority of the HR Professionals feltthat their efforts to date on this agenda werelimited, with the impact being less evident. There was one organisation that felt this wasalready an important element within their plansand were making a positive impact for employees.

Without exception, all HR professionalsinterviewed felt this is an important agenda forthe future and something their companies shouldplace more focus and emphasis on. It wasinteresting to see this consistent view across suchdiverse sectors, including private and publicorganisations.

And some final thoughts…

‘This conversation has made me thinkabout how the links between relationshipshas an impact at work – we need toconsider this from a wider perspective’

‘This is about the whole person and ignoreit at your peril!’

Policy ReviewThe policy desk analysis was specificallyconducted after the HR Professionals interviews toensure the appropriate policies were reviewedand that a high level understanding of thecompany culture was considered when doing so.The focus of the policy review was to identify anyaspects within the policy or proceduresdocumentation relating to relational capabilityand the impact of relationships in the workplaceand at home.

The types of policies where connections torelational capability would be more likely wererecommended to the organisations for review,these included policies such as flexible/agileworking, maternity and parental leave andstress/resilience management.

Throughout all of the policies reviewed, therewere limited links, with some quite tenuous links.Limited references were found in the followingpolicies or workplace literature:

• Managing Pressure at Work‘Excessive or prolonged pressure in the workplace isa health and safety issue; a cost to the organisationand the individual; and can be prevented andalleviated by individuals and their managers. Onan everyday basis, work, home, life and health areinterdependent. It may need to be acknowledgedthat sometimes it is difficult to assess whether themain cause of stress is work related or due to privatecircumstances’.

Where would you placeyour efforts and

information available toemployees?

Where would you placethe impact of your effortsmentioned above?

How proactive are you inpromoting information

and employeeempowerment in this area?

How important do youthink this issue is for your

company?

Consolidated Response Range

3-8 1-7 1-8 6-10

Average Response 4.8 3.2 4.6 7.7

Taking part in this research has helped us, as anorganisation, to realise the gap between our policies

and practice in terms of this research. Having a third party talkto HR, staff and to review our policies highlighted a need for usto focus, more positively, on the connection between positiverelationships both at home and at work and the constructiveimpact this can have on employees and employers.

Gail Keeley, HR Manager, Policy and ER, The London School of Economics and Political Science

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• Staff Counselling Service‘This is an opportunity for all staff to access support,whether to discuss a problem or situation that iscausing concern, or some distress that is takingplace at work or home’.

• Retirement Planning‘The workshop includes Personal Reality andChange – to review career to date, plan for thefuture and the impact this may have on yourpersonal circumstances and home life’.

• Customer Relationships – ExternalLiterature and Training‘You’ll be providing leadership, advice andinspiration to some very busy managers. So if youdon’t get on well with people and have the rightrelationship skills to do so, you won’t get very far’.

• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)‘EAP offers a number of support services foremployees including advice about relationships andthe impact they can have on your wellbeing’.

• IVF – Leave for Fertility Treatment‘We understand that this can be an emotional timeand will offer support through time off and accessto confidential EAP’.

Focus Groups The focus groups were conducted directly afterthe policy review and used similar questions tothose asked within the HR Professionals interviewsto enable cross-referencing of the responses. The focus groups were attended by a diverserange of employees from different departments,levels, ages, experience, women and men so thatdifferent lived experiences within the organisationcould be shared.

There were mixed views from the focus groups asto the expectations they placed on their employerand if they felt that relational capability wasimportant in the workplace. However, withoutexception all focus groups gave rich examples ofthe impacts of ‘work-family conflict’ and ‘family-work conflict’ on their engagement andmotivation in the workplace.

CASE STUDY

LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICSAND POLITICAL SCIENCEAt the LSE we have a long track record as adiverse, fair and flexible employer which inturn helps us to attract, engage and retainthe best employees. To support this, we havea high proportion of staff who work flexibly(our flexible working policy has been opento all staff for a number of years) and wehave worked hard to become recognised asa ‘top employer for working families’. Theculture at the LSE is very open to flexibilitywith regards to parental and caringresponsibilities and is becoming more so interms of other responsibilities and interestsoutside the sphere of work.

The School has good mechanisms of supportin times of crises, such as paid time off fordependents, and recognises the need tosupport staff through life’s challenges.

This particular research highlighted that theSchool had not made the connectionbetween the support offered and thepositive impact that this would have onworkplace and employee engagement. Inorder to address this key disconnect we are:Reviewing the School’s leadership trainingprogramme to expand the flexible workingsection to encompass the positives for bothemployee and employer, in addition tomanagement style and authenticity to createmore openness at work; reviewing currentpolicies to make the connections morepositive; a senior figure at the School willhold briefings about flexible working andwill focus on positive impact this may haveat home and at work; rebranding and re-launching our flexible working policy andtoolkit; a commitment to monitor flexibleworking in the School’s Equality andDiversity strategy.

We hope that by doing so, there is anopportunity to increase engagement evenfurther and ensure a consistent approach toflexible working across the School.

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The collective responses from the focus groupswere collated together under the followingthemes:

CultureThe majority of respondents stated that theypersonally liked to work in more openenvironments where you could talk about yourlife outside of the workplace, but alsoacknowledged that the culture wasn’t consistentacross their organisation.

‘We have an open environment wherepeople do share what’s going onpersonally’

‘I always work best in a company where Ican be consistent at both work and home’

‘There are a lot of mini cultures here and itdepends which part you are in as to if youwould talk about personal issues in theworkplace’

‘There is a culture of talking aboutpersonal issues…but it depends whichoffice you’re in’

WorkloadsMany employees talked about increasedworkloads and the impact this was having onpersonal lives:

‘Many staff are overworked – this can havean impact at home as they don’t want totalk about work in their personal time’

‘The hours at work nearly broke mymarriage up as I was regularly on call.Work took over! Now, the blackberry isswitched off when I’m not in the office – itwas having a negative impact at home’

‘We all work long hours, “everyone does it”– No-one thinks about the impact longhours has on home life’

Line ManagersThe importance of the line managerunderstanding their team members and how torespond to issues or changes in behaviour withinthe workplace was highlighted in every focusgroup.

‘Someone was great at work and then theirbehaviour changed, there was somethinggoing on at home. They tried to soldier onbut as their Line Manager it was myresponsibility to notice this’

‘As a Line Manager we are trained arounddifficult conversations with staff and howto communicate…its all aboutrelationships’

‘I try to stay in tune with my staff andknow that they need to be able to getthrough the day’

Flexible WorkingThere were a number of comments made aboutthe impact of working flexibly:

‘Getting the work rota one week inadvance does not help my home life’

‘My line manager lets me work in a waythat suits me, I feel in control and feelbetter at work and at home’

At Metro Bank, our people are our most important andvaluable asset, and as a result we treat them with the

utmost consideration and respect; the same way that we wantthem to treat our customers. The initial report findings werecertainly of interest and reinforced the importance thatbuilding strong relationships has on the culture of our business.Danny Harmer, People Director, Metro Bank

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Senior LeadersWithin some of the focus groups they felt therewas commitment from the top of the organisationand they took this agenda very seriously.

‘We have a wellbeing board that focuseson the employee – they are showing theircommitment by putting money to this’

‘I believe that senior leaders really do takethis seriously, the challenge is the middlemanagers as they have a lot of priorities’

They were also given two questions and asked torate them on a scale of 1 – 10, ranging from 1 = no focus/impact/activity/not considered, 10 = significant focus/impact/activity/embedded.The results were collated for each organisationsand then consolidated below as a collective view.

As you can see from the above table there werevery broad and diverse views on this topic. On each question posed to employees the rangeof responses was very broad, however, you willsee from the average response scores that thefocus group members felt more strongly that theissue was important for their company and weremore negative about the view that informationwas not currently available to them.

Given the responses to the above questionregarding accessibility to information foremployees, the focus groups were asked whatmore their organisations could do. The responseswere:

‘Team Leaders should be assessed on howthey support their people’

However, throughout the focus group discussionsthere were clear examples of when work pressureshave a negative impact on personal relationships:

‘When stressed at work that level of stressdoes come out and get passed on at home –they call me a ‘ratbag’ at home’

‘I don’t want to do anything at home whenit gets so bad at work – I may be at homein body…but not in mind’

‘Travelling for work puts some realpressures on home relationships as theyalways feel that work will come first – I dotry and spend more time with family whenI’m in the country’

‘I regularly subconsciously find myself‘being there but not there’ – at home inbody but constantly thinking about work.The family don’t get the best out of me’

There were also a number of clear examples ofwhere home pressures have an impact in theworkplace:

‘Anything that happens at home, eitherpositively or negatively, stops me thinkingthings through at work’

‘My father was taken ill…both work andhome suffered. I wasn’t delivering in eitherand felt that I was letting both sides down’

‘I had a negative experience there whereissues going on at home and I didn’t havethe support network to deal with it. Myline manager wasn’t supportive but I didwhat I could do so that work didn’t suffer…my home relationships took a real knock!’

‘There was an example where someone losttheir job as personal life was negativelyimpacting work and this got into adownward spiral. We found out about itwhen it was too late to help’

‘You should never expect 100% from yourstaff as there will always be something elsegoing on that needs time and emotionalresources’

Where would youplace the level ofinformation

available to you asan employee?

How important doyou think this issue

is for yourcompany?

Consolidated Response Range 1-8 1-9

Average Response 4.7 6.1

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CASE STUDY

NHS CHELSEA AND WESTMINSTER’S VALUES AND “KINDNESS” CAMPAIGN

More than 900 patients, members of thepublic and staff voted during our 'Who doyou think WE are?' consultation to help usdefine our values in February 2012. The Trustvalues following this consultation wereagreed as: Safe, Kind, Excellent andRespectful. Our values were launched in May2012 during our Open Day and followingfurther focus groups, we defined what thesevalues mean in practice. We want to ensurethe highest quality care for those beingtreated here and the highest qualityexperience for staff working here. Thesevalues and behaviours guide everything wedo as a Trust and as individual members ofstaff. They define the quality of care thatpatients should expect at Chelsea andWestminster and how we as staff can helpmeet those expectations.

Kindness Campaign:In February 2014, a special campaign waslaunched to define what kindness meant toindividuals. Staff and patients wereencouraged to write on specially designedpostcards what kindness meant to them.This could take any form – a simpledefinition, a personal or family experience, aquote. It was made clear that thesedefinitions were not limited to work butcould include an individual’s personal lifealso. These quotes were collated and a poetinvited into the Trust to sift through themand use them as the basis for some originalpoetry which was shared with the staff.

At Chelsea andWestminster werecognise that

outcomes for our patients aredirectly affected by howengaged and motivated ourworkforce is. This researchbacks up this belief and hasgiven us clear direction withregard to how we improve inthe future.Amber Payne, Employee Benefits Manager, Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust

‘Integrate something about healthyrelationships, both at home and work, intothe wellbeing policy – and deliver against it’

‘The policies are great but a lot ofmanager’s don’t know about them orwhere to find the information – if you arein the know they are great!’

‘I’m sure if leaders realised this had animpact on productivity they would take itmore seriously – education for thatpopulation is key’

‘We have great customer service trainingbut no link to how the relationship skillscan be used in personal circumstances’

‘This should be increasingly important toour company given the ageing ofemployees and the family stage they aremostly at’

There was one final, and important, point forsome:

‘Some people would find the link to homeas intrusive – some people don’t want totalk about their family at work…ifanything is going to be done in theworkplace this does need to be considered’

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Insights and ConclusionsThe diagnostic tool resulted in a number ofkey findings which continued to highlight thesignificance of relational capability and theconnectivity between work-family andfamily-work conflict.

The HR Professionals across the organisationsall believed that this is an important issue fortheir workforce, and not something that isgiven the level of focus or priority that itshould. Without exception, they all madevery clear links to this topic and the positiveimpact this could have in the workplace, onemployee engagement and a number ofother strategic aspects which wereimportant to the overall business objectivesof the organisations e.g. patient experienceand client satisfaction. They also highlightedthe importance of this for their seniorleaders, although it was emphasised that theimpact was the driving force rather than thecause.

The review of policies and proceduresshowed that this currently isn’t somethingthat is included within existing organisationalpractices. Many links were tenuous with asmall number of links to training andawareness. Any existing support that wasavailable was seen as reactive with limitedvisibility for employees.

The focus group discussions highlighted the‘lived experience’ within their organisationsand the apparent disconnect between theviews and aspirations of the HR Professionaland the real life experiences across thedifferent levels within the employee base.Many employees were able to shareexamples of both work-family conflict andfamily-work conflict, which they hadpersonally experienced or seen a workcolleague experience. The impact theseexamples had both within the workplaceand in their personal lives was very evidentand reinforced the importance of relationalcapability within the workplace.

The diagnostic exercise highlighted:

• The high level of importance HRProfessionals from a number of sectorsconsistently placed on relationalcapability and the impact this has withinthe workplace and in personal life

• The limited references to this inorganisational policies, procedures and guidelines

• The lived experiences of employees, their perception of the limited resourceavailable and the consistent view thatthis is increasingly important within theworkplace.

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SECTION THREE

Small and MediumSized Enterprises-SMEs

3Although much of the work in this area haspreviously highlighted large organisations, thebenefits of relational capability are as relevant tosmall employers as much as they are to largeones. The concepts and underpinning rationalearound relational capability remain the same fororganisations of all sizes and sectors, but the waythat small businesses run and are organised, andthe resources available to them are very different.This SME toolkit has been designed tocomplement the work that has been undertakento date in large companies and be incorporatedinto the wider report.

Understanding the SME viewpointTo explore the SME attitudes towards the conceptof relational capability, a number of activities havetaken place:

• Discussions with SME representative bodies.

• Semi-structured interviews with SMEs ofvarying sizes and sectors.

• Interview with a specialist SME outsourcingHR provider.

These activities were designed to examine a number of things in relation to SMEs: • What the general view was of developingrelational capability within organisations

• Whether or not such an approach would berelevant to SME organisations

• Does developing relationships capability offera sufficient business benefit for SMEs toconsidering adopting it

• What current practice is within SMEs aroundworkplace and non-workplace relationshipsand relationship issues

• How resilient SME leaders were when employeerelationship issues increase work pressure

• To what extent are skills in managingrelationship issues (both work and non-workones that impact on the workplace) essentialto effective and astute management.

In the semi structured interviews SMEs were askedto describe what they understood aboutrelationships (both work and non-work) and theworkplace, and to describe how these weremanaged. They were asked to describe their ownorganisational culture and managementapproach. They also described their policies andprocedures around management andexpectations of staff, and how these policies werecommunicated to staff members. Whereappropriate they described their ‘chain ofcommand’ and escalation processes. In additionthey were also asked to describe their overallethos as an employer, where such an ethos wasdriven from, and what the advantages anddisadvantages of this ethos were.

Relationships - the SME environmentThere is great variety in the SME environment, butone characteristic that emerged throughinterviews was that time pressures are acute andthere is very little slack in the system. Both SMEsthemselves and SME-representative bodieshighlighted this as a major issue; anything thatisn't seen as core business would have to competefor the attention of SME leaders and managerswho are focused on the day-to-day running of thecompany.

To be compelling, and to command attention,promoting relationships capability to SMEs mustbe practical, relevant and clearly demonstratethe business benefits. Without this keycomponent of an easily identifiable rationale foradopting new approaches to managing andincorporating new practices, and an unambiguousdemonstration of how it can directly benefit theirbusiness, SME managers will find it hard to justifydiverting time and resources.

SMEs were not hostile to a relationships approach,nor is this a new concept to them. The under-standing that non-work relationships issues had

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workplace impacts had traction. Indeed, theexperience of SMEs was that managers said theydid not struggle to understand the non-workplaceissues that affected employees work performanceand capacity. Rather, the culture inside theorganisation was one where employees wereaccustomed to a sharing and 'open' environment,often characterised as a ‘family’ one. This wasn'tnecessarily viewed as a wholly positive culture forthe organisation. Often managers could findthemselves diverted from crucial business mattersbecause of employee issues originating outside ofthe workplace, issues that included, but were notconfined to, relationship ones.

Managers and SME leaders also reported, as aconsequence, that their own relationships weresometimes placed under pressure as they had tofind extra capacity (often from their own time) torespond to workplace-related matters. SMEmanagers identified with the idea of the culture ofthese organisations being more 'family-like'.Whilst wishing to maintain the strengths that thismight bring (high trust; openness and tolerance; awillingness to provide support), they were alsoconscious that the downsides (over familiarity;lack of professionalism; treating the workplace asan extension of home; overspill of non-work intowork) negatively affected their business.Therefore,a better way of managing this type of culturewould be welcome.

SMEs, Management and HRThe size of SMEs means that they often do nothave Human Resources departments toimplement new ideas and procedures, and tosystematically measure their outcomes. The SMEsinterviewed preferred to use an outsourced HRmodel, and there were strong arguments fordoing so. These included getting the 'nuts andbolts' HR practices such as sickness absence,maternity and paternity and Right to Requestflexible working right. By using external HRproviders, managers were relieved of the doubtsthat they might be 'doing it wrong', especiallyaround disciplinary issues. This also freedmanagers from the day-to-day burden of mattersthat consumed their time, and inserted an extralayer of distance between managers andemployees that was deemed necessary to preservebusiness professionalism and promote the idea offairness and objectivity in decision-making.

Managers in SMEs spoke of not wanting tobecome a kind of social worker, managingemployees by maintenance, and were consciousthat some employees consumed more input interms of non-work issues impacting on workinglife than others. There were some concerns thatsuch employees used non-work issues as adefence against poor performance at work andmanagers had experience of employeesexaggerating non-work issues to excuse poorwork attendance and behaviour. Here, guidanceabout relationship management, particularly theinterface between relationship issues and formalHR procedures, would be welcome. One of thestrengths of the external HR model was that theSMEs who used it felt that they had a soundingboard on staff issues where they had littleexperience and were in need of advice about thenext steps to take.

Although SME managers are aware that employeeperformance is vital to business success (andindeed, survival), the 'softer' side of managementwas not generally something that any of theleaders and managers interviewed had any formaltraining in. Broadly speaking, the managermanaged in a style with which they werecomfortable, and if the manager was also the SMEfounder or Director, then their management styleinformed the company ethos and culture.

For senior managers who were notowner/managers, the picture was more nuanced.They may have acquired more 'traditional'management skills and techniques. Nonetheless,relationship support as a specific skill was notsomething that they had been exposed to.Introducing this as part of a managerial skillsetwas something that would be of interest if ithelped to bring a structure to the process ofdealing with relationships issues within theworkplace, and also if it assisted managers inbeing more attuned to situations whereemployees are reticent about issues from outsidework that are impacting on their ability to do theirjob. Managers would like to know when theyneed to step in, but also how they should step in.

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SECTION FOUR

Tools and Additional Resources

4This toolkit and additional resources has been created in direct response tothe findings of this practical research. To create the most effective andsustainable impact for your business, all of the tools and resources should beused. However, each can be used in isolation.

Included within the Toolkit:

• The Business Case:Why Relationships Matter at Work

• Guidance Statements - Relational Capability Statements for Embeddinginto Employment Policies

• ‘Mindful Working’ Tool – Original

• ‘Mindful Working’ Tool – How to Tailor for your Organisation

• Diagnostic Tool – creating your own analysis to assess where you are

• SME Toolkit – Managers guide for thinking about these issues – pointers forpeople to consider and be aware of and the potential legal elements to consider

• Other resources available from Working Families and OnePlusOne

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The Business Case: Why Relationships Matter at Work

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OverviewThere are direct business benefits from supportingemployees to maintain and enhance theirpersonal relationships. Employees with goodpersonal relationships have higher work engagement, which results in greater productivity,focus and investment in their work.

Furthermore, the ability to create and maintainproductive and rewarding personal relationshipsinvolves the following key skills: negotiation,communication and acceptance. These skills arealso directly applicable to the workplace.

Using a suite of work and management practicesto enable employees to maintain and enhancetheir personal relationships and drive employeework engagement results in: higher performance,boosting the bottom-line, and improved clientsatisfaction.

Context: Why PersonalRelationships Matter NowThere are pressing economic, demographic andwellbeing reasons for organisations to enhanceemployees’ personal relationships to drive workengagement.

The EconomyHigh performance is vital in tough economictimes. Employees with strong personalrelationships are more engaged, and are moreproductive, focused and invested in their work.These organisations will be the employers ofchoice when the economy recovers.

DemographicsThe UK population is ageing, people are retiringlater, and around 45% of marriages fail. Further, athird of workers will be over the age of 50 by2020. These demographic shifts will put newpressures on employees’ relationships, andemployers will need to prepare for, and respondto them to avoid reduced engagement.

WellbeingDemands at work are increasingly beingassociated with strains at home. Also highworkloads and work stress are associated withdecreased relationship satisfaction. The cost ofstress to the British economy is around 10% ofGross National Product, and costs businesses 13million working days in absenteeism per year.Family breakdown reduces health, wealth andwellbeing, all of which put pressure onrelationships and work performance.

Business Benefits Of StrongPersonal Relationships• High relationship quality is linked to higherwork engagement.A positive home and family life enables peopleto be more engaged at work.

• Relationship skills can directly benefit theworkplace.Good relationship skills (such as interpersonalskills, ability to multitask, respect for individualdifferences) are valuable workplace assets thatcan cross over and benefit employeeperformance, as reported by both male andfemale managers.

• Strong personal relationships can helpimprove employee resilience.Support from family and friends provides abuffer for the effects of work stress. It has alsobeen linked to career success, careerdevelopment, and satisfaction at work.

Business Benefits Of BoostingEngagement• Engaged employees perform better at work.Engaged workers are more productive, investedin their work, and receive higher in-role andextra-role ratings from colleagues. They aremore focused, less distracted, more attune toself-development and improving performance,and display greater initiative.

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• Engagement boosts business outcomes.Work engagement is positively related toimproved bottom-line financial performanceand client-satisfaction. Increasing investmentin engaging a workforce by just 10% can yieldan increase in profits between £1083 and£1568 per employee, per year.

Strong Personal RelationshipsDrive EngagementEnhancing employees’ personal relationshipsnaturally complements existing HR, Diversity andInclusion, and Health and Wellbeing programmes,and work/family conflict initiatives.

Employers can achieve the engagement benefitsof enhancing personal relationships by:

– Reducing Work/Family Conflict– Enabling effective Flexible/Agile Working– Combatting Presenteeism, Overwork andBurn-out

Reducing Work/Family Conflict• Reducing the crossover of stress benefitsboth work and family life.Individuals who have more satisfying, high-quality family relationships are less affected bywork stress. Similarly, those more satisfied atwork are less affected by family stressors.

• Work and family can enrich one another.Positive experiences from work and family lifecan benefit each other. Men’s positive attentionand absorption in work is related to theirattention and absorption in family life.

Enabling Effective FlexibleWorking• Flexible working supports family life.There are clear, positive links between flexibleworking and work-life balance, family lives andstress levels. Flexibly-working fathers arephysically and psychologically healthier, betterable to manage their workload, and morecommitted to their employer.

Flexible working arrangements increase work-to-family enrichment, which in turn is linked to jobsatisfaction and turnover intentions, regardless of:gender, age, marital status, education, number ofchildren and hours worked.

• Flexible working increases employeeperformance.73% of employers report that flexible workingimproves employee motivation, 58% report itimproves productivity, and 53% experiencedimprovements in talent management.

Flexible working practices have also beenlinked to improved employee relations,employee commitment, employee turnover,recruitment and absenteeism.

Combatting Presenteeism AndOverwork• Presenteeism bears a significant cost toemployers.Presenteeism due to poor mental health leadsto a loss of working time nearly 1.5 times thatcaused by sickness absence due to mental ill-health in the United Kingdom. Further,presenteeism has been estimated to cutproductivity by one-third or more (Hemp,2004).

• Overwork has negative work and personalconsequences.Long hours are a source of negative job-to-home spill-over, affect safety, reduceproductivity and increase errors. High workdemands, and worrying about work during freetime, can result in disturbed sleep patterns anddifficulties awakening.

Further information to support the abovepoints can be found within the HappyHomes, Productive Workplaces report: http://tinyurl.com/8jwv443

FURTHER INFORMATION

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Guidance Statements - Relational Capability Statementsfor Embedding into Employment Policies

OverviewWe are all aware that no matter how much we tryto compartmentalise our lives there are timeswhen work has an impact on the homeenvironment and vice-versa. The research ‘HappyHomes, Productive Workplaces’ conducted incollaboration between Working Families andOnePlusOne has demonstrated the virtuous circlebetween healthy and stable personal relationshipsand high performance at work. The researchhighlighted that there is a positive connectionbetween work engagement and relationshipquality and appears that home-life can be a realdriver for motivation and performance at work. It also appears that work life can have a realimpact on the quality of personal relationships.

Further information about the research canbe found at http://tinyurl.com/8jwv443

Why is this important to theworkplace?To continuously get the very best out of ourcolleagues on a day-to-day basis we mustunderstand the implications of how work andpersonal relationships have an impact on eachother. Building effective and trusting relationshipsboth in the work and home environment arecrucial for an individual’s wellbeing and resilienceas well as improving productivity, engagementand motivation in the workplace.

Effective relationship skills are just as important inthe workplace as they are at home and what islearnt in one environment can be transferred intoothers, for example, effective listening techniques,having difficult conversations. Creating increasedrelational capability has a positive impact on therelationships within the workplace, can improvethe quality of collaboration, the client experienceand how employees interact in their personallives.

How do we embed this into theworkplace?Discussing relationships, or creating a spotlight onthem, can be a highly emotive subject and notsomething that all employees may feelcomfortable raising in the workplace. However,there are a number of trigger points within theemployee employment cycle which may heightenthe need for a company to take more notice ofthe connections between work and home.The initial starting point may well be forcompanies to signal some form ofacknowledgement of the above via a companystatement or within other ‘culture’ messages.There are other touch points such as flexibleworking requests, going through a separation,becoming a parent or going through a particularlystressful time in the workplace such asredundancy that would benefit from therecognition of the impact of relationships and thecross over between work and home.Many companies do support employees byensuring an Employee Assistance Programme(EAP) is available to respond to the abovesituations. Although valuable, this can be seen asa reactive response and becomes valuable when asituation has reached breaking point. Creatingrelational capability within the workplaceincreases the chances of issues being proactively‘nipped in the bud’ and dealt with in a timely andeffective manner far before a ‘breaking point’ isreached.

This information can be used by organisations to consider how they can embedrelational capability thinking into their existing policies and practices. The businesscase provides rationale for including new strategies such as the wellbeing strategy.

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Guiding statements:To create an overarching statement it is importantthat this is congruent with the wording and toneof other statements or communications within thecompany. Many companies will not have usedthe phrase ‘relational capability’ before and will

Examples of what this statement might look like for:

Draft Statement / Value Statement:

At [include organisation name] we have a culture of treating all colleagues as they would

like to be treated, ensuring that we respect one another and treat each other with

compassion and courtesy. This underpins the way we cultivate and sustain our

relationships with our colleagues, clients, shareholders and the wider community.

Flexible workingA key component to the success of flexible / agile w

orking is the ability to communicate

effectively with those around you – both at work and at home. Ensuring that home

dynamics are considered when flexible working patterns are created is absolutely

paramount to their longer-term success.

Any form of flexible working means that there will be less ‘face time’ with colleagues.

To respond to this, more focus should be given to creating and maintaining effective

relationships within the direct working team, and wider.

IVFAt [include organisation name] we understand that undertaking IVF c

an be an emotional

time, both in a personal and professional context, and will offer support and assistan

ce

where required

Maternity PolicyBecoming a parent is a hugely emotional time and is important that the personal and

relational aspects of becoming a parent are given the same level of importance as the

work aspects. This may include being able to effectively manage relationships at home

and in the workplace, managing expectations and workloads. Effective communication

and relational capability skills will enable all to ensure this is a positive experience

both at

home and in the workplace.

Compassionate Leave

We appreciate that this can be an emotionally challenging and stressful time. When

considering the requirements of the compassionate leave also consider the emotional

requirements of the individual and how by strengthen both personal and work

relationships can help to support them through this difficult period.

Training and Development

Many skills that are taught with the workplace in mind such as active listening, effective

negotiation and dealing with difficult situations are transferrable skills that also ha

ve a

place in the home environment as well. To ensure that colleagues are able to use these

skills throughout their lives it is advantageous to highlight this throughout our trai

ning and

development. How we develop and sustain effective relationships in the workplace and

with our clients is a reflection of our ability to do the same in our personal environments.

need to consider what is appropriate for them.The following gives an overview of what anoverarching statement might look like, althoughthis has been designed purely for guidancepurposes.

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Mindful Working Tool – Original

The ‘Mindful Working’ tool was created by takingeach of the five themes of the ‘Happy Homes andProductive Workplaces’ research findings andidentifying five activities for line managers and fiveseparate activities for team members to performover a one-week period. The tool was developedwith organisational development experts andleading employers to ensure they were bothrealistic and impactful.

This is the original tool which was used during thepilot phase of the research and could beappropriate for a number of workplaces.

Line Manager

Line-manager tries to perform each activity (at least) once, each week.

Make a note of which could not be done and why. Then decide how itcould be done differently the following week.

1. Have a conversation with participating team-members about somethingthat happens outside of work (e.g. Did you have a nice weekend?)

2. Leave work on time

3. Switch off your work mobile / do not check work email once you gethome. Support your team to do the same*

4. Ask for the expertise of participating team members about their work,and if anything could be done to better/help manage their workload(e.g. How could tasks be allocated/performed better? What is the best approachto achieve the task?)

5. Prioritise and do something with your family / friends that you havebeen putting off due to work (e.g. spend time with a partner, see a friend,read to children)

* If work email/phone access is not a part of participants’ jobs, then anotherappropriate replacement activity that delivers the same effect will be provided.

WEEKLY

The five themes of the ‘Happy Homes andProductive Workplaces’ research findings:

• Relationship Support

• Work-Family Conflict

• Presenteeism and Overwork

• Flexiblie Working

• Gender

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Team member

Team-members try to perform each activity (at least) once, each week.

Make a note of which could not be done and why. Then decide how itcould be done differently the following week.

1. Have a conversation with a colleague about something that happensoutside of work (e.g. Did you have a nice weekend?)

2. Pursue a personal development opportunity (e.g. read the news at lunch,research or engage in a hobby)

3. Prioritise and do something with your family / friends that you havebeen putting off due to work (e.g. spend time with a partner, see a friend,read to children)

4. Leave work on time

5. Switch off your work mobile / do not check work email once you gethome*

* If work email/phone access is not a part of participants’ jobs, then anotherappropriate replacement activity that delivers the same effect will be provided.

WEEKLY

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• Employers should view Relationship Quality as an asset that requiresinvestment: from online relationship support or counselling, to providing support for parents.

RelationshipSupport

• Employers can address long-working hours, provision and take up offlexible working options, and lack of awareness towards caringresponsibilities.

• Managers should be up-skilled and employees enabled to takeresponsibility for ensuring the work environment remains positiveand productive.

Work-FamilyConflict

• Employers can improve job design, ensure employees takeadequate breaks, provide stress management sessions, andallocate work appropriately.

• Senior figures should model this behaviour, to show it is no barrierto success.

Presenteeismand Overwork

• Employers may need support in managing the interface betweenwork and home-life.

• Employers should develop a mutually beneficial culture of flexibility.• Senior figures should model this behaviour, to show it is no barrier to

success.

Flexible Working

• Employers should avoid the assumption that women will not want tofocus on their careers if they have children, and monitor the effectsof unconscious bias.

• Employers should monitor men more closely, and ensure flexiblepolicies are aligned and communicated so men are able to accessthem equally, without concern over it damaging their career.

Gender

The ‘Mindful Working’ tool was created by taking each of the five themes of the ‘HappyHomes and Productive Workplaces’ research findings and identifying five activities for linemanagers and five separate activities for team members to perform over a one-weekperiod. The tool was developed with organisational development experts and leadingemployers to ensure they were both realistic and impactful.

The key recommendations from the original research were::

Mindful Working Tool – How to Tailor to yourOrganisation’s Requirements

To ensure that the tailored tool responds to all aspects of the research findings there should be anactivity that directly links back to each of the above.

Examples of activities that could be included for line managers are listed below. There may be othersthat are appropriate to the culture and work within your organisation and would be a good employeeengagement exercise to create a specific tool for your organisation/part of your business with some ofyour colleagues.

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Line Manager

Line-manager tries to perform each activity (at least) once, each week.

Make a note of which could not be done, and why, to be reviewed as to how theycan do differently the following week.

Point One directly links to ‘Relationship Support’ Options could include:• Have a conversation with your team members about something that happens outside of work

(e.g. Did you have a nice weekend?)• Have a conversation with your team members about a positive activity they have planned

outside of work for the future (e.g. a holiday or trip with their family or friends)• Ensure that you and your team members are aware of information available within the

company that will ‘buffer’ against any work-related stress (e.g. online training, internalresource groups).

Point Two directly links to ‘Work-Family Conflict’ Options could include:• Leave work on time• Ensure that each of your team members leaves work on time at some stage throughout the

working week• Review who you are handing the work and key projects out to within your team.

Ensure this is balanced so that all team members have the opportunity to be involvedwithout the majority of work landing on one or two people.

Point Three directly links to ‘Presenteeism and Overwork’ Options could include:• Switch off your work mobile / do not check work email once you get home.

Support your team to do the same

• Ensure you have at least one day each week where you are not completing any workrelated tasks. Support your team to do the same

• Ensure that you are taking appropriate breaks from your work throughout the day.Support your team to so the same.

Point Four directly links to ‘Flexible Working’ Options could include:• Ask for the expertise of your team members about their work, and if anything could be

done to better/help manage their workload (e.g. How could tasks beallocated/performed better?, What is the best approach to achieve the task?)

• Ensure you are role modelling working flexibly to your team members, identify whatworks for you and share with your team

• Ask your team how we could all work more flexibly and how we might implementsome of the suggestions over the coming weeks.

Point Five directly links to ‘Gender’ Options could include:• Prioritise and do something with your family / friends that you have been putting off

due to work (e.g. spend time with a partner, see a friend, read to children)

• Ensure all team-members are getting the appropriate opportunities and accessibility towork projects and working flexibly

• Pursue a personal development opportunity and ensure all team members areencouraged to do the same.

WEEKLY

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Team member

Team-members try to perform each activity (at least) once, each week.

Make a note of which could not be done and why. Then decide how it could be donedifferently the following week.

Point One directly links to ‘Relationship Support’ Options could include:• Have a conversation with your colleagues about something that happens outside of work

(e.g. Did you have a nice weekend?)

• Have a conversation with your colleagues about a positive activity they have plannedoutside of work for the future (e.g. a holiday or trip with their family or friends)

• Ensure you are aware of information available within the company that will ‘buffer’against any work-related stress (e.g. online training, internal resource groups).

Point Two directly links to ‘Work-Family Conflict’ Options could include:• Structure your working week to enable you to leave work on time without having to

consider work when not there• Pursue a personal development opportunity (e.g. read the news at lunch, research or

engage in a hobby)• Make sure you have an activity to look forward to in your personal life which is not

work related.

Point Three directly links to ‘Presenteeism and Overwork’ Options could include:• Switch off your work mobile / do not check work email once you get home.

• Ensure you have at least one day each week where you are not completing any workrelated tasks.

• Ensure that you are taking appropriate breaks from your work throughout yourworking day.

Point Four directly links to ‘‘Flexible Working’Options could include:• Switch off your work mobile / do not check work email once you get home.

• Ensure you have at least one day each week where you are not completing any workrelated tasks.

• Ensure that you are taking appropriate breaks from your work throughout yourworking day.

Point Five directly links to ‘Gender’ Options could include:• Prioritise and do something with your family / friends that you have been putting off

due to work (e.g. spend time with a partner, see a friend, read to children)

• Talk to your family about the aspects of your work you enjoy

• Think about the aspects of your work that you really enjoy and how you may be ableto factor more of those activities into your job.

WEEKLY

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This tool can be used as both a planning toolfor line managers and team members toschedule some of these activities into theirwork week and /or as a review document toidentify how successful they have been incompleting all of the tasks throughout the weekand where their focus for the future should be.

Not all of the activities within the above toolwill be applicable for every role in everyorganisation. These guidelines will help youtailor this so that it fits both the culture and thework undertaken throughout yourorganisation. The above are a number ofsuggestions for each of the five aspects of thetool, please use these as a template and discusswith your line manager and work colleagues asto the activities that will work for the part of theorganisation you work within. It may be thatyou collectively come up with a number ofactivities that are more appropriate.

POINTS TO CONSIDER WHEN USING THE TOOL:

Regularly review the activities within the tool as,over time, other elements may become moreimportant for you or you may ‘master’ one ofthe activities and want to challenge yourself alittle further.

It is important to note that this isn’t a tool to useas a one-off for a short period of time. Thebeneficial results come from embedding thisinto your work schedules so that the activitiesbecome repeated behaviours. This is thelonger-term aspiration to focus on.

The tool can also be used as a ‘pulse point’, tocheck every now and again how you areperforming against the activities. This could belinked directly to your health and wellbeingstrategy and any promotions orcommunications around that to focus onemotional and holistic wellbeing.

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Diagnostic Tool – creating your own analysisto assess where you are

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There were four key stages to the diagnostic tool:

Stage 1 – Senior HR Professional Interviewsto gain their views on Relational Capability

Stage 2 – Conduct desk analysis of thepolicies where ‘relational capability’ may beincluded in some guise. Examples of thesecould include flexible/agile working,maternity and parental leave andstress/resilience management.

Stage 3 – Conduct focus group interviewswith employees (cross section of levels andfunctions) to identify and understand theirlived experience within the company

Stage 4 – Share feedback with colleaguesand gain their insights and discuss / agree thenext steps and actions that should be taken torespond to the findings.

Find below an example of how the feedbackfrom the above activity may look.

The Diagnostic Tool used throughout theresearch was created to identify the gap statedwithin an organisation. This links the skills andknowledge required to effectively managerelationships in a way that translates directlybetween work and home and vice versa (bothpositively and negatively) with the livedexperience of individual employees. The identification of any gap would enablecompanies to review what they currently do, howthis is communicated to employees and how thisis demonstrated on a day-to-day basis viamanager and peer behaviour.

Stage 4 - Feedback

Aim: Share feedback with colleagues and gain their insights and discuss / agree thenext steps and actions that should be taken to respond to the findings

To complete this stage review the responses and findings from each of the above stagesand identify where there were any similarities that came out from each stage. Forexample:

‘The HR professional stated that flexible working was there to ensure employees couldeffectively deliver their work commitments and have quality time at home. The policy mirroredthose aspirations and highlighted the importance of quality time at home and the positiveimpact this can have on productivity. When speaking to employees they also highlighted theeffectiveness of their flexible working arrangements’

There may also be areas where there is a disconnect between the different stages:

‘The HR professional highlighted our senior leaders commitment to ensuring all employees areaware of stress and resilience and the impact this may have on productivity and home-life.However, there was no mention of this within the health and wellbeing strategy or the absencepolicy. Employees highlighted that they have been told to attend an on-line training packageabout stress in the workplace. However, there was no mention of the impact this could have onhome-life and how personal relationships could have a positive impact on the levels of stresspeople experience and deal with in the workplace’

Once the key similarities and key disconnects have been identified, share with the HR professional andothers within the company to discuss further. Focus on the areas where action can be taken,identifying any quick wins and areas where further discussions with other colleagues are required.

If you would like more information about adetailed diagnostic to be completed withinyour organisation please contactOnePlusOne on 0207 553 9554

FURTHER INFORMATION

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Small and Medium Sized Enterprise (SME) Toolkit

The Diagnostic Tool

Being a ‘Relationships Aware’ Manager

Guidance for Employees

Employee Questionnaire and Measurement Tool

Notes on Good Practice for SMEs

The toolkit for SMEs is intended to provide anumber of activities and exercise that SMEs canimplement to help them build relationalcapability. Derived from the same tools thathave been tried and tested in large companies,the tools can be adapted to suit thecircumstances of individual businesses.

The toolkit comprises a number of differentelements. These are intended to be of maximumappeal to SMEs by being pragmatic andbusiness-focussed.

The toolkit elements are:

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There were four key stages to the diagnostic tool:

Stage 1 – Senior HR Professional Interviewsto gain their views on Relational Capability

Stage 2 – Conduct desk analysis of thepolicies where ‘relational capability’ may beincluded in some guise. Examples of thesecould include flexible/agile working,Maternity and Parental leave andstress/resilience management.

Stage 3 – Conduct focus group interviewswith employees (cross section of levels andfunctions) to identify and understand theirlived experience within the company

Stage 4 – Share feedback with colleaguesand gain their insights and discuss / agree thenext steps and actions that should be taken torespond to the findings.

Find below an example of how the feedbackfrom the above activity may look.

The Diagnostic Tool used throughout theresearch was created to identify the gap statedwithin an organisation. This links the skills andknowledge required to effectively managerelationships in a way that translates directlybetween work and home and vice versa (bothpositively and negatively) with the livedexperience of individual employees. The identification of any gap would enablecompanies to review what they currently do, howthis is communicated to employees and how thisis demonstrated on a day-to-day basis viamanager and peer behaviour.

Stage 4 - Feedback

Aim: Share feedback with colleagues and gain their insights and discuss / agree thenext steps and actions that should be taken to respond to the findings

To complete this stage review the responses and findings from each of the above stagesand identify where there were any similarities that came out from each stage. Forexample:

‘The HR professional stated that flexible working was there to ensure employees couldeffectively deliver their work commitments and have quality time at home. The policy mirroredthose aspirations and highlighted the importance of quality time at home and the positiveimpact this can have on productivity. When speaking to employees they also highlighted theeffectiveness of their flexible working arrangements’

There may also be areas where there is a disconnect between the different stages:

‘The HR professional highlighted our senior leaders’ commitment to ensuring all employees areaware of stress and resilience and the impact this may have on productivity and home-life.However, there was no mention of this within the health and wellbeing strategy or the absencepolicy. Employees highlighted that they have been told to attend an on-line training packageabout stress in the workplace. However, there was no mention of the impact this could have onhome-life and how personal relationships could have a positive impact on the levels of stresspeople experience and deal with in the workplace’

Once the key similarities and key disconnects have been identified, share with the HR professional andothers within the company to discuss further. Focus on the areas where action can be taken,identifying any quick wins and areas where further discussions with other colleagues are required.

If you would like more information about adetailed diagnostic to be completed withinyour organisation please contactOnePlusOne on 0207 553 9554

FURTHER INFORMATION

The Diagnostic Tool

The SME Toolkit

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Training for managers in relationshipsmanagement incorporatesunderstanding the link betweenrelationship quality and workperformance. Training should focus onbuilding relationship skills into theeveryday business of management,rather than being a special suite of toolsthat is rolled out in times of crisis.

Being a ‘Relationships Aware’ Manager

The SME Toolkit

Training for managers should cover:• Managing time• Stress• Work-life balance• Emotional intelligence• Managing in a less 'family' way

The management of relationshipsamongst their workforce and forthe benefit of their organisation

The management of their ownrelationships as they are affectedand impacted by workplaceissues. This is a particular concernfor smaller SMEs where managerstake on a dual role of businessleader and line manager ofemployees.

Training for managersshould ideally cover:

Training for managers and SME leadersfocuses on two components: • Recognising potential relationship issues

• Drops in motivation• Behaviour changes • Productivity and performance drops • Sickness absence increases• Staff monitoring or survey evidence

• Building the right culture• Keeping two way communication channels open• Keeping the door open for informal, confidentialconversations

• Listening to feedback about culture

• Developing the right management style• Openness• Dealing with perceptions of favouritism andweakness

• Acknowledging the causes of relationshipproblems

• Non-judgmental management• Getting the balance right between business andpersonal needs

• Managing• Handling difficult/ emotionalconversations/active listening

• Developing and agreeing a plan• Knowing when to get outside help and what thismight mean

• When and how to escalate or revert to otherorganisational procedures

Training for business owners, managers, leaders inresilience in their own relationships is essential,not only from a wellbeing and relationships healthperspective, but also from a business one. Whererelationship issues become complex andnegatively spill into the workplace, effective andclear-eyed decision making can be compromised.

Examples that emerged in SME interviewsincluded managers feeling unable to have difficultconversations with employees. This lead tounderlying non-work issues escalating into

relationship breakdown, which negativelyimpacted on the workplace, to leaders needingto support employees to such an extent thatoperational matters were neglected.

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Guidance for employees

The SME Toolkit

Any statement about a relationships basedapproach might be incorporated into a staffhandbook or policy, or in the company valuesstatement if they have one.

To explain the purpose and scope of arelationships-based ethos

To lay out some simple actions thatemployees can use which will support thedevelopment of a relations-basedapproach.

Simple tools employeescan use include:

Guidance for employees has two aims.

• Have a non-work conversation witha colleague. Ensure it is a two-wayprocess (e.g. about family-life, or sport, or culture, etc.)

• Prioritise and do something withyour family / friends / on your ownthat you have been putting off (ortoo tired to do) due to work. (e.g.spend time with a partner, see acolleague, go for a walk at lunchtime,read to children, etc.)

• Leave work on time and switch offyour mobile / do not check workemail.

• Perform pro-active management ofyour tasks - in a manner of your choiceas is appropriate for your job (e.g. Onlycheck your emails three times today ordeal with all emails the day they arriveand then archive to avoid backlog).

Although these may seem simplistic, these tools,when tested in larger organisations, provedeffective in nudging employees to behave in morerelationship-supportive ways. Whilst simple toachieve, they are effective in refocusingemployees on their own work and lifeintegration habits and behaviour. They are lowimpact and zero-cost, and can be helpful inrecalibrating team and company culture.

Further information can be found on how to create your own ‘Finding your Balance’ tool athttp://www.workingfamilies.org.uk/articles/employers/resources-guides-and-free-webinars/working-families-guides-for-employees

FURTHER INFORMATION

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Employee questionnaire and measurement tool

The SME Toolkit

SME businesses are generally less likely to carryout staff surveys. However, in order to quantifythe effectiveness of a relationships-basedapproach, they will require a baselineunderstanding of their staff to measure against.Providing a survey that is calibrated to measureengagement and performance will, over time,show whether or not relationship support isunderstood and appreciated and whether staff

Staff Survey Example Questions

• Good relationships at home can have a positive impact in theworkplace (strongly agree or strongly disagree)

• This issue is taken seriously by senior management (strongly agree or strongly disagree)

• Do you agree or disagree with the following statements:

▪ My organisation cares about me as an individual

▪ My line manager cares about me as an individual

• Would you recommend your employer as a good place to work?

morale and engagement is boosted. A further stepwould be for employers to establish whether theycan ascribe any changes to the bottom line totaking a relationships-based approach.

A staff survey (either as a new stand-alone one, orincorporated into an existing one) could includesome of the following example questions:

Agree Disagree

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Notes on Good Practice for SMEs

The SME Toolkit

For SMEs (often without in-house HR oremployment expertise) there are sometimesconcerns about employment issues: there can beuncertainty that they are doing the right thing interms of legislative compliance and employmentrisk. This brief guidance aims to help them bypromoting a sensible, pragmatic approach. It isnot intended to provide advice, legal or otherwise.

If an SME introduces any policy regardingrelationships and relationship support for itsemployees, there should be a guiding principle ofopenness. The policy may be as simple as astatement about a supportive culture and asensible approach, where informal conversationsare encouraged. Employees should beencouraged to be open about any relationshipdifficulties they may be facing. The firm should beclear that the policy is intended to benefit boththe employee and, as a result of the employee’sincreased productivity and resilience, the firm.There should also be clarity about what supportmay be available and from whom, and also whatis expected of the firm and the employee. Finally,there should be clarity about how any privateinformation will be handled by the firm.

Two main issues have been identified.

(1) Can an employee be under anobligation to share non-work issues –particularly where, for example, theyrelate to performance?

(2) What happens to information that isshared about relationships and non-work issues at work?

The simple answer is, of course, that the employeecannot be compelled to disclose personal detailsto his/her employer. However, if the firm offersunderstanding and support, the employee willprobably be more likely to be open, particularly insituations where the employee feels that theirperformance is being affected. In a situationwhere a manager enquires whether there may befamily or relationship factors at play in aperformance or similar situation, the employeeagain cannot be required to disclose.

Of course, if the manager has received training inthe area (or is referring to guidance on dealingwith sensitive issues, for example provided byACAS) and as a result handles the conversationsensitively, the employee may be more willing tocommunicate in an open way and any support ispotentially more likely to be offered or accessible.A manager can provide compassion and support.The ideal is probably that any ongoingrelationship support required should be providedby an external third party and not by someonewithin the organisation.

Any information provided should be treatedconfidentially and should not form the basis ofany treatment of or decision subsequently madeabout the employee. Such decisions should bemade on the basis of performance. It should beunderstood that a long-term impact onperformance or capability, whatever the cause,may result in performance and/or capabilityprocedures.

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Other Resources Available

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There are a number of resources also available from Working Families andOnePlusOne which respond directly to the findings of the original ‘Happy Homesand Productive Workplaces’ Research and will support the use of the other toolswithin this report.

RelationshipSupport

• QuickbiteTM seminars and programmes for All (Balancing work& being a dad, Balancing work and being a mum, Balancingwork and caring, Flexible working the essential guide)

• MinibiteTM e-learning single videos and programmes for All(Balancing work & being a dad, Balancing work and being a mum)

• QuickbiteTM seminars and Masterclass programmes formanagers (Engaging working mothers, Engaging workingfathers, Developing carer friendly teams, Developing highperforming flexible teams)

• Building a relationally capable workforce: E-learningpackage and skills workshop

• Managing conflict at home and at work: E-learningpackage and skills workshop

• Changes for me and Us: Online antenatal educationpackage for parents

• When parents part: online support package for separatedparents

• Webinars On various relationship issues/topics

• Couples Living Apart: Information package

Work-FamilyConflict

• QuickbitesTM for All (Building resilience, Maximise your energyand your time)

• MinibitesTM for All (Building resilience, Maximising your energyand your time)

• QuickbiteTM seminars and programmes for managers(Developing high performing flexible teams)

Presenteeismand Overwork

• QuickbiteTM seminars and programmes for All (Flexible workingthe essential guide, Balancing Life, Maximise your energy &your time, Job sharing – making it work)

• QuickbiteTM seminars and programmes for Managers(Flexible working: the mind-set shift, Job-share: making it work)

• Masterclasses programmes for managers (Managing thechange and Leading flexible high performing teams)

Flexible Working

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Charlotte Sweeney has specialised in large-scale changeprogrammes with a focus on diversity, inclusion, engagement andwellbeing for over 15 years. She is seen as a thought leader in her fieldand works with companies and executives from the private, public andthird sectors to drive leadership and cultural change. Charlotte workedfor Blue Chip companies in the Financial Services Sector for 25 years(Barclays, Barclays Capital, HBOS and Nomura International) beforecreating her own consultancy.

Charlotte is a Non-Executive Director at the Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust, has recentlyconducted an independent review on the Voluntary Code for Executive Searchfirms for the Secretary of State Dr Vince Cable, is Vice-Chair of the Dept ofBusiness, Innovation and Skills external D&I Advisory Panel and is the creator andleading the Lord Mayor of the City of London’s Diversity Programme ‘The Power ofDiversity’. She sits on a number of advisory and charity boards as well as being afounding member of the POWERful Women initiative led by Baroness Verma toincrease the representation of women in the energy industry.

Over the years she has won many awards, including from Harvard, for her work inthe Diversity and Inclusion field.

Jonathan Swan is Policy and Research Officer for WorkingFamilies. He has researched and written on a wide range of work-life integration issues, including: fathers and work, flexible workingin senior roles, productivity and performance, organisationalculture and active ageing. He is responsible for the annual TopEmployers for Working Families benchmark for organisations andthe Time Health and the Family series of reports.

Biographies

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OnePlusOneStrengthening relationships

1 Benjamin Street, London EC1M 5QG www.OnePlusOne.org.ukT: +44(0)207 553 9530 F: +44(0)207 553 9550

Powering theCoupleConnection.netand theParentConnection.org.uk

Registered Charity No. 1087994. Company no. 4133340.

Working FamiliesChanging the way we live and work

Cambridge House1 Addington Square, London SE5 0HFT:+44(0)207 253 7243Parents and carers helpline: 0300 012 0312www.workingfamilies.org.ukEmail: [email protected]

Follow Working Families on Twitter @workingfamUK

Registered Charity No 1099808. Company No 04727690

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