Energizer - Karen Johnson (employer)

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With high staff engagement levels and relatively low staff turnover, Energizer still needed to find a solution to work-life balance issues raised by employees.

Energizer employ 93 people to market and distribute batteries, blades and lighting products throughout New Zealand. Its Auckland-based operations include Sales & Marketing Departments, as well as Warehouse, Call Centre and Administrative Support Departments, and it also employs sales personnel around the country.

Energizer combines a strong commitment to work-life balance with a pragmatic understanding of the difficulties involved in providing flexibility and meeting business needs.

The company has offered some flexibility around working hours for a number of years but has recently taken a more systematic approach. “We tried to write a flexibility policy,” says HR Co-ordinator Karen Johnson, “but everyone is so individual we decided to come back to our core value of communication. As well as having regular team and one on one meetings, we use our company newsletter to share stories around flexibility and we also started a cross-functional team to look at employee satisfaction, including work-life balance.”

“One thing that we hoped to improve through our flexible approach is a better understanding of what issues our team members are facing. We found that when we were not communicating effectively we were having increased absenteeism. Flexibility works, however you have to be seen to be managing people who aren’t managing the flexible work model well.  We need people to tell us in advance if they can’t be here. To make it work, everyone has to play their part in communicating.”

She gives an example of one staff member who had always been quite reliable suddenly being regularly absent from work without any explanation. It emerged that his family situation had changed and he was having difficulty managing his family needs (especially transporting children to school) with work commitments. Energizer gave him two weeks leave to allow him to deal with the changes to his situation and get back into a routine. He is now working well within the flexible framework.

Staff are encouraged to talk with their manager if they are having difficulty managing personal and work-life issues. Managers are also required to ask team members if they have work-life balance issues and this has become an integral part of the twice-yearly formal review process. “This is a way we can encourage people to ask for what they need,” says Karen.

This focussed but informal approach is paying off for the company and its employees. Karen says the business benefits of flexibility and clear communication include reduced absenteeism, happier staff and managers, and low staff turnover. “No-one has left recently due to dissatisfaction with Energizer.”

In fact, a resignation was avoided by giving one colleague six months extended leave to help with the care of a family member. “She was coming to work and worrying all day,” says Karen. “She said to us, ‘My heart’s not here’, so we arranged for her to take time off to be with her family.

“As a result we retained a very loyal member of staff and avoided any disengagement or absenteeism during a stressful time for her.”