Are Work-life Balance (WLB) Programs
Used as Effective Attraction and
Retention Strategies in CQ's
Coalmines?
Dr Connie Zheng
School of Management & Information Systems
FACULTY OF BUSINESS AND INFORMATICS
Regional Social Impacts of Economic Growth Forum, Mackay, 20-21 August 2007
WLB = Attraction & Retention ?
• WLB.... ‘has gradually emerged as ‘a strategic
issue and a key element of an organization’s
employee attraction and retention strategies’....
(De Cieri et al., 2005, p. 91)
Regional Social Impacts of Economic Growth Forum, Mackay, 20-21 August 2007
Research Questions
• Can work-life balance programs also be used as
attraction and retention strategies in CQ's
coalmines?
• Is there a set of work-life balance policies and
programs in the coal industry? if so, what are they?
• Are they effective in attracting and retaining skilled
labour, which are largely in short?
• If yes, how? If not? Why not?
Regional Social Impacts of Economic Growth Forum, Mackay, 20-21 August 2007
To answer these questions…..
1. Review of the relevant WFL (work-family life)
literature
2. Research findings
3. Implications
Regional Social Impacts of Economic Growth Forum, Mackay, 20-21 August 2007
WLB in the context of
the regional coal industry
• Boom of the resource industry
• Tighten labour market conditions - shortage of
skills
• Changing lifestyle of workforce
• Community demands for health and wellbeing of
the society
Regional Social Impacts of Economic Growth Forum, Mackay, 20-21 August 2007
Literature Review
• Study of WLB from different angels
• Study of WLB at different levels
• Study of WLB using different methods
Regional Social Impacts of Economic Growth Forum, Mackay, 20-21 August 2007
The influence of WLB/C on......
• Absenteeism (eg. Goff et al., 1990)
• Citizenship behaviour (eg. Lambert, 2000)
• Organisational commitment (eg. Perry-Smith &
Blum, 2000; Casper et al, 2002)
• Withdrawal behaviour (Greenhaus et al. 1997;
2001; Hammer et al., 2003)
• Organisational attraction & branding (eg.
Honeycutt & Rosen, 1997; Drago et al., 2001; Lievens &
Highhouse, 2003)
Regional Social Impacts of Economic Growth Forum, Mackay, 20-21 August 2007
Study WLB from different perspectives
• Economic/managerial
– efficiency, productivity and profits
• Political/legal/institutional
– public goods, positive externality, lobbying and legislation
• Social/cultural/ethical
– social interface bw WIF & FIW, cultural barriers, value-
ethic systems and CSR
Regional Social Impacts of Economic Growth Forum, Mackay, 20-21 August 2007
Other streams of studies based on….
• Demographic characteristics
– Gender
– Age
– Race
• Life cycles
• Health and wellbeing
• Managerial approach
– Top-down
– Bottom-up
Regional Social Impacts of Economic Growth Forum, Mackay, 20-21 August 2007
Five main categories of
WLB policies and programs
1. Flexible working arrangement
2. Health and wellness programs
3. Family responsibility leaves
4. Childcare benefits, subsidies or services
5. Organisational understanding and
general support
Regional Social Impacts of Economic Growth Forum, Mackay, 20-21 August 2007
Levels & methods of study on WLB
Level
• Individual
• Organizational
• Multi-level (individual, group and organization)
Research method
• Quantitative v. qualitative
Regional Social Impacts of Economic Growth Forum, Mackay, 20-21 August 2007
Research Findings
Table 1 – Coal companies participating in this research project
Company Number of participants
Anglo Coal 5
BMA 8
Ensham 2
Felix 4
Foxleigh 1
Jellinbah 1
Rio Tinto 4
Theiss 1
Xstrata 2
Respondents 3
without company names
TOTAL 31
Regional Social Impacts of Economic Growth Forum, Mackay, 20-21 August 2007
Interview/survey questions:
Have you done anything in particular to attract
and retain quality employees? do you have any
work-life balance programs in place? how have
they helped attract and retain employees?
A summary
Regional Social Impacts of Economic Growth Forum, Mackay, 20-21 August 2007
Identifying the gaps....
• The use of flexible working hours did not imply that
coal workers could choose any hours that they want
to work, but that they might be able to pick the
preferred shifts in the rostering system.
• Flexibility about the place to work and part-time
working arrangements was applied mostly to those
working as support roles in the office, not miners or
contractors on-site.
Regional Social Impacts of Economic Growth Forum, Mackay, 20-21 August 2007
Identifying the gaps....
• Regular health check-up and medical support
• Emphasis on statutory leave provision, not
particularly referencing to family leaves, but leave for
community service or sport event
• Access to organisational support in the areas of
accommodation, shiftwork arrangement, DIDO/FIFO.
Regional Social Impacts of Economic Growth Forum, Mackay, 20-21 August 2007
Can these WLB help attract and
retain the skilled workforce?
‘We have 7-day on and 7-day off. We have a number
of people living on site. We bring in health
professionals, physiotherapists periodically.....
People also work 4-hour on, 4-hour off in a 12-hour
shift, so they have sufficient rest….We also try to
rotate people, but we do not have another mine to go,
so we rotate the roles within the company. I think we
must have done something right. We have a very low
staff turnover rate. We have significantly grown the
staff number for the past two years, we only lost two
people within two years’.
Regional Social Impacts of Economic Growth Forum, Mackay, 20-21 August 2007
Can these WLB help attract and
retain the skilled workforce?
• ‘in essence, we still have this belief that if we do
the right things, people will flow to us. However, this
is not necessarily so in our situation. We have
programs, we have policies, they are all there, but
people still leave, regardless’.
Regional Social Impacts of Economic Growth Forum, Mackay, 20-21 August 2007
Can these WLB help attract and
retain the skilled workforce?
‘I told you about what we have done in terms of
taking care of our people. But let’s get real. Under
the current environment, PAY is the key to reduce
the high turnover rate. We used to have 60% staff
turnover rate, consecutively for a number of years.
Last year, we started offering better remuneration, we
brought that down to 6% - a huge reduction. Perhaps
this is also due to our easy roster system?’
Regional Social Impacts of Economic Growth Forum, Mackay, 20-21 August 2007
Conclusions & Implications
• The coal industry has a set of specific WLB balance
programs that may address better the needs of those
male-dominated workforce;
• Gender appears differentiating the needs for WLB;
• It appears that coal companies may be under
intensive institutional pressure, so they tend to
strategically respond to WLB demands without
considerable evaluation of the programs effects;
Regional Social Impacts of Economic Growth Forum, Mackay, 20-21 August 2007
Conclusions & Implications
• Some forms of WLB programs may help attract and
retain people, notwithstanding, this might be more
effective with other HR measures, such as
compensation;
• There might be a tendency to address more of WLB
needs for people at supervisor level or at
corporate/office level. The WLB needs for ground
miners could be largely ignored, or compensated by
monetary rewards.
Regional Social Impacts of Economic Growth Forum, Mackay, 20-21 August 2007