Execs Increasingly Seeking Better Work-Life Balance
August 21, 2006 - By Christine Ong – Balancing the work and personal lives of senior executives has become more difficult in the last five years. That's according to nearly half of 1,300 senior executives around the world, including some from financial services firms, recently surveyed by the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC).
Almost 87% view work-life balance considerations as critical when deciding whether to join or remain with an employer, while 56% will consider declining a promotion that negatively impacts their work-life balance.
Executive recruiters say a tight market, technological advancements and changing demographics have resulted in a clamor for more work-life balance among senior-level executives. "You've got a whole combination of factors coming together," says Peter Felix, president of AESC. "All these things have added up to a less-than-satisfactory environment today."
Felix says the war for talent has already begun and will increasingly become more competitive with the exit of retiring baby boomers.
Recruiters note that Generations X and Y are coming into the C-suite expressing a general desire for more balance between their work and personal lives. That leaves firms with potentially even less of a talent pool to pick from, says James Norton, president and chief executive officer of Fiderion Financial Services Group.
Furthermore, under-recruitment during the recession has added more burden to executives, while technological advancements that have made BlackBerrys an indispensable executive tool have impacted people's accessibility and their lifestyles, Felix says. According to the survey, nearly half of senior executives rate work-life balance as being as important as increased earnings, while 36.2% declared work-life balance more important.
"With these kinds of trends at work, there needs to be a reaction by the employer to moderate the environment so it isn't too extreme," Felix says.
However, Norton, who runs an executive search firm for investment management companies, including fund shops and hedge funds, says comments he's hearing from the C-suite indicate senior executives are less concerned with work-life balance and more concerned with regulatory demands.
"Scrutiny from regulators rather than work-life balance was cited as a reason they would leave and do something else," Norton says. "Companies, as well as regulatory bodies, need to be sensitive to that. You just don't grow executives overnight. There's not an endless supply out there."
However, observers say the regulatory scrutiny is beginning to ease up, though hiring in the C-suite is not expected to lighten anytime soon.
"There's a record number of people being turned over. I don't think the C-suite hiring is going to stop," Norton says. "The talent pool is so short."
There are indications, though, that companies are responding by providing more benefits – of the work-life variety – to recruit and retain their executives.
A recent survey by JobKite.com, an online job search firm, found that 56% of nearly 300 companies surveyed have enhanced employee benefits within the last six months. Financial services firms were among those polled. The enhanced benefits are heavily tilted toward those promoting work-life balance, including more vacation days, alternative working arrangements and beefing up of health coverage that can relieve the stress of taking care of one's family.
"Companies are making much bigger efforts to have their benefits stand out to the candidates," says Heather Galler, CEO of JobKite.com.
Galler says the type of benefits being offered today are generally in contrast to the flashy perks of the '90s when companies dangled luxury cars, game rooms with foosball tables and chef-prepared meals as inducements.
"After the bubble burst and 9/11, people were generally much more concerned with longevity, stability and family, and employers are picking up on that," Galler says. "Employers, when they were offering these flashy benefits, realized it was costing as much as work-life benefits. And while they were recruiting, they weren't retaining."
Norton says financial services companies have historically been at the forefront when it comes to offering benefits, including those that impact work-life balance. Most fund firms allow some degree of workplace flexibility and offer a variety of general wellness-type benefits, observers say.
Norton notes financial services firms are able to provide these benefits because they are typically larger, more affluent companies that are run very well – in large part because they can attract and retain quality people.