All Work, No Play

Scott Feskens

All Work, No Play, No More by Cathy Guill briefly touches on how Alcan Inc. is encouraging its employees to compensate speed and quickness in order to be more productive. Alcan Inc. is worried about burnouts and high turnovers, so now employees are not allowed to work on weekends and are asked to take lunch breaks outside of the office. There are even relaxation options and luxuries such as free massages and even tai chi.

So what happens when a company orders its workers to slow down? To feature corporate enlightenment, Alcan began implementing a work-life effectiveness strategy including coaching for top executives, mandatory no-work hours, and on-site massage sessions. For a company to be focused on the bottom line and arrive at the conclusion that employee-burnout is a bigger long-term threat to business than the short term costs of encouraging the staff to slow down is a bit irrational. As a result of this practice, relationships are neglected and there becomes a void between work and personal life.

It has become difficult for Canadian employees to meet expectations during regular hours. Corporate downsizing, e-mail, and global competition across time zones has made the typical 9 to 5 day obsolete. People take home with them on the weekends, however this does not always mean positive results. Burnouts and physical/mental health problems are proof that overtime is not good for the worker or company on a long-term basis.

In 2003, Alcan Inc. established an eight-month pilot program, which is the foundation for the work-life-effectiveness plan within the company. Top executives, supervisors, and managers have regular sessions with balance exfjkfmkjkldmdperts on how to be better role models. The program is meant to be a change in mindset and the staff and supervisors decide for themselves how to achieve balance.