The financial sector, one of the most flexible in the market for work-life balance, according to experts

The financial sector is one of the most flexible sectors in the market when it comes to work-life balance, according to Nuria Chinchilla, professor and director of IESE–University of Navarra’s International Center for Work and Family, during the presentation of the first study, “Work-Family Balance in the Financial Sector,” in the “Alares–IESE Studies” collection on work-life balance and family and personal life. Finanzas.com/ Europa Press The study notes that “the financial sector stands out in a competitive market for its focus on profitability and for including work-life balance measures. It is also above the global average in terms of the level of development of a Family-Responsible Employer (FRE).” “Of all the companies, seven percent not only have work-life balance policies but also create a business environment conducive to their development; their culture is already family-responsible. By contrast, thirteen percent are ‘environmental contaminants.’ These companies have not yet understood the new challenge, since they lack family-responsible policies,” the study adds. WOMEN IN THE WORKFORCE: SYNONYMOUS WITH WORK-LIFE BALANCE POLICIES. Regarding new labor-market trends, the report highlights that the sociodemographic phenomenon of women entering the workforce has been the “dominant” cause of companies’ increased flexibility in recent decades. “Companies with a higher number of women on their staff have developed more extensive work-life balance policies,” it states. This situation is particularly pronounced in the financial sector. According to the study, “there are companies where women account for more than seventy-five percent of the workforce. In these cases, a corporate culture has developed within the workplace, and work-life balance policies have been established that are essential; in addition, family-responsible practices are implemented. Conversely, the higher the percentage of temporary employees in a workforce, the lower the implementation of these work-life balance policies.” THE FINANCIAL SECTOR AT THE FOREFRONT OF WORKPLACE FLEXIBILITY. Regarding flexible working-hours measures in the sector, 56 percent of companies offer flexible working hours, compared with 38 percent of the total sample. Irregular distribution of working time has been introduced in the financial-intermediation sector—banks, savings banks, and insurance companies—although it has also had a major impact on sectors with high levels of temporary employment. “Forty-one percent of companies in the sector, compared with 31 percent of the total sample, use family work-life balance policies as a corporate strategy. Allocating a budget to flexibility initiatives indicates that they are considered part of the organization’s strategy. In the financial sector, thirty-five percent of companies have a budget, twice the percentage in the total sample, and among these companies, twenty percent conduct an annual review, compared with eighteen percent of all companies in the sample,” the study concludes. These results were obtained in the 2007 IFREI study—IESE Family Responsible Employer Index—in which 857 companies participated: 15 percent were SMEs and 85 percent were large companies. These percentages were compared with those of fifty-eight companies in the financial sector—banks, financial institutions, and insurers—belonging to the private insurance sector. The Alares Foundation aims to research, contribute to, and develop proposals and solutions for the new needs of the twenty-first century, in which equal opportunities and the eradication of all forms of discrimination, multiculturalism, and sustainability—particularly regarding social cohesion and economic competitiveness—are the most pressing challenges.