Eli Lilly and Company Limited (Lilly UK)
Attracting and retaining
high calibre employees
The company
Lilly UK, one of the UK’s top pharmaceutical companies, is the
UK affiliate of major American pharmaceutical manufacturer, Eli Lilly
and Company (Lilly) of Indianapolis.
Workforce
No. of worldwide employees 41,000
The problem
Employees were failing to balance home and work demands:
- The 1995 Lilly “Voice of the Employee”
survey showed that only 30% of respondents felt that they could
adequately balance their home and work demands
- Employee questionnaires, focus groups and individual
feedback showed that UK employees wanted more flexible working patterns
and to have more ownership of and responsibility for managing their
working lives
Response
The process:
- At the beginning of 1995, a small project team was
set up to outline the company’s view on alternative working
practices
- This provided all UK line managers with a toolkit
to help them balance their business challenges with the needs of
their employees
- Employee opinions and needs throughout the UK were
fed into the project team
- From the outset work-life balance was viewed as
part of the overall business strategy: the policy needed to support
all employees at all stages of their lives; it also had to reinforce
the core company values - respect for people; integrity and
thirst for excellence
The policies:
Lilly UK’s inclusive work-life programme was launched in May
1996 and focused on flexible working practices and breaks from work.
Flexible working patterns:
- Job shares
- Home working
- Part-time working
- Reduced hours
- Staggered hours (different start and finish times)
- Term-time working
Leave options:
- ‘V-time’ (voluntary time off for a short
period of time)
- Phased return to work after sickness or maternity
leave
- Career breaks
- Sabbaticals
- Paternity leave
- Maternity leave
- Adoption leave
- Paternal leave
Recent strategies:
The company continues to encourage a culture of flexibility through:
- Its regular employee survey
- Focus groups, for example a group set up to look
at flexible working within the sales force
- Looking at ways of improving current policies: a
recent innovation is that potential retirees can now work reduced
hours as they move towards retirement
Take-up:
- Female employees take up flexible working patterns
more than male employees
- Employees regularly take up programmes, such as
career breaks giving employees the opportunity to travel; and sabbaticals,
giving employees the opportunity to learn a new skill
- Phased return after sick leave is embraced by the
company’s occupational health department
Business benefits
The company says: “Work-life balance also does not mean an automatic
right to work flexibly nor does it mean a free for all - it
requires a responsible and mature approach from every employee whose
first and foremost aim must always be to meet the business’
objectives and to fulfil customer demands.”
Work-life policies have helped
to:
- Attract high calibre recruits
- Retain skilled employees
- Reduce recruitment costs
- Improve employee morale
- Maintain a competitive edge
- React more effectively to changing social demographics
and skills shortages
Challenges
The majority of staff who adopt flexible working patterns are female
and have childcare or eldercare responsibilities.
The future
“An organisation like Lilly UK must never be complacent about
work-life balance and just because we have a good number of programmes
on the shelf does not mean that we have a workforce that is able to
balance work and personal life.
“Communication, walking the talk, roles models, keeping the
philosophy alive and being flexible are all important aspects of a
true work-life balance culture and Lilly UK continues in all of these
to strive for best practice.”
June 2003
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