The rationale of this proposal is to transfer an innovative product developed in a UK EQUAL project, to refine the product and to take account of societal, linguistic, cultural, fiscal and legal differences between EU countries, and to utilise it in an innovative way.
The aim is to transfer the existing knowledge base into an e-based information and training facility using cascade methods to extend the penetration of the information. This is particularly relevant as work life balance, flexible working, teleworking, etc., are all recognised across Europe as being effective vehicles to promote more sustainable and productive workforces which all contribute to European productivity and growth.
The established wisdom, developed over the past couple of decades, is for the material to be more accessible to employers and employees through a peer education (champion) structure through which the advantages of such practices can be explained and recipients helped to understand the multifactorial issues involved in developing effective work practices.
To achieve this we have designed a series of objectives:
- Identify the core features of the original WLB information pack and undertake relevant research to extend and customise the material to the situations pertaining in individual states
- Develop the information pack into suitable e-training packages to provide 40 WLB champions with the information and training needed to cascade the WLB ‘message’ to 200 organisations and 1000 people in partner states
- Produce a valorisation web site for the dissemination, promotion and exploitation of the material, along with ICT-based e-learning environment
- Develop a range of dissemination materials to promote the project, its outputs and its success
The project workplan thus takes various stages:
- Evaluation of the existing innovative WLB information booklet to be relevant to local (partner state) circumstances. This will be through discussion and desktop research
- Expansion and translation (linguisitic and conceptual) of material to fit local circumstances. This will enable local linguistic, fiscal, legal, cultural and social differences to be accommodated
- Development of material into e-training packages. This will utilise modern etraining development packages and practices
- Use of training packages to train 10 WLB champions in each partner state. This will be done via a workshop in each partner country in the first year
- Use of training packages by WLB champions to visit and educate a minimum of 5 employers/employees in each of 5 small organisations. This will be undertaken in the last quarter of the first year and the first quarter of the second year
- Development of the etraining package and derivation of good practice principles from the experiences. This will be started in the second workshop in the second year
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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.