A law firm that encourages its workers to take a nap if they are tired has won New Zealand's top award for helping employees to balance their work and personal lives.
The government's Equal Employment Opportunities Trust gave solicitors firm Meredith Connell it's "work-life balance" award for offering employees flexible work hours to take account of personal commitments.
One lawyer said she took advantage of the flexible hours to do sports training that required her to get out of bed at 4:30 a.m. each day and run, swim or cycle for three hours before going to the office.
"After a few weeks of that, it gets to the point where you are hitting the proverbial brick wall," Longdill was quoted as saying in the New Zealand Herald. "I recall more than one occasion when the boss said, 'you need to go home, you need to go and sleep.'"
Longdill, 25, said she still spent 50 hours or more a week working, making up the time by working at night from home via remote access to company computers.
Meredith Connell official government solicitors in the northern city of Auckland credited the scheme for helping cut its professional staff turnover by 5 percent in the past year.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press
