Work organisation and innovation: Case study: Abbott, Ireland

Abbott, a global, broad-based healthcare company, employs almost 4,000 people in Ireland. The scope of this case study is the commercial operation located in Dublin Citywest Business Campus, which employs 158 people. The staff level in this organisation has remained stable during the past five years. In 2008 they started implementing a programme called Life Navigation which should allow employees to be more efficient and productive but at the same time to have a greater balance between work and private life. It is designed to have gains for both the individual employee and the company. The programme’s principles emphasise the importance of teaching employees how to have a flexible approach to work and also creating an organisational context of social acceptance for this flexibility.