Work-Life Balance

Editor: Justin Healey ISBN 978 1 920801 90 8 Year 2008 Price: $20.95		Work-Life Balance Volume 280, Issues in Society In spite of Australians’ reputation for being laid-back and carefree, average weekly hours worked by both full-time and part-time workers have increased over the last two decades. Many workers, especially working mothers, are now struggling to achieve a balance between work and their personal lives. Productivity and the skills shortage, working families, work-related stress, job satisfaction, flexible work arrangements, family-friendly employers, child care and disability/elder care arrangements, government assistance, household debt, downshifting ... how can Australians achieve a greater balance between paid work, family and carer responsibilities and leisure time? Chapter 1 Balancing Work and Personal Life To work, perchance to sleep: our frantic lives confirmed; Not all work, no play; Workers in bind over hours; Time to adjust the work-life balance; Work, life and time; Work-life balance: the number one retention factor; Benefits of work-life balance policies; What are some practical things employers can do to help employees gain control over work?; Why flexible work arrangements are good for business; Flexibility the workplace holy grail; 10 tips for better work-life balance; Work-related stress; Tips on managing stress at work; Downshifting: quitting the rat race; I was fine till I retired. Chapter 2 Family-Friendly Work Issues Priority: workplace rights for families; Call to give families more rights at work; Families struggling to balance life and work; Why working on family matters; The fight to restore a decent family life; Why family-friendly policies are good for business; 20 cheap and easy family-friendly ideas; Mothers flock back to workforce; Balancing work and life; Part-time work worst for mums; Multiple roles pile pressure on working women; Working mothers – common issues; Father-friendly workplaces; More dads choosing kids over the office; Fathers' work and family balance. Glossary; Facts and Figures; Additional Resources; Index

		FAST FACTS from this volume
Australians are working less hours a week in full-time jobs, not more, challenging the widely held view that work is getting ever more intense. In fact, Australians worked less hours in 2007 than they did 20 years ago. But the big drop is the fall from 1999-2000 when full-time work hours peaked at an average of 41.4 hours a week. By 2006-07 the average had fallen to 39.4 hours. A third of Australia's workers – at least 3 million people — say they are working more than they want to. But only a minority of them would be willing to work fewer hours at the cost of lower wages. A Bureau of Statistics survey found 33% of employees want to work less, while 14% want more work than they have. Most of those wanting to work more are in part-time jobs in the bottom half of the income/occupation range. They include more than one in five sales and service workers, labourers, and workers below the age of 25. By contrast, those wanting to work fewer hours are disproportionately in the top half of the workforce. They include a majority of people earning over $60,000 a year, 58% of managers, 48% of professionals, and 46% of all people with university degrees. But the bureau also found that 40% of clerical and administrative workers felt the same way, as did 42% of parents with dependent children. Overall, the proportion declaring themselves overworked edged up slightly from 31% in the previous survey seven years earlier to 33% this time. When asked why they chose to overwork themselves, 37% replied simply that they needed the money, 31% said they had no control over their working hours, and 25% said they had to work those hours to get the job done. So would you work fewer hours for less pay, the bureau asked. And the answer was overwhelming: no way. Only 20% of those saying they worked too much were happy to accept such a trade-off. Almost a third of workers say they work more than 40 hours a week, and most of them are working the extra hours for no extra pay. The bureau found 13% of workers say they normally work paid overtime, whereas 20% said they normally worked more than their standard hours without overtime pay. Knowledge workers who experience particular forms of work-life conflict, such as high work demands interfering with family, are almost three times more likely to be looking for another job than those who don't. We know that these men and women are having smaller families as a way of coping with competing demands on their time. Work affects most working Australians beyond the workplace. Over half employees surveyed in the Australian Work and Life Index find that work sometimes, often or almost always affects their activities beyond the workplace (52.6% of the total) and even more find it regularly keeps them from spending the amount of time they would like with family or friends (60.7%). Men report more spillover from work-to-life, and less satisfaction with their work-life balance overall, than women. This reflects their longer hours at work. When hours are controlled for, women have worse work-life outcomes than men. Women are much more pressed for time, reflecting their greater unpaid work hours. Only 5.5% of workers feel that that their personal life takes time from their work often or almost always, compared to a quarter who feel the reverse (i.e. that work takes away from personal time). The temporal boundary around work and life thus appears rather more porous in one direction than in the other. Work pulls more from life outside work than life pulls from work. Australian workers often feel rushed for time. Australian women are especially affected, with 55.6% feeling often or almost always rushed or pressed for time compared to 49.9% of men. When it comes to feeling rushed or pressed for time, women with children are distinctive: 72.5% of them often or almost always feel rushed for time compared to 44.2% of women without children (45.7% and 56.0% for men). Despite high levels of spillover from work to life, three-quarters of Australians (77.2% of women and 74.0% of men) are satisfied with their work-life balance. In Australia, the total cost of workers compensation claims for stress-related conditions is estimated at over $200 million every year. Work-related stress accounts for the longest stretches of absenteeism. For businesses, work-related stress causes an increase in sick days and absenteeism, a higher turnover of staff and a drop in productivity. According to the Work, Life and Time survey, men tended to be more dissatisfied with how they managed their work and home life, but women were more stressed because of time pressures, particularly women with children. Men and women with the worst work-life outcomes report poorer health, more use of prescription medications, more stress and more dissatisfaction with their close personal relationships. Women aged between 35 and 44 face the perfect storm of stress as they seek to balance the peak years of their career with responsibility for households, children and parents. Although flexible work arrangements may be available to many employees, fathers may feel economic or social pressure not to use them. In 2002, 30% of fathers used some form of flexible working arrangements to help care for their children aged less than 12 years. This was an increase from 24% in 1993. In contrast, 70% of working mothers used flexible work arrangements in 2002

Australians are working less hours a week in full-time jobs, not more, challenging the widely held view that work is getting ever more intense. In fact, Australians worked less hours in 2007 than they did 20 years ago. But the big drop is the fall from 1999-2000 when full-time work hours peaked at an average of 41.4 hours a week. By 2006-07 the average had fallen to 39.4 hours.
A third of Australia's workers – at least 3 million people — say they are working more than they want to. But only a minority of them would be willing to work fewer hours at the cost of lower wages.
A Bureau of Statistics survey found 33% of employees want to work less, while 14% want more work than they have. Most of those wanting to work more are in part-time jobs in the bottom half of the income/occupation range. They include more than one in five sales and service workers, labourers, and workers below the age of 25.
By contrast, those wanting to work fewer hours are disproportionately in the top half of the workforce. They include a majority of people earning over $60,000 a year, 58% of managers, 48% of professionals, and 46% of all people with university degrees. But the bureau also found that 40% of clerical and administrative workers felt the same way, as did 42% of parents with dependent children. Overall, the proportion declaring themselves overworked edged up slightly from 31% in the previous survey seven years earlier to 33% this time.
When asked why they chose to overwork themselves, 37% replied simply that they needed the money, 31% said they had no control over their working hours, and 25% said they had to work those hours to get the job done. So would you work fewer hours for less pay, the bureau asked. And the answer was overwhelming: no way. Only 20% of those saying they worked too much were happy to accept such a trade-off.
Almost a third of workers say they work more than 40 hours a week, and most of them are working the extra hours for no extra pay.
The bureau found 13% of workers say they normally work paid overtime, whereas 20% said they normally worked more than their standard hours without overtime pay.
Knowledge workers who experience particular forms of work-life conflict, such as high work demands interfering with family, are almost three times more likely to be looking for another job than those who don't. We know that these men and women are having smaller families as a way of coping with competing demands on their time.
Work affects most working Australians beyond the workplace. Over half employees surveyed in the Australian Work and Life Index find that work sometimes, often or almost always affects their activities beyond the workplace (52.6% of the total) and even more find it regularly keeps them from spending the amount of time they would like with family or friends (60.7%). Men report more spillover from work-to-life, and less satisfaction with their work-life balance overall, than women. This reflects their longer hours at work. When hours are controlled for, women have worse work-life outcomes than men. Women are much more pressed for time, reflecting their greater unpaid work hours.
Only 5.5% of workers feel that that their personal life takes time from their work often or almost always, compared to a quarter who feel the reverse (i.e. that work takes away from personal time). The temporal boundary around work and life thus appears rather more porous in one direction than in the other. Work pulls more from life outside work than life pulls from work.
Australian workers often feel rushed for time. Australian women are especially affected, with 55.6% feeling often or almost always rushed or pressed for time compared to 49.9% of men. When it comes to feeling rushed or pressed for time, women with children are distinctive: 72.5% of them often or almost always feel rushed for time compared to 44.2% of women without children (45.7% and 56.0% for men).
Despite high levels of spillover from work to life, three-quarters of Australians (77.2% of women and 74.0% of men) are satisfied with their work-life balance.
In Australia, the total cost of workers compensation claims for stress-related conditions is estimated at over $200 million every year. Work-related stress accounts for the longest stretches of absenteeism.
For businesses, work-related stress causes an increase in sick days and absenteeism, a higher turnover of staff and a drop in productivity.
According to the Work, Life and Time survey, men tended to be more dissatisfied with how they managed their work and home life, but women were more stressed because of time pressures, particularly women with children. Men and women with the worst work-life outcomes report poorer health, more use of prescription medications, more stress and more dissatisfaction with their close personal relationships.
Women aged between 35 and 44 face the perfect storm of stress as they seek to balance the peak years of their career with responsibility for households, children and parents.
Although flexible work arrangements may be available to many employees, fathers may feel economic or social pressure not to use them. In 2002, 30% of fathers used some form of flexible working arrangements to help care for their children aged less than 12 years. This was an increase from 24% in 1993. In contrast, 70% of working mothers used flexible work arrangements in 2002