How much should we work? Working hours, holidays and working life: the participation challenge
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Transcript of How much should we work? Working hours, holidays and working life: the participation challenge
How much should we work?
Working hours, holidays and working life: the participation challenge
Committee for Economic Development of AustraliaHilton Hotel, Adelaide3rd August 2010
AWALI 2010: A work-life perspective on employment participation and working time
Who did we talk to?We surveyed 2800 working Australians in March
2010Newspoll ran the surveyRandomised survey which is reasonably
representative
This year we focussed especially on: ◦ Working hours◦ Work hours preferences – who wants to work less or
more?◦ Uptake of paid holiday leave
How do we measure work-life outcomes?How often does work interfere:
◦ with activities outside work?◦ with enough time with family or friends?◦ with community connections
How frequently do we feel rushed and press for time?
How satisfied are we with our work-life balance?
Four years of AWALI
If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading (Lao Tzu)
Work negatively impacts on personal, family and community life for the majority of workers◦ For ¼ of workers this is often or ‘almost always’ the case
The same groups of workers continue to have the worse work-life outcomes
Women are still more at risk of work-life strains
Combining work & care continues to be challenging
Managers & professionals continue to have poor work-life outcomes
Those in service industries also have worse work-life outcomes
Time is of the essence ...
Little appetite for longer hours for mostAround half of all workers do not have a good
fit between actual & preferred hoursMany workers want to work less (by 4+ hours)
◦ 32% of women◦ 40% of men
Full-time 35-47 hours:◦ 46% of women & 34% of men
48+ hours◦ 72% of men & 77% of women
Who wants to work more (4+ hrs)?Men working part-time (46.4%)
◦ Prefer additional 6.8 hours, on average30.5 % of women working part-time agree
◦ Prefer average of 2.8 hours more
Casual workers◦ 50.3% of men◦ 40.6% of women
Generation gap? Teen workers: 18 – 19 yearsGen Y: 20 – 29 yearsGen X: 30 -44 yearsBaby Boomers: 45 – 64 yearsGrey workers – 65+
Ideal work week – 35 hours
Gen X: family + work
Holidays
Mothers particularly benefit from holidays
Why don’t people take holidays?
Holidays versus pay rise?
Leave work at home
What to do?
What to do? 1. More say over working flexibly2. Long work hours3. Reducing the burden on working women4. More support for working fathers5. More supportive workplace culture
practice, management and leadership6. Holidays matter: time, money, rest7. Future research….what works? Metrics?
Managers and leadersUnderstand and implement the lawChange workplace cultures and habits‘Walk the talk’Drive from top - with metrics, not policy
◦ KPIs for managers◦ Measure, reward, reflect, respond
Prevent long hoursSupport and educate supervisors,
managers, staff
AWALI tells us that better outcomes will flow from:Good supervisionSupportive workplace culturesAvoidance of long hoursProviding employee-centred flexibilityQuality jobs (control, security)Reasonable workloadsTaking leave
Still a BBQ stopper?
http://www.unisa.edu.au/hawkeinstitute/cwl/default.asp