1.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report examines work and family issues, including the influence of work on
family strength and wellbeing.
Characteristics of the workplace and society that impact on the
strength and wellbeing of workers’ families.
Recent workplace changes that have an impact on the strength and wellbeing of
workers’ families are identified as follows.
• The demise of standard working hours for full-time work and the polarisation
of the workforce into underemployed part-timers who want to work more and
who have inadequate earnings, and overworked full-timers who are suffering a
decreased quality of working and family life. Survey data show that full-time
workers were more likely to report a decline in satisfaction with work and
family balance.
• The growth in part-time and casual jobs and the predominance of women in
part-time work.
• Job insecurity – downsizing, contracting out and relocating have led to many
organisations reducing their workforce through greater use of retrenchment
and voluntary redundancies. Job insecurity is especially salient for those
responsible for supporting dependants and will have a major impact on stress
levels experienced in families.
• Globalisation has led to intense competition and significant changes in the job
demands experienced by many employees. For example, to travel and be
accessible during 24 hours of operations.
• The focus on work and family in the Workplace Relations Act 1996.
Workforce participation trends which impact on families are: increasing labour
force participation of women including mothers with young children and lone
parents; and the increase in dual income families with children.
The report also discusses changes and concerns about family life such as time
spent with children and the differences between mothers and fathers in this
regard. A major contributor to the stress reported by employed mothers is their
greater overall responsibility for children. Managing work and family
responsibilities can often, therefore, be very difficult for mothers in dual income
families.
The effect of parental employment on families and children is also discussed. In
general, there is agreement that there are no significant developmental problems
for children of employed mothers. However, a study of early parental employment
found that working more hours is associated with slightly lower academic
achievement in lower primary aged children. Very few studies have examined the
effect of paternal employment demands on children. However, longer work hours
and job stress for fathers increase the burden of child rearing on mothers. One
study found that workplace variables impact directly on job related affect (job
satisfaction, negative mood and job-related tension), which in turn, impacted on
parenting behaviour, which in turn impacted on children’s behaviour. Work
experiences affect family variables such as marital satisfaction, mental health and
alcohol abuse.
Some studies examining the effects of child care on children are also briefly
discussed. These studies show both positive and negative effects as well as no
significant differences between children who have and have not attended child
care facilities. The report suggests that it is the quality of care that is more
important than being in care itself.
Another change discussed in the report is the changed expectations of the
contributions men make to family life. In a survey of 1,000 fathers, more than half
saw barriers associated with the workplace (expectations of long working hours,
inflexibility) as being the most critical factor preventing them from being the kind
of father they would like to be.
The report argues that most analyses of work and family issues ignore the critical
connection between the impact of workplace demands on intimate relationships
and the possible reciprocal positive workplace impact of having good quality
intimate relationships. The report cites a poll conducted by Relationships Australia
in 1998 that shows work pressures is one of the top three relationship problems
mentioned.
Coverage of Employee Assistance Programs is relatively low in Australia (estimated
at 56% of large companies, compared with 97% in the USA). Informal information
provided by two EAP providers and one large organisation with an EAP indicates
that the majority of referrals to EAPs concern family relationship issues and that
utilisation rates for EAPs are rising, especially by men.
In a recent large study conducted, work demands such as coming home from work
feeling stressed and coming home late from work were reported to lead to poor
quality family relationships, not having enough time for spouse and self.
A large-scale longitudinal study has found that shift work reduces the quality of
marriages. Work demands that reduce the capacity of employees to establish and
maintain quality intimate relationships are: extended hours of working; working at
unsocial times; constant short-term travel; overseas assignments for up to 12
months; and expectations about 24 hours accessibility.
