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Work and family - Home

Research

Work and Family Research

Australia

International

Australia

Report into Agreement Making

The Report into Agreement Making in Australia fulfils the requirements of the Workplace Relations Act 1996 (WR Act) under which the Minister must cause a person to review and report on developments in bargaining for the making of workplace agreements.

The reporting requirement includes reviewing the effects of bargaining on the employment (including wages and conditions of employment) of women, part-time employees, persons from a non-English speaking background, mature age persons and young persons. These employees are referred to as designated group employees.

Table 2.4.7 of the latest report for the period 2002-2003 (PDF) shows:

44 per cent of certified agreements contained at least one family-friendly provision, which covered 87 per cent of employees; and
82 per cent of certified agreements contained at least one family-friendly and flexible working hours provision, covering 91 per cent of employees.

The latest report (pp70-72) also shows that women were in general more likely than all employees to be covered by certified agreements that included family-friendly provisions. Seventy per cent of women were covered by family/carer’s leave and 52 per cent could access other leave for caring purposes. Women were also more likely to have access to a range of flexible working arrangements such as home based work, regular part-time work and job sharing.

"Balancing Work and Family - Report on the inquiry into balancing work and family'

The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family and Human Services Committee tabled the report 'Balancing Work and Family - Report on the inquiry into work and family' on 7 December 2006.

For more information, visit www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/fhs/workandfamily/

Telework Taskforce

As part of its review of telework in Australia, the Australian Telework Advisory Committee (ATAC) commissioned Sensis to conduct research into the current state-of-play in Australian teleworking.

The Sensis Insights Teleworking Report – June 2005, contains survey results from 1800 small and medium enterprises and 1500 consumers. The research report includes data on the incidence of telework, telework characteristics, reasons for teleworking and impact of telework on businesses and employees.

The report found:

30 per cent of individuals that were either employed either in their own or someone else’s business reported teleworking to some extent;
demographics more likely to telework included males (37 per cent), those aged in their 30s (42 per cent), those employed on a full-time basis (33 per cent) and those that owned their own business (42 per cent);
some 52 per cent of those that telework have children, as opposed to 37 per cent of those that do not telework;
62 per cent of individuals who had teleworked reported a positive impact;
73 per cent of businesses that had teleworking employees reported a positive impact;
the key positive impacts reported by individuals were that it was more flexible and convenient, gave them an option to work from home and outside the office and increased productivity;
business owners cited the ability to access information from anywhere, improved productivity and time saving as the top positive impacts of teleworking;
13 per cent of individuals reported a negative impact from teleworking, with the main negative impacts being a belief that it had not increased productivity, they had had to work longer hours and it meant that they had less time to spend with their families;
only one per cent of businesses reported negative impacts from teleworking, which had been that they could not effectively manage their staff when they were working at home.

Find out more about the Australian Telework Advisory Committee.

“Striking the balance: Women, Men, Work and Family” Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) project

The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission has been undertaking an examination of work and family balance, called ‘Striking the Balance: Women, Men, Work and Family’. The Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Ms Pru Goward, conducted a series of national consultations to take feedback on the issues raised in the Discussion Paper released in 2005. The final paper is to be released in 2006.

The aims of the HREOC project are to:

identify existing systemic barriers in employment faced by men and women in balancing paid work and family responsibilities;
identify how gender roles in unpaid caring work affect the participation of men and women in paid work;
examine data on:
- men and women’s access to current and proposed family friendly employment provisions;
- community attitudes toward unpaid caring work; and
- the gender dimensions of efforts to achieve work and family balance;
examine legislation, policies, practices and services to ensure men and women are able to combine their paid work and family responsibilities.

For more information, please visit the HREOC Striking the balance: women, men, work and family website.

“It's About Time: Women, men, work and family” Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission(HREOC)project

The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) launched its report 'It's About Time: Women, men, work and family' on 7 March 2007. The report represents the final stage of the Commission's paid work and family responsibilities project that began in June 2005.

For more information, please visit the HREOC website.

Growing up in Australia: Longitudinal Study of Australian Children

Growing Up in Australia is the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (otherwise known as the LSAC) initiated and funded by the Australian Government Department of Family, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaCSIA). The study will examine the impact of Australia’s social and cultural environment on the next generation and will further understanding of early childhood development, inform social policy debate and be used to identify opportunities for early intervention and prevention strategies in policy areas concerning children.

FaCSIA is commissioning three thematic papers using the LSAC. These are:

Parenting and families in Australia;
Mothers, fathers, children and work; and
How well are Australian infants and 4 to 5 year old children doing?

In addition, over 60 government and other researchers have been granted access to the data set to investigate issues such as:

Parenting practices and styles in Australian families;
Work and family balance;
Effect of child care experiences on children's development; and
Relationship between activity patterns, asthma, obesity and quality of life.

For more information on the LSAC, please visit the Australian Institute of Family Studies website.

The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey

The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey is a household-based panel study which began in 2001 which has four waves of data available. It collects information about economic and subjective well-being, labour market dynamics and family dynamics. Interviews are conducted annually with all adult members of each household. The aim of the survey is to provide a forum for the discussion of research based on the HILDA data.

The HILDA Survey was initiated and is funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. Responsibility for the design and management of the survey rests with a group comprising: Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research (University of Melbourne); Australian Council for Educational Research; and Australian Institute of Family Studies. Data collection has been sub-contracted to ACNielsen, a private market research company.

The second HILDA Survey research conference was held at the University of Melbourne on 29-30 September, 2005. For information on the papers presented and for more information on the survey, please visit the HILDA website.

Quality part-time work

As part of the Victorian Government’s Action Agenda for Work and Family Balance, the Victorian Department of Industrial Relations has undertaken a Quality Part-time Work Project. The aim of the project is to encourage workplaces to consider quality part-time work to assist with the balance between family, work and other life matters.

For industry specific guides and more information, please visit the Victorian Department of Industrial Relations website.

International

United Kingdom

A number of research projects regarding work/life balance have been undertaken by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in the United Kingdom.

The UK DTI conducts annual surveys into the number of requests for flexible work arrangements that have fully or partly been granted by UK employers. The first survey was conducted in April 2004 with a second in April 2005.

As a result of public consultations and its proposals under the Ten Year Childcare Strategy, the UK Government plans to:

extend maternity and adoption pay from six to nine months from April 2007, towards the goal of a year's paid leave by the end of the UK Parliament;
extend the right to request flexible working to carers of adults from April 2007;
give fathers a right to up to 26 weeks Additional Paternity Leave some of which could be paid, if the mother returns to work;
introduce measures to help employers manage the administration of leave and pay and plan ahead with greater certainty from April 2007; and
help employers and employees benefit from improved communication during maternity leave.

The UK Government is currently consulting on details of their Additional Paternity Leave scheme. The UK Government has published draft regulations to deliver the commitments on extending the right to request flexible working to carers of adults and to bring in the maternity and adoption leave measures announced in the UK Government Response to the Consultation.

For more information, please visit the UK Employment Relations - Work and Families: Choice and flexibility website.

Canada

The Canadian Human Resources and Skills Development Department maintains a website on Work-Life Balance. The latest research reports include:

New Zealand

The New Zealand Department of Labour’s Work-Life Balance project aims to get people thinking about work-life balance issues and help more people enjoy the benefits.

Some recent news and resources include:

australia.gov.au