Juggling Work and Family
These days just about every woman has a story about juggling work and family. While mostly we just have to get on with it, work and family pressures can impact on women’s health, emotional wellbeing, financial security, and work or career opportunities.
Many of these impacts can be mitigated for working women through family friendly workplaces , which provide flexibility when the family has to take priority for whatever reason.
Flexibility can offered in a variety of ways. One of the most sought after is paid maternity leave. Australia is one of only two OECD countries that does not offer paid maternity leave. Yet a recent poll confirms that a majority of the population support it.
Maternity Leave
A Newspoll in July 2007 found that 76% of Australians supported paid maternity leave for working women.
Marie Coleman, spokesperson for The National Foundation for Australian Women (NFAW), one of the organisations that commissioned the poll, said that “Access to paid maternity and parental leave can no longer be left to market forces and the new poll shows Australians now want paid maternity leave to be given reasonable, bi-partisan political consideration”.
Moreover, The International Labour Organisation (ILO) states that countries should provide at least 14 weeks of paid maternity leave. Of 166 member countries of the ILO, Australia stands with only the USA, Swaziland, Papua New Guinea and Lesotho without a scheme of paid maternity leave for all working mothers.
Currently, just over one-half (51%) of women, who were employees prior to the birth of their child, used paid leave for the birth and care of their child and only 30% has access to paid maternity leave. Those who do, tend to work in the public sector and in larger organisations. Women in skilled occupations have much greater access to paid maternity leave than those who work in clerical, sales and service industries.
The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s (HREOC) recent paper “It’s about time: women, men, work and family”, which reflects almost tow years of consultations with communities about work and family, calls for 14 weeks paid maternity leave, a minimum of two weeks paid maternity leave, and a further 38 weeks of paid parental leave for either parent.
Flexible Workplaces
Recent work and family employer and employee surveys on the NSW Office for Industrial Relations website, completed by more than 1400 people, found that the majority of employers (87%) and employees (93%) agreed that agreed that “accommodating family and caring responsibilities in the workplace is beneficial to both employers and employees”. The demands on working women in particular make it critical that we have family friendly workplaces.
Different workplaces have adopted a wide variety of flexible work options, including those listed below. Not all will work in every workplace , but through a process of negotiation between employers, employees and unions many workplaces have been able to introduce family friendly options which meet everyone’s needs:
-Parental leave
-Part time work
-Job sharing
-Flexible hours / rostered days off
-Rostering
-Home based work / teleworking
-Flexitime
-Bringing children to work
-Career breaks or long service leave
-Carer’s leave or family leave
-Personal or carer’s leave
-Compassionate / bereavement leave
-Flexible working year schemes
Women who already struggle because of the myriad of demands made on them, need workplaces that provide them with security, fair pay and decent conditions, respect their contribution and accommodate their need for flexibility.
Managing our work life and family life as two separate entities is just not possible. When they collide, the way that employers respond can make a big difference to their employees. Employers who are flexible and supportive find they not only have a happier and more productive workforce but also that they are better placed to attract and retain the best talent.
Reference:
NSW Women Newsletter, Office for Women, NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet, Issue 8, November 2007
