Transcript Work-Life Balance with Focus on Family Life

Work-Life Balance with
Focus on Family Life
Saviour Rizzo
Workers’ Participation Development Centre (WPDC)
University of Malta
In collaboration with
Malta Employers Association (MEA)
1
Work-Life balance stems from the fact that
workers as human beings have other
needs beside the economic ones.
The metaphor implies that there should be
an equilibrium between work and nonwork domains
2
Relationship between work and non-work
domains is defined in terms of :
the significance people assign to specific
domains
meaning and values that shape and
influence one’s perception of time
3
Methodology
Focus Group Discussion
Questionnaire to members of the Malta
Employers Association about working time
arrangements of their employees
A questionnaire to 480 workers
A questionnaire sent electronically to
employers asking them to explain the rationale
of the working time arrangement of their firms
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Points that emerged during focus group
discussion:
Work Schedule involving irregular hours can
reduce joy and satisfaction family life can offer
Instrumental orientation towards working time
was evident
They are able to manage time to make it
commensurate to their psycho-social needs
Relative deprivation is felt more during summer
when there are more occasions for fun late at
night
They are conscious of some positive aspects
about their working time schedule
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Work and Family Life
(a) Enjoyment of family life and pressure of work. Do the
exigencies of work allow workers to enjoy family life?
Enjoyment of family life
2%
Can enjoy family
life
Not as much as I
would like to
38%
60%
Cannot enjoy
family life
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Most significant variables:
Age
16- 24
60%
25- 39
56%
40- 49
54.3%
50+
74%
Executive/
Clerical
62.3%
Skilled/
Semi
59.4%
Occupational status
Prof/Technic Administrative
al
81.1%
64.5%
Unskilled
51.5%
Working Time Arrangement
Standard
Working
Week
67.5%
Shift Basis
54.2%
No fixed
Work on
starting and Saturday
finishing time
37.1%
50.6%
Work on
Sunday
46.5%
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Family Life
(b) Work- Family Commitments: Can these two be
reconciled or do they lead to a feeling of being
squeezed between the two?
Work-Family Commitments
4%
Do not create
problems
Feel squeezed
between the two
32%
64%
No response
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Feeling squeezed between Work and Family – Gender and
Female
41.8% Male
27.2%
Civil
Status
Married
37.0%
Unmarried
22.2%
Married with Children
37.9%
Childless married persons 28.0%
Work- Family Squeeze by Age
16-24
25-39
40-49
50+
31.6%
37.0%
40.2%
20.7%
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Work- Family Squeeze by Sector
Services
Manufacture
State Run or Owned
41%
30.5%
32.2%
Work-Family Squeeze Working Hours per week
40 hours per week
40 - 48 hours per week
More than 48 hours
29.4%
30.2%
53.3%
Work-Family Squeeze – Working Time Arrangement
Standard Week
Shift Work
31.1%
29.5%
No fixed starting and
Finishing Time
55.9%
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Family Life
(c) Participation in Home-Based Social Activities.
Does your work make you miss familybased social activities?
13.7
34.5
51.8
Never
Rarely
Often
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Often
Rarely
Never
40-48 hours per week
13.4%
46.8%
39.8%
48+ hours per week
12.5%
63.5%
24.0%
2.3%
48.8%
48.9%
Shift Work
29.6%
57.4%
13.0%
Hours not fixed
30.6%
52.8%
16.6%
Work on Saturday
26.0%
57.1%
16.9%
Work on Sunday
34.9%
54.0%
11.1%
Standard working week
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Family Life
(d) Child –Parent Interaction
Time workers can spend with
their children:
3.7
44.4
51.9
Enough time
Not as much as I would like
No time
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Enough
40 hours per week
40-48 hours per week
48+ hours per week
Less than 40 hours*
Regular working week
Shift basis
No fixed hours
55.3%
50.0%
34.5%
100%
53.0%
56.3%
26.7%
Not
enough
4,3%
1.7%
6.9%
0
5.0%
1.4%
6.7%
No Time
40.4%
48.3%
58.6%
0
42.0%
42.3%
66.7%
*There were only 6 respondents who work less than 40 hours per
week
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Workers’ Perception of Working Time
Workers’ perceptions of working time were
analysed in terms of :
(a) Time for leisure
(b) Belief in the concept of management of time
(c) Attitude towards working time
(d) Advantages perceived in work time schedule
(e) Willingness to change job for one with
a better working time arrangement
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Workers’ Perception of Time
(a) Time for Leisure
Workers claiming that they do not have enough
time for Leisure
Overall Percentage 37.1%
Working Time Schedule
40 hours per week
26.4%
40 -48 hours per week
38.9%
Shift Basis
32.5%
48+ hours per week
47.8%
No fixed hours
52.9%
Regular working week 28.6%
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Workers’ Perception of Time
(b) Management of Time
Management of time is a determinant factor in achieving
work-life balance
Agree
61.4%
Disagree
38.6%
Workers over 50 years of age (70.3%).
Workers who work 40 to 48 hours of work per week (70.9%).
Workers who work in the state run or owned enterprises
(71.2%).
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Workers’ Perception of Time
(c) Instrumental Orientation to Working Time.
(i) A job with long hours of work but with a very good pay that
would enable one to indulge in some lavishness (kapriċċi).
(ii) A job with regular hours of work but with a pay that would not
enable one to indulge in lavishness
25.3% chose option (i) - the instrumental
74.7% chose option (ii) – the non instrumental.
Instrumental Attitude among :
Males 31%
Females 17%
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Instrumental Attitude to working time by Occupational
Category
Professional Administrative Executive/Clerical Skilled/Semi Unskilled
Technical
Managerial
18.2%
33.3%
28.4%
17.9
24.7
Instrumental Attitude towards working Time
40 hours per week
40 - 48 hours per week
48 + hours per week
19.0%
30.2
46.5%
Regular working week
Shift
No fixed hours
21.3%
32.2%
29.4%
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Workers’ Perception of Time
(d) The Positive Aspects or Working Time
It enables me to do my errands
without any hassle
The free time it provides me
It enables me to do my shopping
without any constraints and urgency
The flexibility it provides
56.7%
39.7%
30.1%
29.6%
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Workers who scored a relatively high
percentage in three of the four aspects:
Run an errand Free time it
without hassle gives
Workers in 65.5%
26.4%
Service
Sector
Workers on 68.4%
29.0%
Shift basis
Workers
68.3%
30.7%
who work
on Sunday
Do shopping with Flexibility it
less constraints provides
40.2%
43.7%
45.2%
41.9%
47.2%
41.7%
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Workers’ Perception of Time
(e) Willingness to change job for one with better working time
YES
Will think it over
Will stick to job
12%
35.5%
52.5%
Most willing to change job
Least hesitant
and
Those who work on Sunday
16-24 age bracket workers
47%
36%
1.6%
6.7%
 Least likely to answer YES: Administrative/Mngt (3.2%)
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Employers’ Views ( 35 responses)
Rationale of working time schedule of worker
Considered to be normal
The policy of the parent company
Maintaining level of production to reach targets
Saving on overtime
Making optimum use of machinery
-
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
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Others:
Company has to operate within business hours
Company has to operate according to requirements of
clients
Mini buses
Flexi time
Flexibility and to meet exigencies of employees
To offer highest possible standard of service based on
guest requirements.
A compromise reached between preferences of
employees and production target
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Changing working time arrangement to
suit exigencies of employees:
Would have no
adverse effect on the
firm
Might be harmful to
the firm
Would definitely be
harmful to the firm
-
5
10
15
20
25
Employers’ Views
Flexi Time and Reduced Hours
16 managers think that flexi time is unsuitable to their
firm
25 managers think that reduced hours of work would
create problems
Reasons :
the disruptive element it would cause to production and
organisation of work
Added cost due to the additional workers who have to be
recruited for replacement
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Employers’ Views
Attempts made to change time schedule:
Cleaners to provide better service
To reduce overtime
To remove people from shift
Made life easier for employees and did not harm the
company
On request by employees, starting time changed from
7.00 a.m. to 6.00 a.m.
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Conclusions
The family occupies a very large part in the
non-work domain of individuals
Reconciliation of work with non-work domain:
– 40 to 49 age bracket consistently negative
– 25 to 29 age group not so consistently
negative but problematic
– The over 50 age group overwhelmingly
positive
– The young age group (16 to 24) moderately
positive
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Conclusions
Females tend to find it more difficult than men
to strike the ideal balance because of the
motherhood mandate which culture imposes
on the female parent.
Workers working more than 48 hours per week
and those with no fixed starting and finishing
time tend to share the same problems about
the relationship between work and non-work.
Ambivalence tends to prevail among a number
of workers especially those in the service
sector and those on a shift basis.
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Conclusions
The imperatives of the market leave little room
for managers to manoeuvre. Very few firms
can afford to go beyond the minimum
provisions laid down in labour legislation.
Will globalisation move people nearer to or
further from the ideal work-life balance where
the elements related to paid work and nonwork enable them to find ways of combining
working life with personal life?
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Thank you
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