Full House for Seminar on Work Life Balance.
Issue Date: - Thursday, 26 June 2008
Changing workplace culture will remove one of the key barriers to implementing work life balance programs.
That is one of the major findings from a Work Life Balance seminar in Perth attended by over two hundred people.
The booked out event heard details of a Queensland study which looked at flexible work arrangements in ten industries ranging from ten employees to over six thousand.
Author of the study, Doctor Marjolein Broers of the Queensland Department of Industrial Relations, detailed how the attitudes of both management and co-workers played a major role in access to flexible workplace arrangements. She cited as an example how workers in industries with cultures of long work hours would look unfavourably on colleagues who were absent because they utilised flexible working arrangements.
Doctor Broers said such attitudes were a disincentive to flexible arrangements, and work place culture needed to change for Work Life Balance programs to be accepted as a routine part of work.
The Seminar also heard from speakers from Victoria and South Australia.
Michelle Hogan of South Australia’s Department of Premier and Cabinet told the seminar that one third of the South Australian Public Service would reach retirement age in the next five years. The SA government is keenly aware work life balance initiatives are essential if older workers are to retain connections to the labour market in times of labour shortage.
Ms Hogan said work life balance was also more than an industrial issue. Poor work practises often meant poor health outcomes, and work life balance should be treated holistically as a broader part of community health.
Sarah Turberville of Industrial Relations Victoria outlined the landmark National Australia Bank/Finance Sector Union pay equity project that had resulted in a blueprint for pay equity audits to address workplace gender issues, and provide a valuable model for the attraction and retention of staff.
Minister for Employment Protection, Mr. Jon Ford who officially opened the seminar, said the capacity crowd was evidence employers are clearly interested in innovative strategies, particularly with the current skills shortage.
A Western Australian initiative unveiled at the seminar is a new Best Practice Employers Program for the WA Public Sector, which will provide accreditation and recognition to Government agencies that are achieving the best work life balance.