Landmark Study To Define Work-Life Balance Across Cultures

October 22, 2006

Australian and international experts will contribute to the

development of a practical measure of work-life balance for use by

Australian industry and government.

The Griffith University-led study will help inform Australian debate

on issues such as paid parental leave - a government-funded

entitlement in New Zealand, the UK and other European countries.

Chief investigator and senior lecturer in Griffith's School of

Psychology Dr a Brough said conflict between work and family

responsibilities cost Australia about $8 billion each year in losses

such as staff turnover, absenteeism and health costs.

" Some employees, women in particular, will also scale down their

career aspirations to balance work and family. This might be good

for the new parents but is not necessarily good for the workforce. "

One aspect of the study will document the employment experiences of

new parents over three years - monitoring changes in job

performance, satisfaction, wellbeing and aspirations as family

responsibilities change.

The study, funded in the latest round of Australian Research Council

(ARC) Discovery projects, will gather evidence from Australia, New

Zealand, Hong Kong and China.

" It will provide useful insight into cross-cultural differences

between Western individualistic societies and more collectivist

Asian societies, " she said.

Dr Brough said the study will also test a work-family balance

measure - a tool which could be used by organisations to track the

impact of their family-friendly policies and practices.

" The measure could also be used to assess or rate organisations on

the degree of work-family balance offered, as perceived by their

employees. "

" It goes beyond measuring just the negatives such as work-life

conflict, and also measures the positive side of parenting and

impact on employees' psychological health. "

Dr Brough said the issue of work-life balance was not just about

parents surviving in the workforce as many other employees also

accessed organisational practices such as flexitime.

Recommended Posts