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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).

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Work-Life Balance with Focus on Family Life

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  1. 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)

  2. 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 non-work domains

  3. 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

  4. 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

  5. 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

  6. Work and Family Life • (a) Enjoyment of family life and pressure of work. Do the exigencies of work allow workers to enjoy family life?

  7. Most significant variables: Age Occupational status Working Time Arrangement

  8. Family Life • (b)  Work- Family Commitments: Can these two be reconciled or do they lead to a feeling of being squeezed between the two?

  9. Feeling squeezed between Work and Family – Gender and Civil Status Work- Family Squeeze by Age

  10. Work- Family Squeeze by Sector Work-Family Squeeze Working Hours per week Work-Family Squeeze – Working Time Arrangement

  11. Family Life (c) Participation in Home-Based Social Activities.

  12. Family Life (d) Child –Parent Interaction

  13. *There were only 6 respondents who work less than 40 hours per week

  14. 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

  15. Workers’ Perception of Time (a) Time for Leisure  • Workers claiming that they do not have enough time for Leisure • Overall Percentage 37.1%

  16. Workers’ Perception of Time (b) Management of Time • Management of time is a determinant factor in achieving work-life balance  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%).

  17. 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%

  18. Instrumental Attitude to working time by Occupational Category Instrumental Attitude towards working Time

  19. Workers’ Perception of Time (d) The Positive Aspects or Working Time • It enables me to do my errands without any hassle 56.7% • The free time it provides me 39.7% • It enables me to do my shopping without any constraints and urgency 30.1% • The flexibility it provides 29.6%

  20. Workers who scored a relatively high percentage in three of the four aspects:

  21. Workers’ Perception of Time • (e)  Willingness to change job for one with better working time Most willing to change job Least hesitant and Those who work on Sunday 47% 1.6%   16-24 age bracket workers 36% 6.7% • Least likely to answer YES: Administrative/Mngt (3.2%)

  22. Employers’ Views ( 35 responses)

  23. 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

  24. Changing working time arrangement to suit exigencies of employees:

  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

  26. 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.

  27. 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

  28. 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.

  29. 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 non-work enable them to find ways of combining working life with personal life?

  30. Thank you

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