Time is of the essence for work-life balance researcher Dr Lyndall Strazdins, who is urging people to consider how time pressures relate to health, wealth and wellbeing during national Families Week 2008

Families Week is an initiative of Families Australia, the peak group for family issues in the nation, and this year is themed 'Work and Families - Getting the balance right'.

Lyndall has been named a Families Week Ambassador for the second-year running. She says time pressure is one of the key challenges we face when attempting to balance work and family commitments.

For example, a trend towards longer working hours has gathered force at the same time that parenting has become more intensive. Research has shown that such competing time demands can exacerbate gender inequalities and lead to ill health and mental distress.

"Time pressure is an issue for all Australians, but it affects some people more than others," Lyndall says. "We need to be thinking about how our work culture relates to things like city and transport planning. Persistent time pressure problems can have serious consequences and costs for health and social cohesion."

ANU staff will have the opportunity to share their experience by participating in an online survey on balancing work and family commitments as part of an ARC research project.

The Work/Life Balance Survey will open on 26 May and run until 13 June. PhD researcher Meredith Monroe wants to discover which work and life demands influence health, work performance and family outcomes, as well as identify which work-life policies are of most value to employers and employees.

The Human Resources Division at ANU is also in the process of drafting two new policies that will help people ease work-family pressures.

The Working from Home policy may allow some work to be carried out at home, while not being a substitute for dependent care arrangements.

For those staff members who are primary carers, and who wish to attend major career development activities, the Carers' Career Development Assistance Program may provide some financial assistance for a substitute primary caregiver while a staff member is travelling.

For more information on these projects please email Karen Bail or Beth Guernsey at HR.

^^

Home