BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL ETHICS GROUP

WORK-LIFE BALANCE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

REPORT FROM WORKSHOP ORGANISED BY Business and Professional Ethics Group with The Women and Work Research Group The Faculty of Economics and Business

DR HENRIIKKA CLARKEBURN, CONVENER FOR BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL ETHICS GROUP

November, 2010

SUMMARY
Work-life balance is a significant practical and ethical issue for the University as an employer. The challenge of recruiting and maintaining a talented workforce within the changing and increasingly more diverse demographics of the workforce invites the University to consider the opportunities for supporting flexible work arrangements. Key themes for creating work-life balance include positive and exemplary leadership towards work-life balance, good work-life balance policies with consistent and gender neutral implementation across different units, and practical processes to accommodate diverse working patterns. Achieving this would require training and rewarding managers for creating work-life balance, developing technology for easier remote and flexible access to University resources, as well as managing work-flow appropriately, for example reducing workload where hours are reduced and making other adjustments in acknowledgement of diverse work patterns.

Report on Work-Life Balance Workshop

BACKGROUND ON WORK-LIFE BALANCE

Work-life balance can be described as the ability an employee has to effectively manage their work commitments with their personal, community and cultural responsibilities, interests and obligations. For an institution work-life balance is a deeply ethical question in addition to the practical challenges it creates. Creation of work-life balance requires us to consider our definitions of equity between employees and employers needs, fairness in allocating opportunities and responsibilities as well as looking at how consistently our intentions are translated into policy and practice.

Work-life balance is a broad concern for the University. The changing demographics; ageing workforce and womens increasing participation, and cultural diversification of the workforce, highlight the importance of considering work-life balance as a current and future institutional question. The challenges for the University lie in the requirement to create practices for effectively retaining and recruiting staff. To this end, we need to open working opportunities to people with responsibilities outside of work, and balancing the needs of individual staff against the needs of a unit. The intensification of academic work has had an impact on academics directly and, as a flowon effect, on professional and administrative staff. Poor work-life balance has known negative effects of stress, ill-health, and poor relationships. These effects are reported in the 2010 Australia work life index by more than 50% of employees1 and research shows that generally university employees are more negative about family friendly policies than their corporate counterparts2. As a result, worklife outcomes are imposing high costs on individuals, families, employers and the broader community. The University of Sydney is an EOWA Employer of Choice for Women and takes the wellbeing of its staff seriously. The changing demographics of our workforce require us to continuously re-consider the strategies, policies and provisions the University has for creating work life balance. In order to explore these issues further, canvassing where we currently are doing well and where the next challenges will arise, the Business and Professional Ethics Group, in association with the Women and Work Research Group, in the Faculty of Economics and Business organised a workshop on November 11th 2010. Professor Marian Baird gave an opening address to the workshop outlining key themes and causal links leading to the institutional importance to focus on work-life balance. The workshop benefited from a diverse panel drawing on the expertise within the University: Antoinette Holt HR Relationship Manager Mark Easson Chief Financial Officer Maree Murray Assistant Director, Staff and Student Equal Opportunity Unit Greg Patmore Pro Dean, Faculty of Economics and Business Michael Thomson NTEU Branch President Marian Baird Professor, Work and organisational studies

Attendees included academic and professional staff from a number of Faculties within the University.
1

www.unisa.edu.au/hawkeinstitute/cwl/documents/AWALI2010-report.pdf

Donna M. Anderson, Betsy L. Morgan and Jennifer B. Wilson (2002). Perceptions of Family-Friendly Policies: University Versus Corporate Employees. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 23:1:73-92.

Dr Henriikka Clarkeburn, Business and Professional Ethics Group

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Report on Work-Life Balance Workshop

KEY THEMES FOR WORK-LIFE BALANCE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

These themes were identifies as the key challenges by the panellists at the workshop for the University of Sydney in creating a work-life balance.

Inconsistency of policy application

The University has extensive policies for creating flexible working conditions, but the application of these policies is at times inconsistent. The Universitys approach to flexible work practices varies between Faculties it works better in some than in others. In many instances the difference is explained by the different approach taken by unit managers, regardless of whether they are chairs of disciplines or managers in professional units. Experience suggests for example that managers fear that agreeing to flexibility will promote increased requests for flexible work arrangements and this acts as a barrier to negotiating individual agreements; many managers themselves do not seek work-life balance through flexible arrangements and thus may not consider the issues important.

Opportunity for better policies

While the University has many policies supporting work-life balance, there is still a need to consider further development in this area. Two employee groups identified for improved entitlements are fathers, who would benefit from paternity leave, and casual/contract employees at the University.

Practical support for flexible work arrangements

Functioning work-life balance requires systems and processes to support employees to meet their professional expectations whether working part-time, from home, and in non-typical patterns. These systems and processes would include work-flow understanding to reduce time-critical aspects of work when necessary, better use of technology, and training managers to create inclusive working practices. Financial arrangements can also affect opportunities for creating work-life balance, for example when part-time arrangements reduce the overall departmental budget.

Leadership

Policies are of value only when they are implemented. Leadership is critical to effective policy implementation. Leadership can function in at least two ways in supporting work-life balance. Firstly, leading by example as a first step working reasonable hours within the working week and creating a work-life balance for those in positions of leadership. Secondly, leadership is essential for creating a safe environment in which staff can discuss work-life balance plans and all reasonable steps are taken for their implementation.

Dr Henriikka Clarkeburn, Business and Professional Ethics Group

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Report on Work-Life Balance Workshop

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVING WORK-LIFE BALANCE

These recommendations were developed in the workshop with panellists and participants taking part in roundtable discussions. Leadership as a way of improving policy implementation Training for managers at all levels on managing work-life balance and improving the culture around non-typical work patterns, including equal treatment of employees irrespective of their flexibility and opportunity to work full-time non-flexible hours. Creating a system for managers and leaders in their performance review for rewarding creating and sustaining work-life balance for their team. Creating open and transparent consultations about the impacts of flexible work arrangements beyond immediate team members. Progression from academic to leadership roles would benefit from wider consultation on who manages the discipline, for example staff to vote for Chair of Discipline (currently appointed with no consultation with staff). Staff survey on work-life balance issues followed by a report with a full analysis of responses and actions on issues arising from the survey to be published widely to staff on the Intranet and elsewhere. University applications to EOWA Employer of Choice to be published in full on the intranet so employees understand the basis on which applications are being made.

Processes for managing flexible work arrangements

Blocks of meeting and no-meeting times to manage workflow for all staff. Improved remote access to files, emails, phone and other resources. Training to use available technology e.g. Outlook exchange effectively. Interactive timesheet to account for when the work is done (working at home may not fit with normal working hours). Improved transparency on the decision-making process in relation to flexible working applications to increase awareness of everyones role in the work processes.

Dr Henriikka Clarkeburn, Business and Professional Ethics Group

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