Living and Working: Issues for Women in Ancillary Work

1. Living and Working: Issues for Women in Ancillary Work Presentation by Judith Martin, Ph.D. Executive Director of the Work and Family Unit, Saskatchewan Labour Critical to Care: Women and Ancillary Work in Health Care Toronto, February 8-10, 2006 Slides intended to be accompanied by verbal presentation

2. Work and Family Unit, Saskatchewan Labour The Work and Family Unit co-ordinates the Government of Saskatchewan’s activities aimed at lessening the negative personal and corporate consequences arising from employees’ inability to balance their work and family responsibilities. • The overall objective of this unit is capacity building. This approach involves providing support, motivation, knowledge, and skill development to key stakeholders within the province: business, labour, community, and government, so that they can independently foster family-responsive workplaces.

5. SASK: 67% of mothers of pre-school children in labour force Most families dual-earner Today’s Society Most single parent families in labour force Ageing Workforce Ageing Population

6. Shortages of Skilled Staff Dominance of Internet Time New Technologies Today’s Workplace Old Work Culture/New Expectations Shorter Retention Work: compressed/more dense Fiscal Pressure Public: High Expectations

7. Children Lifelong training / learning Children’s lessons/ sports Today’s Employee Keeping Fit Home / Yard Community Activities Hobbies Ageing Parents / Relatives

8. Individual vs. Societal approach Fix the Employee • Fitness • Nutrition • Stress-management skills • Time management skills • Crisis counselling Change the Structure & Culture of Workplace • Structure: where, when and how much one works • Capacity to interrupt work on a short term/long term basis (design of work; work organization) • Culture: beliefs, attitudes; values; taken for granted – assumptions embodied in management/ supervisors / co-workers

9. Research + Citizen Action Policy Formation • Research very useful • Voice outside and inside government needs to be broad • Relationships critical • Government is crisis-oriented

10. Issues • Lack of research & popular understanding of work-family reality of ancillary employees • The home front also a big issue • Impact of speed-up on relationships with co-workers and supervisors • Managers/supervisors outsource many work-family needs • Supervisor/Manager is key • Popular work-family solutions less effective for mother-employees

11. Some Family-Friendly Strategies Not as Effective for Mother-Employees Research on more than 1220 Saskatchewan full-time employees (with partners and at least one child five years or younger) found that Saskatchewan employees with supportive supervisors, flexible work and the capacity to take paid days to care for ill children (defined as employees with a family-friendly workplace for this specific research) reported less overload and work-family interference. However, even in this type of workplace, many mother-employees still reported ‘high overload’ (too much to do). See next slide.

12. Data on these 1220 employees show that a family-friendly workplace appears to have an impact on the percentage of employees who report high work-family conflict (overload; work to family interference)

13. Public Policy is Essential • Lower union density • Unionized employees often seen as ‘privileged’ • To make privatization cost

14. Some Practical Policy Priorities* • Family Responsibility Leave • Breastfeeding/pumping breaks • Pro-rated benefits for part-time workers • Employee initiated flexibility • Reduce inequities re: maternity-related leave & benefits • Family-friendly ‘hours of work’ exemption policy • Reduced length of work during some stages in life cycle *see Saskatchewan submission to the Federal Labour Standards Review Commission, “Towards Improving Work and Family Balance – A challenge that calls for non-legislative and legislative considerations by the Federal Labour Standards Review Commission.”

15. Federally funded Pan-Canadian non-legislative programs* • Federal funding is needed to support research, partnerships, pilot projects, recognition of best practices *see Saskatchewan submission to the Federal Labour Standards Review Commission, “Towards Improving Work and Family Balance – A challenge that calls for non-legislative and legislative considerations by the Federal Labour Standards Review Commission.”

16. Thank You