Happiness under pressure: How dual-earner parents experience time in Australia

1. Happiness under pressure: How dual-earner parents experience time in Australia Authors • Peter Brown PhD, Centre for Work, Leisure and Community Research, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia • Ester Cerin PhD, The Institute of Human Performance, the University of Hong Kong • Penny Warner-Smith PhD, Research Centre for Gender and Health, University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia Paper presented to3rd International Conference on Gross National Happiness, Bangkok, 26-28 November, 2007

2. Presentation outline 1) Context • Work/life tensions in Australia • Work/life tensions: Conceptual framework 2) The Work/life tensions study • Study design • Sample characteristics • Key findings: Perceived time pressure, activity patterns and experiences of time among dual-earner parents 3)Conclusions and implications

3. Work/life tensions: The problem • Australian working hours are currently among the longest in the industrialised world. (22% workers) • There is a strong tendency for workers to work on weeknights and weekends. (30% workers) • A large proportion of the working population are employed on a casual basis. (27% workers) • Research suggests that those people who work long and unsocial hours spend less quality time with their families & friends and most Australian families are suffering time pressure and stress • Such working patterns are associated with a general decline in individual and family wellbeing (Relationships Forum Australia, March 2007)

4. Time pressure & work/life balance • Trends associated with dramatic increases in women’s labour force participation, population ageing, declining fertility rates, increased diversity in the structure and composition of families, and the on going restructuring of the labour market are both causes and consequences of time pressure. • The problem of work/life balance relates to growing tensions between the demands of employment and the demands of home, family and community life.

5. Organisational moderators • Reduced workloads • Flexible work arrangements • Supportive management • Etiquette around use of IT etc. • Organisational • outcomes • Demographic • Characteristics • Gender • Age • Life-stage • SES • Household type • Location • Time use mix • Contracted • Necessary • Free • Committed • Work/life Tensions • Work overload • Work/family interference • Family/work interference • Caregiver strain • No ‘me’ time Family outcomes • Individual • outcomes Societal outcomes • Individual moderators • Vary work patterns • Outsource domestic work & childcare • Negotiate time • Find ‘me’ time • Organise work around lifestyle etc.

6. The ‘Work-life tensions’ project AIM To examine the hypothesis that wellbeing is positively related to reduced time pressure, more leisure, and greater control over time schedules QUESTIONS • How is time experienced by parents who combine paid work with caring responsibilities? • What associations are there between between time use, life course stage, and mood state? • What strategies are used by dual-earner parents to ‘manage’ work-life tensions? • What are the costs of work/life imbalance for workplaces, individuals, families and society?

7. ‘Work-life tensions’ project: Study design 10 FOCUS GROUPS with working parents Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health Data from 14000 young women, 14000 mid-age women 100 women & their partners Phone interview PDA & screening survey • 3 years • ARC funding • Griffith University, University of Newcastle, University of Melbourne

8. The Work/life tensions study: Sample The sample • Young cohort included 95 working parents aged 25 to 30. 51 were women, 44 were men & sample included 40 couples • Mid cohort included 87 working parents aged 52-57. 48 were women, 39 were men & sample included 39 couples ‘Work’ and family characteristics • 71% of parents do paid work more than 25 hours a week, with half of these working more than 41 hours a week. • All ‘young’ and 56% of ‘mid’ aged parents had children living at home. ESM reports • 79 ‘Young’ parents provided 3267 reports (av.41.4pp) • 87‘Mid’-aged parents provided 3507 reports (av.40.3pp)

9. Proportion of respondents affected by time-crunch (% within age cohorts)

10. Categories of time use (ABS)

11. Proportion undertaking activity (%) by time use report

12. Mean scores on Positive Affect items, by age cohort (5 point scale)

13. Mean scores on Negative affect items, by age cohort (5 point scale)

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18. Issues for future investigation • To what extent are factors such as motivation, task demands, social support and perceived control associated with individual’s experience of time in different activity settings? • How might the findings be used to design and evaluate interventions for use in counselling sessions with families as well as workplace programs designed to promote work/life balance among employees? • What are the economic costs of work/life tensions to work organisations, individual & family wellbeing as well as national healthcare systems? • What are the implications of the study for measures of Gross National Happiness?

19. Work/life balance: The challenge? ‘The issues associated with balancing (paid) work and family are of paramount importance to individuals, the organisations that employ them, the families that care for them, the unions that represent them and governments concerned with global competitiveness, citizen well-being and national health’.(Higgins and Duxbury, 2002)

20. Work/life balance? Korp khun krub!