Work/Life Balance

'If only!' and 'We wish!' are typical, contemporary responses to the story of the Eight Hour Day as employees increasingly find themselves working longer hours. Many people feel stressed and 'time poor'.

Workers now encounter an increasingly complex and fragmented workforce. They face overemployment, underemployment, unemployment, casualisation, flexible shift and roster arrangements and unpaid work. All these make it difficult to balance work with other aspects of life.

The Eight Hour Day ensured workers could have what we call work/life balance. Today, many in the workforce are in the position of wishing to either reduce or increase their hours.

In 2002 30% of Australian full-time workers were working 50 hours or more a week.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show that average full-time hours are increasing with one in four working 45 hours or more a week.

On the other hand, just over one in four are engaged in casual employment which is often precarious, lowly paid and employees usually have little control over the hours they work. A substantial number of part-time workers would like more work; in 2002 over half a million part-time Australians wanted to work extra hours.

Stress, fatigue and related health issues are of increasing concern as overtime hours increase. Family relationships and community involvement also suffer.

Poster, 1989: A story of labour and love

Women

In 1954 29% of working-aged women were in paid work; now the figure is 62%. In many families women still do all or a large proportion of the domestic work. This 'double shift' means that after a full day's paid work women begin a second job when they leave to go home.