work-life balance: rhetoric versus reality? - bsl...

Work-life balance:Rhetoric versus reality?

An independent report commissioned by UNISON

Fiona VisserLaura Williams

Foreword 4

Acknowledgements 6

Executive summary 7

1 Introduction 10

1.1 What are the drivers for change? 10

1.2 What is the case for work-life balance? 11

1.3 Making the case in the public sector 11

1.4 About this project 13

1.5 About this report 13

2 Context 14

2.1 What is work-life balance? 14

2.2 How has the work-life balance debate evolved? 15

2.3 Has progress been made? 16

3 The case for work-life balance – UNISON members' perspective 18

4 Members’ working lives 21

4.1 Control over work 22

4.2 Organisational culture and employer integrity 24

5 Work-life balance policies and practice 26

5.1 Employer initiatives 26

5.2 Availability and promotion to members 27

5.3 Policies in practice: take-up of options 28

5.4 Unmet demand 30

6 Impact of work-life balance policies and practice 32

6.1 Matching rhetoric to reality: what are the barriers? 33

6.2 Comparisons with other studies: what are the common barriers? 38

7 The way forward 41

7.1 What more could employers do? 41

7.2 What can UNISON do? 42

Contents

8 What are the remaining challenges? 44

8.1 Challenge one: Employers do not adequately and transparently 45

communicate about work-life balance

8.2 Challenge two: Employers are pursuing inappropriate work-life 46

balance arrangements

8.3 Challenge three: There are high levels of unmet demand for some 46

work-life balance options that go beyond the current ‘family friendly’

approach

8.4 Challenge four: Managers act as barriers to members achieving 47

appropriate work-life balance

8.5 Challenge five: Pressure on resources hinders people from getting 48

a work-life balance

8.6 Conclusions 48

Bibliography 50

Appendix A Methodology and survey sample 52

Appendix B Glossary of work-life balance terms 58

3

Foreword

W O R K - L I F E B A L A N C E : R H E TO R I C V E R S U S R E A L I T Y ?4

Flexibility at work continues to be the great double-edged sword in today’s

labour market. On the one side there is the progressive model where working

people have the flexibility to meet their wider responsibilities and enjoy their

lives. On the other is the ideological push for a flexible labour market where

some regard anything much beyond a minimum standard as red tape and a

bar to our competitiveness.

One of the challenges for UNISON and other trade unions over the coming

months and years is to ensure that we win the right kind of flexibility so that

our jobs and our careers are part of what we do and who we are, but where

we also have control. We must show the benefits for the organisations that

we work for and service users to achieve this aim. We also need to make a

robust case for work-life balance as something good in itself. As this timely

and very welcome report makes clear this can be achieved – although there

is some way to go before we attain a situation in which all who want to

benefit do so.

Work-life balance policies are having an impact on the way people work

and how organisations operate and are becoming an established part of the

labour market landscape. Our members tell us that having the flexibility to

strike the right work-life balance improves morale, helps organisations with

staff retention and enables our members to feel in control of their working

lives. So how do we move forward from here? This report tells us that, despite

the progress that has been made, there are still barriers that we have to

address. It also sends a clear message that UNISON has to broaden the debate

from one about how the organisations we work for accommodate individual

arrangements to one in which organisations are transformed.

We will be helped in no small part by the introduction of the new Gender

Equality Duty. From April 2007 this will require public authorities to promote

gender equality and eliminate sex discrimination. Instead of individuals

having to make complaints about sex discrimination, the duty places a legal

responsibility on public authorities to demonstrate that they treat men and

women fairly. In terms of employment policies, all public service providers will

have to think about issues such as whether there is a pay gap between men

and women, how flexible working can help men and women and, where it is

an issue, how the return rate from maternity leave can be improved.

W O R K - L I F E B A L A N C E : R H E TO R I C V E R S U S R E A L I T Y ? 5

FOREWORD

In the months and years ahead UNISON will be at the forefront of efforts to

use the Gender Equality Duty and all other tools at our disposal to deliver

the progressive flexibility that can make work-life balance possible for our

members. We thank The Work Foundation for the significant contribution

they have made to moving this work forward.

Dave Prentis

UNISON General Secretary

Acknowledgements


The authors would like to thank UNISON, its members and branch secretaries

who took part in the research, and in particular Sandra Dean and Tom Spamer

for organising focus groups. We would also like to thank Michelle Singleton,

Ross Hendry and David Arnold for their support and input into the research.

Thanks also to Dr Michelle Mahdon, researcher at The Work Foundation, who

conducted an initial literature review for this project that fed into this report.

Also at The Work Foundation we would like to thank David Coats and

Alexandra Jones who made significant contributions to the report, as well as

Ruth Holmes, Karen Fox and Stephen Overell.

Please note that the views in this report represent those of the authors and

should not be seen necessarily to represent those of UNISON.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Fiona Visser is a researcher at The Work Foundation, having joined in 2002

originally in an HR capacity. Previously she worked in HR-related roles at Coin

Street Community Builders and Cantab Marketing Services ( The Netherlands).

Laura Williams is a senior researcher at The Work Foundation, working across

the research programme and focusing on cities, changing demographics and

work-life balance. Previously she worked at the Office of the Deputy Prime

Minister.

Executive summary


• ‘Work-life balance’ is at the forefront of public policy debates about

flexibility and is widely reported in the media as having the potential to

transform the world of work, lead to higher productivity and better

conditions of work for employees. UNISON’s 2002 launch of a work-life

balance campaign aimed to inform members and promote the potential

benefits of work-life balance for service delivery and staff satisfaction.

• The purpose of this report is to answer the following questions: what does

‘work-life balance’ mean to UNISON members and what are their

experiences of work-life balance in light of this campaign? What are the

barriers to work-life balance? And what role can unions play to further the

debate and practice of work-life balance in public services?

• Key findings from the study, informed by surveys of UNISON members

and branch secretaries, as well as four focus groups with members, include:

• Members report high levels of job satisfaction and are generally happy

with their working arrangements

• Work-life balance is important to members, but can be less important

than other factors and is significantly affected by other issues, such as

the amount of control people have over their work

• There is a feeling that employers are investing in work-life balance, but

the ‘solutions’ offered are not always compatible with members’ needs.

In some cases members feel that employers are paying lip service to the

idea of work-life balance, but are not making sufficient investment in

managing the implementation of initiatives

• Some members feel that they are not always making well-informed

decisions about their own work-life balance or that of the staff they

manage. Indeed, some feel that their employer deliberately

communicates work-life balance policies ineffectively. Related to this is

a concern that some policies are implemented on an inconsistent and

inequitable basis

• There is significant ‘unmet demand’ for some work-life balance options

• Individual control and voice is important: many members wanted to have

a dialogue with their managers about managing their work-life balance

• Members are pragmatic about workable solutions: although members

have views about their ‘ideal’ working arrangement, they are prepared to

settle for different arrangements and are willing to make compromises

and to balance their own needs with those of the organisation, customers

and other staff.


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• On the basis of these findings, this report highlights four key barriers to

the benefits of work-life balance being realised by UNISON members:

1. Insufficient employer commitment to work-life balance

2. Balancing care and work affects career progression

3. Available work-life balance options are not always appropriate

4. Organisational culture does not always permit the implementation

of initiatives.

• Given these barriers and the extent of UNISON members’ frustrations with

employers around work-life balance, and despite general satisfaction with

work and working arrangements, it is apparent that there is still some way

to go in reaching a position where the needs of employers, employees and

service users are reconciled to the advantage, or at least satisfaction, of all

parties.

• The challenges to reaching this position include:

• Employers do not adequately and transparently communicate about

work-life balance

• Employers are pursuing inappropriate work-life balance arrangements

• Work-life balance options for which there are high levels of demand are

not being provided

• Managers act as barriers to members achieving appropriate work-life

balance

• Pressure on resources hinders people from achieving a work-life balance.

• There has been much progress on work-life balance in the wider world over

the last ten years, of which UNISON and its members have been a part. This

report gives UNISON a well-developed account of the extent to which

principles and policies have been implemented in practice. For example, it

can be said with some confidence that despite real progress in some areas,

there is still much to be done to broaden the work-life balance debate so

that it embraces work organisation, job design, management standards and

organisational culture. More still needs to be done to demonstrate that

work-life balance is not just an instrument that allows employers to satisfy

individuals’ preferences or needs for more flexibility. If organisations are to

change the way they work, then this implicitly demands a reconfiguration

of the relationship between employer and employee, and the roles and

responsibilities that each party has in the delivery of the organisation’s

objectives.


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• All of the challenges outlined in this report highlight the importance of the

trade union role. Based on the survey findings, we would argue that UNISON

should make the following essential contributions:

• Changing the terms of the debate: moving work-life balance from

being seen as a gender or parenting issue; talking about the challenges

and how they may be overcome, as well as the potential benefits;

developing specialist work-life balance expertise within UNISON to

contribute to implementing change

• Focusing on the collective elements of work-life balance policies

to support a move away from focusing only on individual needs and

tinkering around the edges of working practices towards a more holistic

view of developing and implementing new ways of working.

• By taking these leads, UNISON has the opportunity to revitalise this debate

and lead the way in pushing for reality to match the rhetoric.

1 Introduction

W O R K - L I F E B A L A N C E : R H E TO R I C V E R S U S R E A L I T Y ?1 0

In response to shifts in the labour market and the changing nature of work,

work-life balance is now at the top of the agenda for government and

business. While work-life balance traditionally focused on family-friendly

workplaces – essentially concerned with enabling mothers to balance work

and childcare responsibilities – there is increasing recognition from

organisations that work-life balance is about more than families, and are

instead helping employees to have access to working arrangements that are

compatible with their other responsibilities, lifestyle and, of course, their work.

It is also recognised that work-life balance can lead indirectly to productivity

gains through increased retention and helps organisations to respond to

customer needs more effectively. Government has also recognised that this

is the domain of policy: the right to request flexible working for parents with

children aged under six or disabled children aged 18 and under was

introduced in 2003 and has bedded in well. This right is being extended to

carers in 2007.

Work-life balance has become increasingly important for a number of social

and economic reasons that are making:

• organisations think about how they work

• government think about how people balance paid and unpaid work and

care

• individuals think about the role work has and will have at different stages

of their lives.

Broadly, this shift is influenced by changes to markets, ways of working, the

labour market and expectations of work. In the public sector, these drivers

mean:

• pressures to increase efficiencies while at the same time responding to the

demands of service users, creating more flexible and responsive public

services1

• that there is a need to understand better and respond to customer

requirements in a population that is becoming older and more ethnically

diverse. Therefore people who possess these skills and relationships are

crucial to helping organisations understand new customer segments,

promote creativity and cope with increasingly complex business models. 2

1 See for example Jones A and Williams L, Why ICT?: The role of ICT in public services, London, The Work Foundation, 2005

2 Rajan A et al, Harnessing Workforce Diversity to Raise the Bottom Line, CREATE, 2003

1.1 What are the

drivers for

change?

The case for work-life balance tends to be made on two counts. First, that

work-life balance improves individuals’ health, wellbeing and job satisfaction.

Second, that business can benefit from work-life balance because these

policies:

• improve productivity and worker commitment

• reduce sickness absence (from 12 per cent to 2 per cent according to

UNISON research)

• increase retention rates for talented workers and reduce replacement costs

• allow organisations to recruit from a wider pool of talent

• enable organisations to offer services beyond usual business hours by

employing workers on different shifts that fit in with caring responsibilities.

The business case arguments have had particular resonance with the public

sector, where a high proportion of the workforce is female and there is a drive

to provide increasingly customer-focused services at more flexible times,

requiring differentiated patterns of work. UNISON’s 2002 launch of its work-

life balance campaign aimed to inform and promote policies across the union

in recognition of the potential benefits of work-life balance for service

delivery and staff satisfaction. The strategy also recognised the growing

importance of work-life balance as a non-pay issue that unions can negotiate

on and use to attract new members. The importance of these issues is

highlighted in the TUC’s 2003 report, A Perfect Union?, which reveals a strong

desire among union members for effective action by their unions to improve

the quality of the working environment.3 One might also say that a focus on

work-life balance is likely to prove attractive to those people who have not

been union members so far in their working lives and who are more

concerned with ‘getting on’ than ‘getting even’.

Previous research by UNISON suggests that the public sector’s good

reputation on work-life balance issues has some grounding in fact: 86 per

cent of respondents reported that flexible working is available to at least

some staff in the organisation and 90 per cent said that job sharing was an

option.4 Yet current research gives little insight into how work-life balance

policies and practice vary between the different parts of the public sector

and how the availability of work-life balance options translates into improved

work-life balance.

W O R K - L I F E B A L A N C E : R H E TO R I C V E R S U S R E A L I T Y ? 1 1

INTRODUCTION

3 TUC, A Perfect Union?: What workers want from unions, London, 2003

4 See http://www.unison.org.uk/worklifebalance/casefor.asp

1.2 What is the

case for work-life

balance?

1.3 Making the

case in the

public sector


INTRODUCTION

The typical business case for work-life balance lends itself better to the

practices and languages of the private sector. However, despite the different

needs of public and private sector organisations, many of the work-life

balance drivers are similar:

• increasing services’ customer focus

• reducing absenteeism

• attracting and retaining talented people

• improving productivity and making efficiency gains.

The case for work-life balance is increasingly recognised by employers too,

as demonstrated by the regular Working Families awards to businesses

innovating in this area, and the high profile advocacy of businesses such

as BT and Lloyds TSB about the importance of these issues.

Yet, when we look at the evidence on whether work-life balance policies have

achieved all they set out to and whether people really are able to achieve

the work-life balance they want, a different picture emerges. Furthermore,

the case for work-life balance is different for employers and employees.

Employers may be attracted by the efficiency gains and customer response

improvements that work-life balance policies such as flexible working

promise. However, for individuals, the case for such policies needs to be made

on what it will mean for their job, their career and their life outside work.

The ‘rhetoric-reality’ gap – the gap between the aspirations of organisations

and their policies, and then the policies and their practice – is also likely to

vary in different parts of the public sector. In some areas, work-life balance

policies can be and are implemented effectively, open to all staff, and result

in improved productivity and higher staff satisfaction. Elsewhere there are

significant challenges to realising these benefits. These challenges often

include:

• lack of awareness about the existence of work-life balance policies on the

part of staff and/or managers

• workplace cultures that inhibit take-up of work-life balance policies

• lack of line manager buy-in

• employee concern about loss of income, damage to career progression or

workload

• work-life balance policies being available to parents only.

UNISON commissioned this project to improve its understanding of work-life

balance among members, to analyse the extent to which the growing

awareness and popularity of work-life balance has translated into cultural

change, and to develop recommendations about how organisations in the

public sector need to move debates and practice forward. The Work

Foundation has a long history of work-life balance research and consultancy

and was delighted to conduct this research project and participate in the

debate about the role of unions in making work-life balance a reality for

their members.

This report presents findings from a literature review, surveys of UNISON

members and branch secretaries, and four focus groups with participants

from UNISON’s membership base conducted by The Work Foundation

between February and October 2006.5 The core questions for the research

were:

• How is the case for work-life balance currently being made in the public

sector? What are the existing policies and how are they being promoted?

• How are work-life balance policies being implemented in practice?

• How important is work-life balance to UNISON members? Do members

report a good work-life balance? What are the barriers and enablers?

• How should the case for work-life balance be made in the future? How

can challenges be overcome? How can UNISON be involved in moving

debates and practice forward?

This report presents our answers to these questions.


INTRODUCTION

5 Please see Appendix A for a detailed methodology

1.4 About this

project

1.5 About this

report

2 Context


While work-life balance is an increasingly popular term, there is no clear

consensus on what it means, although most definitions do include the

concepts of flexibility, juggling and sustainability.6 Work-life balance is most

frequently used to describe the equilibrium between responsibilities at work

and responsibilities outside paid work; having a work-life balance means that

this equilibrium is in the right position for the individual concerned.

There is no one-size-fits-all definition for work-life balance. For some people

it means spending more time in paid work and less time at home, while for

others it means ensuring that paid work does not encroach on time needed

for other responsibilities. Of course, there is a tension here as the term implies

that work and life are and should be separate, whereas for many people the

distinction between the two is somewhat blurred. Furthermore, ‘balance’ and

‘imbalance’ varies for different people at different times of their lives, making

the notion of a single definition of work-life balance unrealistic. This is

compounded by differences in socio-economic circumstances: for those in

low-paid work, longer hours may be a financial necessity. With this in mind,

we define work-life balance as having sufficient control and autonomy over

where, when and how you work to fulfil your responsibilities inside and

outside paid work.

Much of the debates about work-life balance actually focus on imbalance.

In the focus groups conducted as part of this study, UNISON members tended

to focus on imbalance – feeling a lack of control and autonomy over where,

when and how you work – when asked what work-life balance means. Some

strong themes emerged, for example the:

• role that work-life balance plays in people’s health, with the lack of it

causing higher sickness absence levels

• strain on relationships – both at home and work – that results from a lack

of work-life balance

• pressure to make a decision between career progression and a life outside

of work.

As these findings suggest, a work-life imbalance can have disastrous

consequences for the individual in terms of stress, ill health and lack of

motivation. The impact of this imbalance at the individual level has been well

documented – see Marmot’s work on the detrimental impact on health that a

6 Neault R, That Elusive Work-Life Balance!, Canada, NATCON Papers, 2005

2.1 What is work-

life balance?

lack of control and autonomy at work has7 – and many strategies have been

suggested to improve the balance. In focus group discussions, members

recognised that an ideal work-life balance varies from person to person,

depending on the individual and their life circumstances. Balancing both

home and work life allows an individual to achieve the best in both

situations, but the balance that is right for them may involve much more or

much less time at work than for another – and this balance may also change

at different times in individuals’ lives.

In spite of some of the constraining definitions of work-life balance, progress

in this area of policy and in organisations has been significant over the last

ten years. The ‘right to request’ legislation, which came into effect in 2003,

gave parents with children aged under six the right to ask their employers to

work flexibly. And this has bedded in well: more than three-quarters (77 per

cent) of requests were fully accepted and a further 9 per cent were partly

accepted or a compromise reached.8 This right will be extended to those with

caring responsibilities in 2007. A survey (based on a representative sample of

workers in the UK) conducted by The Work Foundation in 2005 found that

two-thirds of respondents agree that flexible working is good for employers

as well as employees, suggesting that there has been a shift away from

viewing work-life balance as being all about the individual. Stevens et al’s

report from the second Work-Life Balance Survey reveals that more

employees in 2003 than 2000 believe that the business case should be a

priority (60 per cent versus a previous 53 per cent) when granting a request

for flexible working.9

Further evidence that progress is being made comes from the 2004 British

Social Attitudes (BSA) survey.10 The survey reports that the number of flexible

working options made available by employers in the UK rose from an average

of 1.39 in 1998 to 1.99 in 2004. The availability of some type of ad hoc

arrangements was reported by 73 per cent of the respondents, indicating

the presence of a ‘flexible ethos’. The following options were available to

respondents, where for:

• 64 per cent part-time work was available

• 49 per cent flexible hours were an option

• 38 per cent job sharing was an option


CONTEXT

7 Marmot M, Status Syndrome: How our position on the social gradient affects longevity and health, London, Bloomsbury, 2004

8 See http://www.dti.gov.uk/employment/workandfamilies/flexible-working/index.html

9 Stevens et al, The Second Work-Life Balance Survey: Results from the employees’ survey, Employment Relations Research Series No

27, Department of Trade and Industry, 2004

10 Bell A and Bryson C, ‘Work-life balance – still a “women’s issue”?’ in British Social Attitudes, London, NatCen, 2005

2.2 How has the

work-life balance

debate evolved?

• 24 per cent working from home was an option

• 24 per cent term-time work was an option.

However, despite the increase in flexible working options and this ‘flexible

ethos’, BSA survey findings as well as evidence from other surveys suggest

that there is not universal awareness of ‘time off ’ policies. For example, the

BSA survey found that 11–15 per cent did not know what policies were

available to them, and a Work Foundation survey in 2005 found that 19 per

cent were unaware of the options.11 The BSA survey report suggests that this

reflects a lack of explicitness among employers about these policies so that

employees only find out about the policies when they have to make use of

them. Mothers appear to show more awareness of the policy options than

men and fathers, perhaps because they continue to have the main

responsibility for caring and so are more likely to ‘have’ to make use of some

flexible options. Employers seem to recognise this: women are much more

likely than men to be offered flexible options (fixed and ad hoc), even when

other significantly influential factors are controlled for. This suggests that

work-life balance may still be perceived by some as a ‘women’s issue’.

The overall story on work-life balance is positive. It is increasingly popular, it

is bedding down in organisations, and individuals are aware of the options

available and are taking these up where possible.

However, there are some worrying variations in availability and take-up. The

first of these is gender-related. As outlined above, women are much more

likely to have available to them and take up work-life balance policies and

while this is not a problem in itself as it supports women to work while they

bring up children, the consequences of this variation are more concerning.

For example, research by Smithson et al suggests that the nature of take-up

among men and women can contribute to the gender pay gap.12 Their review

of the accountancy profession found that women tend to use flexible

working arrangements to cover childcare responsibilities at a time in their

careers that damages their prospects of moving to a more senior role in the

future. Men, however, tend to make use of flexible working arrangements

later in their careers, reducing the detrimental effects.

Availability and take-up vary significantly according to sector, the size of the

organisation and employee grade. For example, the BSA survey shows that


CONTEXT

11 Williams L, Overcoming the Barriers to Flexible Working, London, The Work Foundation, 2005

12 Smithson et al, ‘Flexible Working and the Gender Pay Gap in the Accountancy Profession’, Work, Employment & Society, Vol 18

No 1, pp115-135, 2004

2.3 Has progress

been made?

those with GCSE/O level qualifications are more likely to be offered flexibility

than those without. The survey also reveals geographical differences with

employees in Scotland and the Midlands less likely to support a range of

flexible time options than employees in the South East of England.


CONTEXT

3 The case for work-life balance – UNISON members’ perspective


Given the increased profile of work-life balance in the UK, this section starts

to explore how changing attitudes and the rise of work-life balance on the

agendas of politicians, policymakers, employers and individuals are shaping

the expectations and experiences of UNISON members.

Tables 1 and 2 show that branch secretaries and members are

overwhelmingly positive about work-life balance. They are convinced (as

shown by the mean scores, where a low score demonstrates strong

agreement and a high score demonstrates strong disagreement) that work-

life balance is good for people’s individual performance, beneficial to

employers, responsive to customers and consistent with the development of

one’s career. This last point is particularly important given that almost nine in

ten members agree that home/family is more important to them than career

progression. What this finding suggests is that while family commitments are

more important to members than their future careers they should not have

to make the choice between them. The two are not mutually exclusive.

Table 1: Branch secretaries on work-life balance

Agree Agree Neither agree Disagree Disagree Mean

strongly nor disagree strongly

(%) (%) (%) (%) (%)

77 22 1 0 0 1.24

75 24 0 1 0 1.27

66 27 6 2 0 1.44

1 0 3 31 65 4.59

Note: Where figures do not add up to 100 per cent this is due to rounding

How strongly do you agree or

disagree with the following

statements?

People work best when they can balance

their work and other aspects of their lives

Offering a good work-life balance to

employees is beneficial for employers

Staff with a good work-life balance are

better able to respond to the needs of

customers or service users

Work-life balance is for those who don’t

take their careers seriously

Table 2: Members on work-life balance

Unsurprisingly, members with caring responsibilities have stronger feelings

about home and family being more important than those without.

Interestingly, however, there were no differences in response between men

and women. This may reflect the general attitudinal shift that seems to be

taking place: caring and family responsibilities are increasingly not being

written off as a ‘women’s issue’ and work-life balance as an issue is becoming

mainstream. These findings are supported by focus groups where participants

generally agreed that work-life balance does affect decisions about whether

to work for a particular employer or about their future career.

The survey findings shown in Tables 1 and 2 above indicate that members

and branch secretaries alike endorse the case for work-life balance. Indeed,

the percentages are very similar for members and branch secretaries,

revealing strength in commitment to the concept of work-life balance as well

as strong consensus of opinion. The message for UNISON is clear: members

and branch secretaries agree that work-life balance has positive outcomes for

employers, employees and customers. Furthermore, branch secretaries offer a


THE CASE FOR WORK-LIFE BALANCE – UNISON MEMBERS’ PERSPECTIVE



(%) (%) (%) (%) (%)

59 29 8 3 0 1.56

67 32 1 0 0 1.35

63 33 2 2 0 1.43

66 31 2 1 0 1.38


To what extent do you agree or


statements?

My family or home life is more important

to me than career progression

People work best when they can balance

their work and other aspects of their lives

Staff with a good work-life balance are

better able to respond to the needs of

customers or service users

Offering a good work-life balance to

employees is beneficial for employers


THE CASE FOR WORK-LIFE BALANCE – UNISON MEMBERS’ PERSPECTIVE

resounding ‘no’ to the suggestion that work-life balance is for people who do

not take their careers seriously.

However, while there may be overwhelming support for work-life balance,

what happens in practice may vary dramatically from what members and

branch secretaries think should happen. This issue will be explored in greater

depth throughout the report.

4 Members’ working lives


Against this backdrop of members endorsing the case for work-life balance,

the survey also found that, overall, members report high levels of job

satisfaction and commitment to the organisation they work for (see Table 3

below). Seventy per cent are satisfied or very satisfied with their job and the

same percentage share the values of the organisation they are working for.

Over half would speak highly of their organisation (55 per cent), compared

to the second Workers’ Index 2005 in which a quarter (27 per cent) of public

sector workers said they would.13 Two-thirds (66 per cent) agree that there

will be a job for them as long as they want it. This paints a picture of work

that is generally good for members: satisfied, committed employees who

feel secure in their jobs.

Table 3: Members’ working lives

13 Coats D, Second Workers’ Index: The Work Foundation’s commentary, London, The Work Foundation, 2005

Very Fairly Neither Fairly Very Mean

satisfied satisfied satisfied nor dissatisfied dissatisfied

(%) (%) dissatisfied (%) (%) (%)

25 45 13 11 6 2.27

Agree Agree Neither Disagree Disagree Mean

strongly agree nor strongly

(%) (%) disagree (%) (%) (%)

31 35 10 14 10 2.38

14 19 11 33 23 3.32

26 44 15 10 5 2.23

22 33 17 19 8 2.59




statements?

All things considered, how satisfied are

you with your job at present?

I feel there will be a job for me as long as

I want it

I’m always on the lookout for a job that is

better than mine

I share many of the values of my

organisation

I would speak highly of my organisation

without being asked

Levels of satisfaction and other indicators about how members feel about

the organisations they work for vary by gender ( Table 4), with women being

consistently and significantly more positive in their outlook than men. There

was a similar trend with hours worked ( Table 5), with members working part-

time being significantly more satisfied with their job than their full-time

counterparts.

Table 4: Members on job satisfaction, by gender

Table 5: Members on job satisfaction, by hours worked

Table 6 shows that most members felt they had a high degree of control

over how and when they manage their work (77 per cent and 71 per cent

respectively). Despite this, 66 per cent said their job was stressful compared

to just 34 per cent who said their home life was stressful. There are slight

gender differences here, with just over a third of women (36 per cent)

reporting a stressful home life compared to just over a quarter of men


MEMBERS’ WORKING LIVES

14 Significance level of p<0.01




(%) (%) dissatisfied (%) (%) (%)

20 46 13 14 9 2.44

27 45 13 10 5 2.21


All things considered, how satisfied

are you with your job at present?14

Men

Women



(%) (%) dissatisfied (%) (%) (%)

24 44 13 13 7 2.35

27 48 13 7 4 2.13


All things considered, how satisfied

are you with your job at present?15

In full-time employment

In part-time employment

4.1 Control over

work

(27 per cent), with women reporting significantly greater lack of time at home

than men.16 This is likely to reflect the continuing traditional role of women

as primary homemaker.

Table 6: Members on control over work

Focus group discussions gave an added perspective to these findings with

members expressing the view that deadlines at work were immovable, unlike

those at home, and therefore it was home life that tended to suffer when

the pressure was on. Furthermore, expected standards of behaviour at work

meant that people felt less able to confront stress while maintaining their

professionalism, but could let their guard down at home and sometimes

found themselves taking out frustrations on those around them.






(%) (%) (%) (%) (%)

36 41 9 10 5 2.08

31 40 8 14 7 2.27

33 28 8 22 9 2.47

29 37 11 18 6 2.36

40 30 6 17 7 2.19

26 31 9 23 11 2.61




statements?

I have a high degree of control over how

I do my work

I have a lot of control over managing my

time at work

There are so many things to do at work,

I often run out of time before I get them

all done

My job is stressful

There are so many things to do at home,

I often run out of time before I get them

all done

My home life is not stressful



Participants were universal in their view about the increasing intensity of

work, with the associated issue that work was no longer just nine-to-five, but

encroached on evenings and weekends. This in turn had led to participants

feeling ‘time squeezed’: trying to juggle paid work, voluntary work and

childcare responsibilities had become increasingly difficult. Those working

part-time, often because of caring for children, particularly felt under pressure

to work more hours or a different pattern of hours than contracted.

Having said this, just over half (56 per cent) of participants reported being

happy with their current work-life balance, although one in four (26 per cent)

reported that work was too demanding. Small numbers of participants (4 per

cent) felt that home was too demanding and similarly (4 per cent) that both

home and work are too demanding.

On the whole, members felt trusted by their managers to get on with their

work, but did not trust these managers as decision-makers, as shown by

Table 7 below. There were no differences in views seen across the different

occupational groups, with even 44 per cent of managers and senior officials

feeling that management were unreliable in keeping their promises.

Table 7: Members on organisational culture and employer integrity

These findings, although concerning, are not dissimilar to those reported

by the CIPD, where fewer than half the respondents said that they trust

their senior management or believe they have a clear vision of where the

organisation is going.17 They are not as positive as those found in the second

17 Emmot M, ‘Am I Bothered?’, Impact, Issue 17, London, CIPD, October 2006

4.2

Organisational

culture and

employer

integrity



(%) (%) (%) (%) (%)

10 29 14 25 22 3.20

33 40 11 10 6 2.16




statements?

Management can be relied on to keep

their promises

My organisation puts the needs of its

customers first

Workers’ Index 200518, where just over half (53 per cent) of public sector

workers felt that their senior team had a clear vision for their organisation.

This cynicism towards management was also evident in the view expressed

by focus group participants that it is a very one-sided relationship between

employer and employee: the employer expects the support of employees

to get the business done without reciprocating this support for members’

commitments outside work. Members appreciated the need to offer

appropriate service levels to customers, but were frustrated by the lack of

vision that management demonstrated in seeking win-win solutions for

employees and the organisation.



18 Coats D, Second Workers’ Index: The Work Foundation’s commentary, London, The Work Foundation, 2005

Members and branch secretaries are convinced of the benefits of work-life

balance. However, our work suggests that a culture of high expectations has

been created – expectations that are often disappointed by employers’

lukewarm implementation of what might outwardly appear to be exemplary

policies. Certainly, progress has been made, but there can be no doubt that a

large gap remains between rhetoric and reality.

On the face of it, public sector employers have apparently accepted the case

for work-life balance with some enthusiasm. For example, branch secretaries

reported that the employers they work with take work-life balance seriously:

• 43 per cent of employers had long-standing initiatives or projects

• 33 per cent had recently started to focus on the area

• 6 per cent had not yet undertaken any initiatives, but were likely to in the

near future

• 11 per cent had not undertaken any initiatives and were unlikely to in the

near future.

Overall, three-quarters of employers have initiatives or projects concerned

with work-life balance, working hours or flexibility, although one in ten do

not and have no plans to do so. There are some sectoral differences: just over

half (52 per cent) of organisations in the education sector had undertaken

initiatives, compared to other sectors where the majority (70 per cent and

higher) had initiatives.

Supporting other research19, our survey found that flexible working is the

most popular work-life balance initiative, with three-quarters of employers

(75 per cent) offering flexible working to some or all staff. Table 8 shows the

breakdown for other initiatives among all the employers, indicating that job

sharing and home working are also popular.


5 Work-life balance policies and practice

19 For example, see the British Social Attitudes survey

5.1 Employer

initiatives


WORK-LIFE BALANCE POLICIES AND PRACTICE

Table 8: Employer initiatives – reported by branch secretaries

As Table 9 shows, members report a higher level of availability for all options

except home working than the British Social Attitudes survey. This is in line

with other findings from the British Social Attitudes Survey that employees

in the public sector generally report higher levels of availability, with the

exception of home working. Also supporting the findings, respondents to

the UNISON survey of members in the South East in managerial or senior

roles report higher levels of availability. And those working in elementary

occupations are less likely to have the different options available to them.

Men and women report similar levels of availability, although as we will

discuss, take-up of options does vary by gender.

Table 9: Comparing availability of options to members with the British

Social Attitudes survey findings

%

75

63

50

44

43

35

33

32

25

10

Employer initiatives

Flexible working

Job sharing

Home working

Time off for parents to care for sick children

Career breaks

Time off to care for people other than children

Term-time contracts

Childcare provision

Time off for parents to care for children when they are not sick

Other

Members: British Social Attitudes

availability (%) survey, 2004 (%)

53 49

52 38

32 24

19 24

Work-life balance option

offered

Flexitime

Job sharing

Term-time working

Homeworking

5.2 Availability

and promotion to

members

The most interesting finding in terms of availability is the different levels of

availability reported by members and branch secretaries. To an extent, the

differences can be explained by the fact that branch secretaries are thinking

about the organisation as a whole, whereas members may only be able to

reflect on the area of organisation that they work in and their own job roles

in the organisation. Focus group participants in the same establishment

report different availability of options, for example.

However, the figures also suggest a lack of awareness of the options available

among members. This is part of the rhetoric-reality gap discussed earlier

where employers say they are committed to work-life balance and offer

policies to back this up, but fail at the implementation stage, meaning that

employees do not benefit from their employer’s commitment to work-life

balance.

This rhetoric-reality gap is corroborated by discussions in the focus groups

where members expressed their belief that employers were wilfully evasive

about informing their employees of options available to them through tactics

like burying policies on intranets and using language that does not simply

convey the information that employees are looking for. This communication

failure is recognised by branch secretaries, who see a role for UNISON here:

70 per cent thought that UNISON should do more in raising awareness

among members.

While the lack of communication is concerning, it is also a finding from other

research. The DTI’s Work-Life Balance Employees’ Survey20 conducted in 2006

found little change in reported availability of work-life balance options even

though WERS 200421 found significant increases as reported by employers.

This should be a wake-up call to employers and to UNISON – the message

is not getting through.

The surveys also revealed a gap between the options offered and take-up.

Table 10 shows what members report as being on offer alongside take-up

rates and figures from the British Social Attitudes survey for national

comparison.



20 Hooker H, Neathey F, Casebourne J and Munro M, The Third Work-Life Balance Employees’ Survey: Executive summary, London,

DTI, 2006

21 Kersley B, Alpin C, Forth J, Bryson A, Bewley H, Dix G and Oxenbridge S, Inside the Workplace: First findings from the 2004

Workplace Employment Relations Survey, London, DTI, 2005

5.3 Policies in

practice: take-up

of options

Table 10: Members’ take-up of options available versus take-up in the

British Social Attitudes survey

With the exception of flexible hours, UNISON members are less likely to have

taken up the option of job sharing and working at home than the national

labour market (as measured by the British Social Attitudes survey). This may

be explained in part by the sectors represented by UNISON, which

predominantly employ customer-facing staff with no option of working at

home. However, even where individual jobs may be suitable for home

working, organisations may be reluctant to enable it to happen because they

are not geared up for the implications of home working. The lower likelihood

of job sharing and home working may also reflect social and economic

factors, such as the proportion of low-paid, part-time women working across

the public services that UNISON represents.



Organisations Have used Like to use Not of interest Not applicable British Social

offering option (%) but not done (%) (%) Attitudes

(% – from so yet survey

members’ survey) (%) (%)

53 69 16 10 5 67

52 16 25 48 11 24

19 51 16 13 20 69

32 26 17 27 31 37

64 25 30 13 33 –

51 23 29 14 34 –

48 34 44 11 12 –

Flexible hours

Job sharing

Working from home

Term-time contracts

Time off for sick children

Time off to care for

children

Time off to care for

others

There are also differences in take-up between men and women comparable

to those found in the British Social Attitudes survey, as Table 11 shows.

Women are more likely to take up work-life balance options with the

exception of home working, which is used by the more office-based, less

customer-facing occupational groups of managers, professionals and

associated professionals. Half (50 per cent) of the male respondents work

in these occupations, as compared to a third of the female respondents

(33 per cent).

Table 11: Members – gender differences in take-up rates

We asked members which options they would like to have access to and

discovered significant levels of unmet demand. Members indicated that they

would make use of certain options if they were available. In particular, there is

demand for the opportunity to work flexible hours, as shown by Table 12, and

for time off to care for others.



Level of take-up: Level of take-up: British Social British Social

men women Attitudes survey Attitudes survey

(%) (%) level of take-up: level of take-up:

father (%) mother (%)

31 39 34 44

3 10 2 17

10 9 21 18

5 10 7 21

10 18 – –

11 12 – –

12 18 – –

Option

Flexible hours

Job sharing

Working from home

Term-time contracts


Time off to care for children

Time off to care for others

5.4 Unmet

demand

Table 12: Members’ unmet demand for work-life balance options

Branch secretaries also recognise that there is unmet demand among

members more generally: two-thirds (66 per cent) felt that employers should

extend work-life balance options to those without children to help them

achieve a better work-life balance.

Focus group discussions mentioned studying, voluntary work, childcare,

eldercare and large-scale personal projects as major commitments outside

of paid work. Demand to take time off to care for others is likely to grow in

the future. Many participants anticipated that, in particular, they will be

responsible for caring for elderly relatives. In part, this is explained by the

demographic of both UNISON members and focus group participants – a

large proportion of whom were women aged over 40. However, it also

reflects a more general demographic trend that employers will need to

consider when planning future work-life balance initiatives.



Organisations Take–up of option

not offering option if it were available

(%) (%)

52 71

47 70

36 44

49 39

48 37

81 37

68 36

Time off to care for others

Flexible hours


Time off to care for children

Job sharing

Working from home

Term-time contracts

6 Impact of work-life balance policies and practice


As we have discussed, UNISON members report significant levels of unmet

demand and are less likely to take up the available options when compared

to the wider workforce. This section considers how these areas of shortfall

translate into members’ experience of their working arrangements.

As Table 13 shows, three-quarters of members (75 per cent) reported that

they were happy with their working arrangements. This is higher than the

number of focus group participants satisfied solely with their work-life

balance (56 per cent), indicating that there are a number of factors involved

in overall satisfaction with working arrangements. Just over half of

respondents could make choices about their working arrangements, although

two in five could not, and a large proportion (76 per cent) feel comfortable

talking to their manager about these. There was no significant difference

between men and women. Those who worked the longest hours (more than

41 hours a week) were less happy with their working arrangements than

those who worked fewer than 30 hours a week (66 per cent compared to

83 per cent), although there were no differences in the extent to which they

felt they could make a choice about their working arrangements or how

comfortable they felt in talking to their line manager.

Table 13: Members on satisfaction with working arrangements

Three-quarters of members feel comfortable discussing changes with their

managers. Yet focus group discussions revealed that members saw line

managers as the key barrier or enabler to a change in working arrangements.

As one participant put it: ‘[ There’s] no point in having an "option"; it won’t

make any difference – it’s down to the manager.’ Therefore, it would appear

that members may be able to initiate a discussion about working

arrangements, but do not feel that the decision made will necessarily reflect

the work-life balance policies in place in the organisation.

Most members report being happy on the whole with their working

arrangements. However, almost two in ten are not happy, and this should

be seen in light of members reporting an increasing intensity of work, which

has implications for how they manage home and work responsibilities. In

addition, those taking up part-time working arrangements are finding that

their workloads, or how their jobs are designed and managed, create pressure


IMPACT OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE POLICIES AND PRACTICE



(%) (%) (%) (%) (%)

34 41 8 11 6 2.13

15 36 9 27 13 2.87

33 43 5 13 8 2.20

57 38 2 2 2 1.53

20 34 14 19 13 2.73




statements?

I am happy with my current working

arrangements

I can make choices about my current

working arrangements

I feel comfortable discussing changes to

my working arrangements with my

manager

My manager trusts me to get on with

my work

My line manager inspires me to do a

better job

6.1 Matching

rhetoric to

reality: what are

the barriers?



for them to work additional hours or take on more than their part-time hours

would allow them to complete.

This section explores the barriers that are preventing UNISON members from

having a work-life balance or from seeing the benefits of changed ways of

working.

The finding that four out of ten branch secretaries feel that the work-life

balance options offered to employees are not genuine choices raises the

question of how committed employers really are to helping their employees

achieve work-life balance.

Focus group participants suspected their employers of concealing

information about work-life balance policies. Despite the activity around

work-life balance initiatives reported earlier, only a quarter (24 per cent)

of branch secretaries believe employers are committed to helping their

employees achieve a balance, while half of them think employers are not

at all committed to this (see Table 14).

Branch secretaries therefore believe that employers could do more: almost

half of them feel that the flexible working options on offer are restrictive

(47 per cent) and only a quarter (23 per cent) feel that their employer

receives requests to change working patterns positively. Just under half

(48 per cent) feel that part-time staff do not have equal access to career

progression, particularly worrying given that this disproportionately affects

women (92 per cent of member respondents working part-time are women).

Members also reflected that employers could do more to demonstrate their

commitment to work-life balance. For example, half of respondents believed

that management are committed to work-life balance, but this means that

the remaining half are either unsure or disagree. A number of members who

participated in focus groups felt that senior management paid lip service to

the ideas of work-life balance, offering sympathy but not enough practical

help. Some felt that senior managers make gestures for ‘brownie points’

rather than as a means to supporting individuals and teams to balance work

with other commitments.

6.1.1 Insufficient

employer

commitment to

work-life balance


Table 14: Branch secretaries on employer commitment to work-life

balance




(%) (%) (%) (%) (%)

4 33 29 29 5 2.96

4 27 21 37 11 3.24

2 37 23 30 8 3.05

2 26 11 45 16 3.48

1 22 39 32 6 3.21

14 33 26 27 1 2.69

11 41 21 24 4 2.70

0 24 27 39 11 3.24


How strongly do you agree or disagree

with the following statements about

working arrangements in relation to

the employer?

Employees with family commitments have

equal career opportunities in the

workplace

Part-time staff have equal access to career

progression

Work-life balance options are only

available to parents or carers

All staff have access to flexible working

arrangements

Requests to change working patterns

are received positively by the employer

The flexible working options on offer

are restrictive

The employer doesn’t do enough to

enable people to pursue education

or training opportunities

Management are committed to helping

employees achieve a good work-life

balance

Consistency of arrangements was also a common issue raised by focus group

participants. Although it was recognised that some jobs lend themselves

more easily than others to different working arrangements, many participants

expressed a view that favouritism was a factor in whether a manager granted

a request.

Members were asked for their views on career progression in relation to

caring responsibilities. Of the 53 per cent of members with caring

responsibilities (for children, elderly relatives and others):

• 10 per cent thought their caring responsibilities had got in the way of

their progress at work a great deal

• 20 per cent a little

• 14 per cent not very much

• 55 per cent not at all

• 1 per cent didn’t know.

This picture is very positive: around two-thirds of those with caring

responsibilities felt that these did not get in the way of their career

progression. However, as with satisfaction with working arrangements, a

sizeable minority felt that their career progression had been affected by their

role as carers. While it is difficult to disentangle whether the obstacles lay in

the responsibilities themselves or in how employers supported those with

caring responsibilities, these findings do indicate that for whatever reason

30 per cent of those with caring responsibilities thought that their career

development had been restrained because of these caring responsibilities.

The proportion of those who felt that their caring responsibilities had

affected their ability to fulfil their job role to a greater or limited extent was

slightly higher (41 per cent) and there is a strong correlation between the

two22, ie those who report that their career had been affected are also those

who report that caring responsibilities have compromised their ability to

fulfil their role.

This was an issue explored in focus group discussions. For example, one

participant described their work in a 24-7 organisation that operates in shifts.

She reported that there is an unwritten policy that employees must work the

longer (12-hour) shift in order to qualify for career progression. Those with

caring responsibilities for whom the shorter (8-hour) shift would better

enable them to balance work with caring responsibilities must make a choice

between their career and caring.



22 Significant at the 0.01 level

6.1.2 Balancing care

and work can have a

perceived impact on

career progression

Another cause of members’ dissatisfaction with their working arrangements

may result from the discrepancy between what arrangements would be

useful to them and what is offered by their employer.

It is interesting that the work-life balance initiatives that employers pursue,

reported earlier, are not necessarily those that employees desire. Besides

flexible hours, the demand from members was found to be particularly for

time off to care for people other than children, both from members where

it was already available and where it wasn’t (78 per cent and 71 per cent

respectively). However, branch secretaries report that only about a third of

their employers (35 per cent) have addressed this wish. Conversely, members

saw job sharing as less useful (41 per cent and 37 per cent respectively),

although more than six out of ten employers have an initiative in this area.

This may reflect the financial reality of job sharing for individuals.

The British Social Attitudes survey distinguishes between flexible practices

offered by an employer and that employer’s flexible ethos. The split between

what members demand and what employers deliver relates to the flexible

ethos and lends support to the branch secretary view that many employers

are not genuinely committed to helping their staff achieve work-life balance.

Supporting other research in this area23, the biggest barrier identified by

members was line management. Line managers play a role as ‘gate keepers’

in blocking communication about work-life balance options, in creating a

culture of inflexibility and in reinforcing perceptions that asking for changes

in working arrangements may jeopardise future career prospects. Workload

and resources are also key issues whereby people have too much work and

so work long hours. If they work in a team, then they are aware of the added

burden for colleagues if they make use of their work-life balance options.

However, it is important to remember that UNISON members are managers

too and so have a role to play in supporting the organisation’s leaders in

setting the tone. This may involve including the handling of flexible working

as part of the performance objectives for operational managers. Placing the

management of work-life balance on the performance agenda will also

require more support for managers, as well as increased organisational

awareness of their management skills base and whether their current



23 Bloom et al, Work-Life Balance, Management Practices and Productivity, Centre for Economic Performance, January 2006

6.1.3 Available

work-life balance

options are not

always

appropriate

6.1.4

Organisational

culture

managers can cope with flexibility. One route to achieving this is ensuring

that organisational policies are joined up rather than contradictory.

It is worth reiterating that the majority of UNISON members are satisfied with

their jobs and working arrangements and do not feel that their careers have

been adversely affected by caring responsibilities. However, as discussed,

there is a sizeable minority for whom work-life balance is not a reality due to

a number of barriers. This project’s findings underline the barriers highlighted

in other studies.

Previous research on work-life balance has found a number of obstacles to

both the successful implementation of policies and to the wider expected

outcomes of improved productivity, staff morale and individuals feeling that

the balance between work and the rest of their life is about right.

Despite the popularity of work-life balance initiatives, the dominant model

of working practices in organisations is often inflexible. In some organisations,

the view that flexible working is a deviation from the norm persists. Full-time

work with fixed hours is often seen as the norm with ‘presenteeism’ being the

measure of a valuable employee rather than the value of their contribution.24

In some organisations there is a culture of shunning flexible working

practices even if they are available since the perception is that ‘strong players’

or ‘good employees’ are those who put work first over family. The use of

flexible working practices may be seen as weak and suggestive of a lack of

commitment to the job.

In a study of the accountancy profession, socialising outside work was seen

as a key route to showing commitment and therefore a route to career

progression. Flexible working is regarded as restricting these practices and

employees have had their commitment openly challenged on the basis of

their desire to work flexibly to fulfil family responsibilities. There are even

judgements made about the reasons that people work flexibly. In one

instance a worker was working part-time, but he also had another job where

he spent the rest of his time, which was seen more favourably than a worker

who worked part-time due to family commitments.25

The effects of the culture and climate of an organisation towards flexible

working are also reflected in the behaviour and attitudes of managers.



24 Equal Opportunities Commission, Britain’s Hidden Brain Drain – Final Report: The EOC’s investigation into flexible and part-time

working, EOC, 2005

25 Smithson et al, ‘Flexible Working and the Gender Pay Gap in the Accountancy Profession’, Work, Employment & Society, Vol 18

No 1, pp115-135, 2004

6.2 Comparisons

with other

studies: what are

the common

barriers?

6.2.1 Culture and

climate

The rhetoric-reality gap will never be closed until managers know how to

make these policies work in practice. This is not to say that managers are

wholly to blame for the present impasse. It is more a matter of organisational

innovation getting ahead of management skill. Therefore, continually

improving the management skill base is essential for successful

implementation. The supportiveness of managers can increase the success

and uptake of policies and a lack of support can have the reverse effect. Yet

managers often lack the skills to implement policies effectively and little

training is being carried out to help managers learn how to manage flexible

working, even where HR departments accept the skill deficit of managers.26

Managers themselves report a reluctance to implement strategies as they

feel it takes up more time to manage those using flexible working practices.

In addition to the ability to manage flexible arrangements a supportive

attitude is essential. Managerial communication and implicit assumptions

about what good performance looks like often support a traditional way of

working and undermine flexible working initiatives. A manager’s own use

of flexible working arrangements sends a clear message to employees about

what is expected and acceptable in terms of use of work-life balance policies.

All types of communication, including body language, informal comments

and personal use of the policies together with formal verbal and written

messages, contribute to the signals being sent to employees.

Stevens et al argue that the take-up of flexible working, particularly part-time

working, is limited by employee concern for job security, career prospects and

feasibility for the implementation of certain practices (eg the job won’t allow

it).27 Furthermore, research has shown that managers can underestimate the

skill and commitment of part-time employees and under-utilise them. Part-

time workers also miss out on training opportunities. A 2005 study reported

that part-time employees are approximately 40 per cent less likely to receive

training than full-time workers.28 This has implications for long-term career

opportunities and financial prospects.

Survey results from the DTI following the ‘right to request’ legislation show

that 56 per cent of respondents who had changed their working pattern

reported a negative consequence. Not all the consequences are simply



26 EOC, Ibid

27 Stevens et al, The Second Work-Life Balance Survey: Results from the employees’ survey, Employment Relations Research Series No

27, Department of Trade and Industry, 2004

28 Francesconi M and Gosling A, Career Paths of Part-Time Workers, EOC Working Paper Series No 19, EOC, 2005

6.2.2 Managerial

ability to

implement

policies and be

a positive role

model

6.2.3 Perceived

and real negative

impact on career

and finances

related to an inevitable reduction in pay from reduced hours.29 For example,

employees returning from maternity cover expressing a wish for flexible

working have been downgraded or passed by for promotion.30 Furthermore,

the report found that flexible working options, particularly part-time working,

often results in pension penalties, reducing the financially viable

opportunities for employees to take up flexible working arrangements.

Good communication and trust between employees and managers is key to

the success of any strategy.31 Just as managers might not have the right skill

set or attitude, employees might also be unrealistic about what is achievable.

Both need to work together to assess what is feasible. Lack of effective

communication around policies can also result in a lack of awareness of

policies or a belief that they are only applicable to certain types of

employees.

4 0


29 Holt H and Grainger H, Results of the Second Flexible Working Employee Survey, DTI Employment Relations Research Series No

39, DTI, 2005

30 EOC, Ibid

31 EOC, Ibid

W O R K - L I F E B A L A N C E : R H E TO R I C V E R S U S R E A L I T Y ?

6.2.4 Lack of

effective

communication

about policies

7 The way forward


So, given these barriers and the extent of the frustrations with employers, it

becomes apparent that there is still some way to go in reaching a position

where the needs of employers, employees and service users are reconciled to

the advantage, or at least satisfaction, of all parties. In this section, we explore

views on what employees believe employers can do to help move towards a

more balanced position, and the role that UNISON could or should adopt in

assisting this process.

Branch secretaries were asked what else they felt employers could reasonably

provide to support employees in achieving a better work-life balance (see

Table 15). The most frequently chosen – by two-thirds of respondents (68%) –

was a greater flexibility in working arrangements and a recognition perhaps

that there is no such thing as one-size-fits-all for work-life balance. Many also

felt that extending options to those without children was also important, in

line with the view that work-life balance is relevant to everybody, not just

those with childcare responsibilities. Just 4 per cent said that their employers

were already doing all that they could, commensurate with the finding that

most branch secretaries felt that their employers were not committed to

helping employees get the balance right.

Table 15: Branch secretaries on what employers can reasonably do to

support employees achieve a better work-life balance

Branch secretaries made comments relating to better communication of

policies and the options available, as well as better consideration by the

employer of the needs of neglected groups, such as those with eldercare

responsibilities. These were also issues that were of concern to members,

7.1 What more

could employers

do?

%

68

66

57

53

48

46

39

4

Greater flexibility in working arrangements

Extending work-life balance options to those without children

Better pay and conditions

Better information about parental leave

More support for parents to arrange childcare

More support for parents to pay for childcare

Better maternity or paternity leave offerings

Nothing – the employer already does as much as could be expected

as shown in Table 16, which ranks initiatives according to the perceived

impact they would make (the most helpful first).

Table 16: Members on the extent to which certain initiatives would help

them better balance their lives

Once again, the desire for better communication ranks highly, along with

the desire for a dialogue on work-life balance and for views being taken on

board. In fact, members were more concerned with the processes associated

with implementation than with extending the range of flexible working

options available. Interestingly, members did not feel that managers

modelling appropriate behaviours, such as leaving on time, would help

people with their own work-life balance, despite this being a key enabler

found in other studies. This is perhaps a reflection of the cynicism with which

members view management, but should be treated with caution as it may be

a case of ‘not seen it yet and not sure it would happen’. If senior managers

did work flexibly, then it would communicate effectively that these policies

are available, demonstrate commitment and could start people thinking

about designing jobs that respond to employer and employee needs.

Members and branch secretaries felt strongly that work-life balance is an

issue for UNISON and an area that needs more support. There was also

recognition that communication between employers and employees is an

issue, with seven out of ten branch secretaries agreeing that UNISON should

raise awareness among members (see Table 17).


Ranking

1

2

=3

=3

=3

6

=7

=7

9

Listen to and take on board employees’ suggestions

Communicate better the work-life balance options available

Offer the option of part-time working during retirement

Make the process of applying for a new working pattern easier

Approve more requests for flexible working

Extend entitlement so more employees have the opportunity

to take up flexible working options

Getting managers to model behaviours

Make current options more flexible, eg to allow occasional working from home

Extend the range of flexible working options

7.2 What can

UNISON do?

THE WAY FORWARD

Table 17: Branch secretaries on what else UNISON could do to support

members to achieve a better work-life balance

The role of UNISON was also discussed in the focus groups. Members

primarily saw a collective role for UNISON rather than one working with

individual members – for example in supporting requests for flexible working

– particularly around:

• making the case to an employer about the benefits of introducing work-life

balance policies

• consulting with the employer about the issues and problems that

individuals face in trying to achieve a work-life balance

• providing examples of work-life balance practices that other organisations

have introduced.


THE WAY FORWARD

%

73

70

66

60

49

7

Advice on negotiating work-life balance provision

Raising awareness among members

Information on legal rights

Sharing best practice

Signposting bargaining resources

Nothing – UNISON is already on the right track

8 What are the remaining challenges?


The findings from this study paint a rich picture of the experiences of

UNISON members as they strive to juggle their responsibilities at home and

work. Different experiences were reported by men and women in line with

findings from other reports (eg the British Social Attitudes survey), with

women bearing the brunt of caring responsibilities, making more use of

work-life balance arrangements where available and being on the whole

more positive about their working experience.

The findings show that many members feel they have an appropriate work-

life balance:

• There is strong support for the concept of work-life balance and an

understanding of its potential benefits for employers among members

and branch secretaries

• Three-quarters of employers have implemented work-life balance initiatives,

with there being a wider availability of options in UNISON workplaces than

in general

• Seven out of ten members are satisfied with their jobs and three-quarters

are happy with their working arrangements.

Although the majority of employers and employees appear to be making

good progress in addressing work-life balance issues, there is still a significant

minority for whom working arrangements are less satisfactory:

• Despite plenty of activity by employers in this area, a significant proportion

of respondents felt that employers are not committed to work-life balance

and this finding is underpinned by high levels of mistrust of senior

management

• This is likely to be exacerbated by the poor communication of work-life

balance arrangements by employers to employees

• Comparisons to the British Social Attitudes survey reveal that take-up of

options is lower among UNISON members than the wider workforce,

despite higher availability

• While members are generally satisfied with how they work, four out of

ten members report that they cannot make choices about their working

arrangements, which leads to questions about whether members have

sufficient labour market power to make decisions about work-life balance.

So, what are the challenges that the findings suggest for employers,

employees and UNISON in moving the work-life balance debate forward?

This section considers this question and suggests recommendations to

address the challenges.

Based on our analysis, we would argue that there are five key challenges to

realising the benefits of work-life balance. These challenges are not mutually

exclusive. Each one is interlinked and raises issues pertinent to UNISON, its

members and their employers, considering the roles and responsibilities of

each party. However, the uniting context in which all these challenges need

to be understood is organisational culture, which as other research in this

area has shown can act as a major barrier to work-life balance initiatives

succeeding and the benefits of such initiatives being realised. This is an issue

not just for individual organisations, but also for sectors (where there can be

endemic cultures of inflexibility and/or long-hours working) and for the UK

as a whole.

Our survey findings suggest that poor communication results in members

having lower levels of awareness of the options available. This can lead to

members doubting the integrity of senior management as they feel that

communication is opaque. The factors contributing to this challenge include:

• organisational culture

• apathy about changing the status quo

• reluctance and fear around how to manage a flood of requests if work-life

balance initiatives were better communicated (risk management).

Implications for action include:

• Employers: need to consider their business issues (eg the need to respond

to customers/citizens, and recruit and retain staff ) and the risks of not

responding; review how work-life balance policies might help them

respond; and invest time in developing a transparent approach to

communicating work-life balance initiatives

• UNISON: there is an opportunity to play a more pivotal role in helping

members and employers to understand and obtain information about

work-life balance

• Members: have a responsibility to be proactive in finding out information

and be partners rather than victims.

Recommendation for UNISON: UNISON should work with employers on

developing and understanding the business case and how best to

communicate this to make it accessible to members.


WHAT ARE THE REMAINING CHALLENGES?

8.1 Challenge

one: Employers

do not

adequately and

transparently

communicate

about work-life

balance

There is a mismatch between what employers offer and what members want.

The key factors contributing to this are:

• employers take the easy route with a one-size-fits-all approach

• organisational size tends to restrict imagination and result in limited

thinking

• the options offered, such as part-time working, are those commonly cited

in available work-life balance information and thus may be inappropriate

solutions – all too often organisations don’t ask the workforce what they

would like

• poor implementation of work-life balance initiatives with employers paying

lip service to change and not engaging in dialogue and consultation with

employees.


• Employers: there is a need for employers to understand better the pitfalls

as well as the benefits of work-life balance – and to ask their workforce

what options would work for them

• UNISON: there is an opportunity to play a partnership role in broadening

thinking and pushing a more honest approach to work-life balance issues,

as well as encouraging employee consultation

• Members: need to take the opportunity to engage with employers, both

indirectly via UNISON and directly via line managers.

Recommendation for UNISON: UNISON to reshape its role and build

confidence through facilitating dialogue between members and employers

about work-life balance, focusing on the challenges as well as the benefits.

Particular demand for the opportunity to work flexible hours and to have

time off to care for people other than children was found among members.

Contributing factors include:

• employer concerns over their ability to manage large numbers of non-

standard working patterns

• a lack of recognition of the wants and needs of employees who do not

have responsibilities for young children

• no legislation that these employees can rely on to coerce employers.


• Employers: need to recognise the potential for damaged employee

relations and reduced levels of discretionary effort if work-life balance



8.2 Challenge

two: Employers

are pursuing

inappropriate

work-life balance

arrangements

8.3 Challenge

three: There are

high levels of

unmet demand

for some work-

life balance

options that go

beyond the

current ‘family

friendly’

approach

does not go beyond the family friendly. They need to think about the needs

of their whole workforce and consider how they can reconcile unmet

demand for work-life balance options with the priorities of the organisation

and its service users

• UNISON: members without children do not have access to the work-life

balance arrangements that would suit their needs – parents have in the

past been well represented on this issue, but there is a need now to extend

this to people without children. UNISON needs to lead the way in

broadening work-life balance beyond a debate for parents

• Members: need to avoid falling into the trap of resenting colleagues who

may have better access to work-life balance options and focus on using

their voice via UNISON and having a constructive dialogue with managers.

Recommendation for UNISON: UNISON can play a key role in broadening

the traditional family-friendly focus to cover other members.

Managerial behaviour and attitudes are both influenced by and are influences

on organisational culture. While research has shown that management role-

modelling of good work-life balance behaviours is an enabler in helping staff

manage home and work, the more fundamental requirement is the shift in

attitude from managing work to managing people. Research has also shown

that line managers are a major influence on employee satisfaction.

Contributing factors include:

• work organisation and job design are high enough on the list when it

comes to ensuring work-life balance policies work, but not when it comes

to organisations providing support to managers

• many line managers lack sufficient decision-making power to grant

authority and enable changes to working arrangements

• the hierarchy and processes inherent in most large organisations mean that

there are no incentives for managers to act differently or to think creatively

about changing working arrangements

• people are still managed on inputs, not outputs, because they are easier to

monitor, leading to the persistence of presenteeism

• lack of consistent responses to requests for work-life balance arrangements

from employees.

Implications for action:

• Employers: need to consider managers’ skills, including the handling of

flexible working arrangements as a performance objective. Employers also



8.4 Challenge

four: Managers

act as barriers to

members

achieving

appropriate

work-life balance



need to ensure that the consistency of flexible working practice

implementation is assessed, and that this assessment is acted on

• UNISON: the membership base includes managers, which means that

UNISON has a part to play in ensuring that managers are supported in

developing the skills needed to manage flexible working arrangements.

Recommendation for UNISON: Having articulated the business case for

work-life balance, employers need to equip managers with the relevant skills

to manage people, and to match the objectives of work-life balance initiatives

with other performance objectives in the organisation.

Although members reported home life was ultimately a higher priority than

work, on a day-to-day level it is home life that suffers as people struggle to

fulfil work demands, particularly workload. Contributing factors include:

• the intensification of work

• higher expectations from the public about the quality and range of public

services

• structural change and headcount reduction in response to decreasing

budgets

• high usage of temporary contracts

• employer expectations about the usefulness of ICT.

This has implications for action:

• Employers: there is a need to introduce work-life balance initiatives as part

of a response to specific business issues. Only then will sufficient time and

financial resources be invested

• UNISON: UNISON needs to raise awareness of the business case for work-

life balance.

Recommendations for UNISON: More focus on achieving greater employee

involvement in decisions over staffing patterns, and more honest discussions

about rising expectations and how to create responsive public services.

Much progress on work-life balance has been made over the last ten years,

of which UNISON and its members have been a part. Increasingly, some of

the myths are being challenged. This project has provided UNISON with an

update on how this progress has translated into practice and has raised many

questions about what actually happens on the ground. There is still much to

8.5 Challenge

five: Pressure on

resources hinders

people from

getting a work-

life balance

8.6 Conclusions

be done in broadening the work-life balance debate from being one about

accommodating individual arrangements to reforming the organisation.

Implicit in this is a reconfiguration of the relationship between employer

and employee and thereby the roles and responsibilities that each party has

in the delivery of the organisation’s objectives.

All of the challenges above explicitly or implicitly indicate that UNISON has

an important part to play in the work-life balance debate. We would argue

based on the survey findings that UNISON has a clear role to play in:

• Changing the terms of the debate: moving work-life balance from

being regarded primarily as a gender or parenting issue; talking about

the challenges and how they may be overcome, as well as the potential

benefits; developing specialist work-life balance expertise in UNISON to

contribute to implementing change

• Focusing on the collective elements of work-life balance policies to

support a move away from tinkering around the edges by looking at

individual needs towards a more holistic view of developing and

implementing new ways of working.

By taking these leads, UNISON has the opportunity to revitalise this debate

and lead the way in pushing for reality to match the rhetoric.



Bibliography


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Social Attitudes, London, NatCen, 2005

Bloom et al, Work-Life Balance, Management Practices and Productivity, Centre

for Economic Performance, January 2006

Coats D, Second Workers’ Index: The Work Foundation’s commentary, London,

The Work Foundation, 2005

Emmot M, ‘Am I Bothered?’, Impact, Issue 17, London, CIPD, October 2006

Equal Opportunities Commission, Britain’s Hidden Brain Drain – Final Report:

The EOC’s investigation into flexible and part-time working, EOC, 2005

Francesconi M and Gosling A, Career Paths of Part-Time Workers, EOC Working

Paper Series No 19, 2005

Holt H and Grainger H, Results of the Second Flexible Working Employee Survey,

DTI Employment Relations Research Series No 39, DTI, 2005

Hooker H, Neathey F, Casebourne J and Munro M, The Third Work-Life Balance

Employees’ Survey: Executive summary, London, DTI, 2006

Jones A and Williams L, Why ICT?: The role of ICT in public services, London,

The Work Foundation, 2005

Kersley B, Alpin C, Forth J, Bryson A, Bewley H, Dix G and Oxenbridge S, Inside

the Workplace: First findings from the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations

Survey, London, DTI, 2005

Lewis S, ‘Flexible Working Arrangements: Implementation, outcomes and

management’ in Cooper C L and Robertson I (eds), Annual Review of Industrial

and Organisational Psychology, Wiley, 2003

Marmot M, Status Syndrome: How our position on the social gradient affects

longevity and health, London, Bloomsbury, 2004

Neault R, That Elusive Work-Life Balance!, Canada, NATCON Papers, 2005

Rajan A et al, Harnessing Workforce Diversity to Raise the Bottom Line, CREATE,

2003

Smithson et al, ‘Flexible Working and the Gender Pay Gap in the Accountancy

Profession’, Work, Employment & Society, Vol 18 No 1, pp115-135, 2004

Stevens et al, The Second Work-Life Balance Survey: Results from the employees’

survey, Employment Relations Research Series No 27, Department of Trade

and Industry, 2004

TUC, A Perfect Union?: What workers want from unions, London, 2003

Williams L, Overcoming the Barriers to Flexible Working, London, The Work

Foundation, 2005

Wise S, Work-Life Balance and Careers in the NHS – Nursing and Midwifery,

Edinburgh, Employment Research Institute, Napier University, 2004


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Appendix AMethodology and survey sample


The findings presented in this report are based on:

• a literature review conducted by Dr Michelle Mahdon, researcher at The

Work Foundation

• a telephone survey of 1,000 UNISON members conducted by IFF Research

on behalf of The Work Foundation in May 2006

• an online survey run by The Work Foundation of 112 UNISON branch

secretaries

• four focus groups conducted by The Work Foundation. Mixed sectors were

represented at those held in London and Manchester; higher education in

Leeds; and healthcare in Walsall. A total of 27 people attended the four

groups. Workbooks were used alongside facilitated discussion.

Members’ survey

Respondents to the members’ survey seem broadly to reflect the profile of

UNISON members. They were mostly female, married and aged over 40, with

the overwhelming majority being white British. Just over half have caring

responsibilities, mostly for children. Sixty-four per cent of the sample work

full-time and 36 per cent work part-time, and 40 per cent have formal

responsibility for supervising other employees. Table A gives a detailed

breakdown of the sample profile.

About the survey

respondents

Table A: Profile of respondents to the members’ survey

Large numbers of respondents were:

• located in the North: North West, Scotland, Yorkshire & Humberside

• in associate professional and technical, or administrative secretarial

occupations

• in the health and education sectors (about three-quarters), reflecting

UNISON’s membership base.


APPENDIX A: METHODOLOGY AND SURVEY SAMPLE

(%)

28

72

0.2

8.1

18.6

33.8

38.7

0.6

92.4

1.8

5.8

69

8

15

7

1

53

47

14

32

14

6

2

Demographic variables

Gender Male

Female

Age 16-19

20-29

30-39

40-49

50-65

65+

Ethnicity White British

White Irish

All other ethnic backgrounds

Marital status Married

Living with partner

Single

Divorced/separated

Widowed

Caring responsibilities Yes

No

Children under 6

Children aged 6-16

Elderly relatives

Other relatives

Anyone else

N=1,000

Further details about the survey sample are provided in the tables below.

Table B: Member survey respondents by region

Table C: Member survey respondents by occupation



(%)

10

5

5

5

8

9

8

10

17

7

14

2

Region

South West

South East

London

East of England

Wales

West Midlands

East Midlands

Yorkshire & Humberside

North West

North East

Scotland

Northern Ireland

(%)

9

19

5

3

23

2

22

14

2

Occupation

Managers and senior officials

Personal service occupations

Professional occupations

Sales and customer service occupations

Associate professionals and technical occupations

Process, plane and machine operatives

Administrative and secretarial occupations

Elementary occupations

Skilled trades occupations

Table D: Member survey respondents by sector

Branch secretaries’ survey

Respondents to the branch secretaries’ survey were also mostly aged over

40, although equally likely to be male or female. About a third (31 per cent)

described themselves as branch stewards, four out of ten (42 per cent) as

branch secretaries and the remainder as ‘other’. This often included treasurer,

learning rep, branch chair or H&S rep, sometimes as supplementary roles to

that of branch steward or secretary.



(%)

42

32

5

3

5

4

9

Sector

Health

Education

Local government

Utilities

Housing

Voluntary sector

Other

Table E: Profile of respondents to the branch secretaries’ survey

Unlike member respondents, the overwhelming majority of branch secretary

respondents came from England, particularly the North East and South East,

and a far greater number work for local government, although health and

education are also well represented.

Table F: Branch secretaries’ survey respondents by region



(%)

48

52

0.0

2.7

21.4

31.3

43.8

0.9

31

42

27

Demographic variables

Gender Male

Female

Age 16-19

20-29

30-39

40-49

50-65

65+

Role at UNISON Branch steward

Branch secretary

Other

(%)

9

15

10

7

4

8

4

6

13

15

9

0

Region

South West

South East

London

East of England

Wales

West Midlands

East Midlands

Yorkshire & Humberside

North West

North East

Scotland

Northern Ireland

Table G: Branch secretaries’ survey respondents by sector

Because of the sectoral differences between member and branch secretary

respondents, the data was filtered so that only health, education and local

government sectors were included when analysing questions relating to

workplace perceptions.



(%)

11

21

59

6

3

Sector

Health

Education

Local government

Utilities

Other

Appendix BGlossary of work-life balance terms


• Annual hours: Hours are calculated annually. Majority of shifts are

allocated. Workers can be called in at short notice to work remaining hours

• Compressed working hours: Cover total working hours in fewer days

• Flexi-time: Choosing when to work outside core hours

• Home working/teleworking: All or part of week spent working from

home or off premises

• Job sharing: Full-time post is split across two workers who agree hours

between them

• Part-time working: Working less than standard basic hours/full-time hours

(usually fewer than 30 hours a week)

• Sabbatical/career break: Extended period of time off (paid/unpaid)

• Self-rostering: Staff nominate their preferred shifts and shifts are allocated

as far as possible to fit these preferences

• Shift swapping: Workers arrange shifts between themselves, provided all

hours are covered

• Staggered hours: Different start and finish hours among workers

• Term-time working: Permanent contract where workers can take time

off (paid/unpaid) during school holidays

• Time off in lieu (TOIL): Time off to compensate for extra hours worked

• V-time working: Hours can be reduced for a short period of time (usually

several months) on the basis of resuming full-time hours at the end of the

period

• Zero-hours contracts: Only work (and are paid for) the hours needed

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system

or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,

photocopying, recording, and/or otherwise without the prior written

permission of the publishers. This report may not be lent, resold, hired out

or otherwise disposed of by way of trade in any form, binding or cover other

than that in which it is published without prior consent of the publisher.

© The Work Foundation

Registered as a charity no: 290003

First published: December 2006

ISBN No: 1 84373 030 8

The Work Foundation 3 Carlton House Terrace London SW1Y 5DGTelephone: 020 7004 7100

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.theworkfoundation.com

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