Barbara Pocock, Centre for Work + Life,

University of South AustraliaSeminar presentation to the David Unaipon College of

Indigenous Education & Research, 1 June 2009

At CWL we study work-life1. What is it? How do we conceptualise it?2. Why is it interesting? Why does it matter?3. What do we know about Aboriginal citizens

and work-life issues?4. What research questions are interesting?

In the bigger picture, how important are these?

What ‘work-life’ is not, for us

Or this….

Socio-economic difference is vitalGail Kelly

‘Rosa’

Making sense of work-life: An ecology exists across three spheres

Resources and demandsDemands: hours of

work, intensityResources: $, social connection, support

Resources and demandsDemands: hours of work, intensity of work, travel,

bossResources: $, social connection, support,

boss

Demands: providing support to friends,

familyResources: support,

care, $, food

Resources and demandsDemands: hours of

work, intensityResources: $, social connection, support

Demands: care of kids

Resources: computer, support

Demands: providing support to friends,

familyResources: support,

care, $, food

Life stage matters: different resources and demands at each life stage

2. Why does work-life matter?Australians are working more and more

Women are joining men in their work ‘fetish’

Work and care combine for manyWorkers torn between work and care and the

rest of their lives?A third of workers responsible for the care of

children 0-14 years in their householdsBoundaries between work and home are

weaker Work is greedy and expansive

We feel pressed for time

Market work matters…too much?We have moved from:

Rights of labour (industrial revolution….)Right to labour (post war full employment

push…)Duty to labour (1990s….)

‘By the 1990s, the main message was that there was a duty to labour, epitomized by talk about 'no rights without responsibilities' and the 'reciprocity principle'.’ Standing, 1999: 1)

Duty to work In Australia ‘mutual obligation’Taken up by Noel Pearson and others:

‘no work, no pay’ and end to ‘sit down money’ as part of push to end welfare dependency and exercise self-determination

Cape York Institute for Policy and Leadership (CYIPL): ‘real jobs’ CDEP jobs need conversion to ‘real jobs’ (CYIPL) “Magical things can happen when you give a person a job”

(Pearson, August 22, 2008) Warren Mundine has argued that welfare payments to unemployed

Indigenous workers should be cut if they do not accept seasonal work in the horticultural industry ‘even if it meant moving across the country’ (The Australian, August 22, 2008)

What is the meaning of the ‘work’ that is implied here? Only market work? Where does care work, community work fit?

What is a ‘real’ job? Is caring for a child ‘real’? Is making art ‘real’?

And how does work affect participation in larger life and community?

Policy and action around work matters, especially to the disadvantaged and excluded, BUT

A ‘triple movement’ is necessary:Access to work and its ‘magical things’Transformation of the terms and conditions of work

so that it does not suck life, but sustains itTransformation of the definition of work

so that it embraces a broad definition of work and care, community sustenance and political citizenship, and contemplation and gives life meaning – not just a requirement to exchange our time for money

The same triple movement is required of genuinely transformative feminist ‘work’ project

3. What do we know about Aboriginal citizens and work-life issues?

‘Work-life’ research has been largely a study of white work-life,

especially middle-class whites. Some international comparative research.

Reflects whiteness of researchersAnd nature of work for Aboriginal communities:

main ‘work problem’ is lack of work, prejudice at workSo the relationship between work, households and

community life is understudied in Indigenous communities around the world, and in Australia

However, we know some things….

What do we know about ALL?Our annual survey of Work-life outcomes across Australia

(AWALI n=1500 or 3000) - which does not distinguish Aboriginal from NAA - tells us that Most Australians are reasonably happy with their work-life

balance But many are affected by work-life strain and time shortages And it affects not just them, but their household and

community interaction.AWALI tells us that work-life outcomes are shaped by:

Hours of work – short hours good, long hours bad Long commutes are bad – and are often paired with long hours at work Fit between actual and preferred hours – good fit is good Occupation – managers, professionals do badly Sex – women do worse Care responsibilities – those with care responsibilities do worse Quality of supervision and supportive workplace culture matter Employee-centred flexibility matters Poor quality job (ie insecure jobs, feeling overloaded at work) result in

worse work-life outcomes

Research about work, life and Aboriginal employment: sourcesAustralian Public Service Commission (no date) Connecting government:

whole of government response to Australia. priority challenges, APSC, Canberra.

Barnett, K., J. Spoehr, E. Parnis (2007) Equity works: achieving the target of 2% Aboriginal employment in the South Australian public sector, Australian Institute for Social Research, Adelaide.

Barnett, Kate (2007) Equity works: achieving the target of 2% Aboriginal employment in the South Australian public sector, Accompanying report 1. Literature review. Australian Institute for Social Research, Adelaide.

Kemmiss, S et al (2006) Indigenous staffing in vocational education and training; policies, strategies and performance, NCVER, Adelaide.

Pocock, B (2003) The Work-Life Collision, Federation Pres, Sydney.Purdie N.et al (2006) Enhancing employment opportunities for Indigenous

Victorians: A review of the literature. Australian Council for Education Research, prepared for Victorian State Services, Authority

Williams, C., B. Thorpe and C. Chapman (2003) Aboriginal workers and managers: History, emotional and community labour and occupation health and safety in South Australia, Seaview Press, South Australia

What do we know? Aboriginal Australians have lower rates of employment

In 2006 186,900 Aboriginal people in the labour force Including CDEP (35,000 or 25% of all employment)

This gives a labour force participation rate of about 59% (cities 64%). It’s increasing. Men higher than women

Unemployment – who knows? 17% in 2006, could be 77.6% if exclude CDEP

Aboriginal employment is different – some differences give resources (R), most create demands (D)

Mostly public sector or NGO (R) More likely to regard their managers as trustworthy (R) More likely to be short term or fixed term contract (D) More likely to have wages set by awards than bargaining (D) More likely to want more hours of work (D) Less likely to use flexibility provisions Less likely to receive paid sick and holiday leave (D) Less likely to say they have control over their work environment (D) More likely to have days off sick or with injury (D) Discrimination more common for Aboriginal workers (D)

APS 2006 census of workers found 18% of Indigenous workers had experienced discrimination in past year compared with 6% of all

More resign from public sector because of family responsibilities and ill health (D)

Aboriginal workers: unique demands at work? Aboriginal workers have ‘multiple roles’ as workers in the public

sector (and elsewhere?): They represent the government They also represent their communities

At work, alongside their jobs, they face additional demands: (Purdie et al, 2006)

To deal with all Aboriginal clients To speak for Aboriginal people in their service or workplace To mentor other Aboriginal workers To provide exemplary role models To do additional representative work on a range of committees etc Often isolated as Aboriginal workers: ‘predominant workplace culture acts as a

form of exclusion’ (Barnett, 2007, 7)

‘They can be expected to represent all Aboriginal people even through it is possible only to represent themselves. There are often high expectations placed on them in terms of providing role models and mentors to other Aboriginal employees, and in providing time to be official representatives on a range of committees and other structures. These create significant time and personal pressures that are rarely acknowledged in practice, or in the research literature’ (Barnett, 2007, p 7).

Aboriginal workers: unique demands at work?Aboriginal workers lack ‘cultural security’ in the workplace:

‘feel the freedom to express cultural values and beliefs’ (Barnett 2007, p 7)

Workplaces lack ‘cultural competence’ ‘knowledge, skills and accompanying sensitivity to overcome the

barriers associated with cultural difference’ (Barnett 2007, p 7)They have high levels of

‘emotional labour’ the work one does to control ones emotions and deal with those of

others and ‘obligatory community labour’

the work and responsibility arising from combined responsibilities to family, community and the workplace and in bridging cultural communities (see quote Williams et al, 2003, p 26)

For Aboriginal workers, there are often very weak (or no) boundaries between work and home

Lower levels of paid leave and job security

Manager and leaders especially affected

Williams, Thorpe and Chapman, 2003, identified extremely high levels of stress, with the highest levels involving Aboriginal managers

‘They could be described as the most at risk group in terms of high and ongoing levels of stress. They were the most emotionally drained and exhausted of all the Aboriginal people interviewed in the study. This is worrisome because they form an official and unofficial stratus of Aboriginal leadership.’ (2003, p 98).

Aboriginal workers: unique demands at home and in communities?

Poorer health in households, communitiesMore povertyMore expansive, extended family care demands

And unique resources?More support from extended familyDenser community fabric which acts as

resource Example of care of school children in the Port

(Pocock, 2003).

Research about what helps?Aboriginal staff networksMentoringCoachingPromotion of role modelsFlexible work practicesMeasures that increase the ‘cultural security’

of the workplace and the ‘cultural competence’ of co-workers

Cultural leaveRecognition of the extra work that arises from

‘cultural bridging’?

Research questions?1. Are these threads of work-life difference – both

in terms of demands and resources – true? How much do they matter?

2. Are there particularly interesting issues around the

1. Double and triple workloads of Aboriginal workers?2. The cultural, emotional and obligatory community labour

of Aboriginal workers?3. And especially for leaders and managers?4. And how much does burn out of the latter matter to the

future of Aboriginal communities?3. What particular resources do Aboriginal workers

and communities bring to the work-life collision?4. What else???

ReferencesAustralian Public Service Commission (no date) Connecting government: whole of government

response to Australia. priority challenges, APSC, Canberra. Barnett, K., J. Spoehr, E. Parnis (2007) Equity works: achieving the target of 2% Aboriginal

employment in the South Australian public sector, Australian Institute for Social Research, Adelaide.

Barnett, Kate (2007) Equity works: achieving the target of 2% Aboriginal employment in the South Australian public sector, Accompanying report 1. Literature review. Australian Institute for Social Research, Adelaide.

Kemmiss, S et al (2006) Indigenous staffing in vocational education and training; policies, strategies and performance, NCVER, Adelaide.

Pearson, N. (2002) ‘Noel Pearson discusses the issues faced by Indigenous communities’ Lateline, 26/6/07.

Pocock, Barbara (2003) The work/life collision: what work is doing to Australians and what to do about it, Federation Press, Sydney.

Pocock, Barbara (2006) The labour market ate my babies: work, children and a sustainable future, Federation Press, Sydney.

Purdie N.et al (2006) Enhancing employment opportunities for Indigenous Victorians: A review of the literature. Australian Council for Education Research, prepared for Victorian State Services, Authority

Snowden, Warren (2002) ‘Noel Pearson speaks for Cape York....’ The Age, June 6 2002.Standing, Guy (1999) The end of labour? From labour to work: The global challenge, World of work,

No. 31, September / October 1999Standing, G. (2002). Beyond the new paternalism: basic security as equality. London, Verso.Williams, C., B. Thorpe and C. Chapman (2003) Aboriginal workers and managers: History, emotional

and community labour and occupation health and safety in South Australia, Seaview Press, South Australia

Abstract for seminar‘Work/Life and Employment Research in Australia: White work, Black gaps?’Barbara Pocock, Centre for Work + Life, University of South Australia Australians increasingly give more and more of their time to paid work, as well as to unpaid work.

Women have increasingly joined men in what Guy Standing (2002) calls their ‘fetish’ for paid work. As a result many feel very rushed and pressed for time, and torn between paid work and the care they want to give to their families and communities (Pocock 2003, 2006).

At the same time, Aboriginal commentators like Noel Pearson (2002) have argued against ‘sit down’ money for Aboriginal people, instead pushing for employment opportunities in conventional jobs, and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait people to join in the paid work ‘fetish’. Others, like Warren Snowden (2002) have instead argued for ‘negotiation and partnership’ around appropriate employment opportunities for Aboriginal communities across Australia, in all their diversity.

This presentation will reflect on work and its consequences for the care that workers can give to the rest of their families and communities, in the process giving an overview of recent research at the Centre for Work + Life. Aboriginal workers and communities have not been the focus of this work at the Centre or more broadly in Australia to date, leaving some important gaps in our knowledge about work, care and the lives of Aboriginal compared to non-Aboriginal citizens.

What are the work and life issues for Aboriginal communities and what research questions might be given priority?

The purpose of this seminar is to open up a conversation about possible research questions in relation to the work and its consequences for care and community life for Aboriginal compared with non-Aboriginal citizens, to reflect on how these questions fit with the research priorities of the Aboriginal community in Australia, and to begin challenging the whiteness of existing ‘work-life’ research in Australia.