CHANGE & WLB

Changing society, changing trends?

CHANGES IN SOCIETY AND THE WAY WE WORK

Globalisation, competition, productivity   Demographic changes   Long-hours culture   Gender time-gap   Wasted talent  

GLOBALISATION, COMPETITION, PRODUCTIVITY

Outsourcing   From manufacturing to service sectors   Demands for greater competitiveness & increased productivity to survive   Shortage of talented labour for increased competitiveness   Lead to re-think how to maximise working time & talent   Macro-economic pressure:

Use more talented in the work pool   Search for work methods that allow best use of best talent (FW/ PT)   EU: Working flexibility is high on agenda   EU: “Flexi-security”

DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE Young people v older people Social effect of aging population: Pensions time-tomb Working retirement  Women in work force: Caring for children  Elder care Men as carers  Changing aspirations 

LONG HOURS CULTURE Over-working:

- Paid- Unpaid

Presentee-ism

Who works long hours unpaid?- Which groups?- Which genders?

Who works long hours paid?

Impact of long-hours culture:- Families- Absent fathers 

LONG HOURS CULTURE

Part-time working:- 1.5 household working model- Economic necessity- Who works PT?- What kind of work?

Who prefers to work PT? 

Value of PT working - Earnings hierarchy M/W : FT/ PT- Gender pay-gap 

GENDER TIME-GAP

Traditional FW = PT working- Associated with “caring”

Gender segregation:PT work associated with womenWomen working manager’s long hours = male managers

Gender-based wage-gap = sex-segregated working patterns in family

GENDER TIME-GAP

“Caring” image = labour market inequality- Pay-gap between men & women persists- Reinforced by PT = women- Pay gap between FT women & PT women greater than 1980’s

Traditional gender roles reinforced:Long hours FT work for men v PT low-paid low-skilled for women

GENDER TIME-GAP

Men’s role at home reinforced by gender-role work stereotypes- Men doing more at home- Women still predominate, esp. where man works long hours- Only change when women working longer hours

 PT work = low-skill, low paid, manual (50%) v managerial (20%)

BRAIN DRAIN

Working to potential?(Survey of PT workers -mainly women)- Young people (16-24)- Older people (55+)- Mid-career (25-54)

Reasons for working PT:- Constrained by circumstances- Study- Looking for better job

BRAIN DRAIN

Reasons why constrained to low-paid, low-skilled PT jobs/ wasting talent:- Limited offer by employer to work PT- Not find PT work that meets experience- Prefer FT but no vacancies- No suitable FT jobs in area

Stereotypes:- View of PT work- Not know talents in PT team workers- Not think aspire to senior positions (PT work suits “caring”)

BRAIN DRAIN

Men & PT/ FW:- Career death- Social security- Family income

Costs of inflexibility:- For women as individuals- And when caring finishes?

Solutions to inflexibility?

Implications for family policy?

Implications for society?