Work- life balance highly gendered

Some 62 per cent of men and 38 per cent of women work longer than standard workplace hours, which poses a threat to health and safety, according to new research presented at the SIPTU women's conference yesterday.

The recent study of the take-up of family- friendly workplace arrangements was led by Dr Eileen Drew of Trinity College Dublin and recommends re-examination of core working hours which contribute to traffic congestion and a scramble for parking places at work.

The study showed that excessive working hours and expanding commuting times were posing major challenges for policy- makers in providing transport, traffic management and working-time arrangements, Dr Drew said.

Not all employees could afford reduced working time, she said, and employers should be assisted to explore options such as annualised hours and compressed weeks, which don't involve reduced pay.

"Individual needs may alter radically throughout a person's lifespan," she said.

"For example, part-time working might offer a route into and out of the labour force and provide a transition back to full-time employment following a career break or maternity leave.

"Yet less than 15 per cent of employees availed of part-time or flexible working where it was on offer and less than 5 per cent took up home-working where it was available," she said.

"The study reinforces the findings of previous research in demonstrating that the take-up of work-life balance is highly gendered."

A major challenge would be to avoid a twin track where men were in the fast lane working excessive hours in full-time employment and women were in the slow lane working reduced hours, with work-life balance applicable only to "mothers of young children".

The study was undertaken on behalf of the National Framework for Family Friendly Policies and was led by Dr Eileen Drew of the Department of Statistics and the Centre for Gender and Women's Studies at TCD.