Public sector work-life balance is more rhetoric than reality

Employers in the public sector ëtalk the talkí on work-life balance, but have only low levels of commitment to changing standard working patterns in practice ñ and in some cases deliberately block people from flexible working or grant requests only to selected favourites.

This is the conclusion of a new report from The Work Foundation, commissioned by UNISON, the public service union, which set out to examine the experience of work-life balance in the public sector.

Overall, the report finds that public sector organisations make substantial ëpaper commitmentsí concerning work-life balance.

Three quarters of employers in the public sector have initiatives and policies in place to address work-life balance for some or all staff, such as flexible working, job sharing, home working, term-time contracts, career breaks, childcare provision, and time off to care for sick children. This is considerably higher than the extent of work-life balance policies offered to all workers across Britain.

Yet only half of the 1000 public sector trade union members surveyed felt they had the chance to make real choices about their working arrangements. And only just over half said they were aware of the work-life options open to them. Some 53% said their workplace offered flexitime; 52% job sharing; 19% working from home; and 32% term-time working. These figures were much lower than the stated availability of work-life balance options across all British workplaces.

A third of members believe their managers are not committed to helping them achieve work-life balance.

And in addition, some union members reported their managers sought to deliberately thwart the uptake of flexible working ñ either by not communicating available options, or by dissuading people from requesting them.

Laura Williams, senior researcher at The Work Foundation and co-author of the report, said: ëWork-life balance is one of those areas where public sector organisations claim to be most progressive. But what this study does is to take a peek beneath those superficial commitments to what happens in real life. And what we see is a classic rhetoric-reality gap. In the worst cases, managers appear to want to stamp out any modest deviation from the norm and become standard-bearers for inflexibility.

ëNow the phrase work-life balance has become popular, the onus is on employers to think creatively about how it can be used not just to benefit staff but to reform the organisation ñ to make it more efficient, responsive and conducive to ëgood workíí.

The report uncovered evidence of the difficulties of working flexibly. For example, in an organisation, one member said that there was an unwritten policy that employees who worked longer shifts (12 hours) were eligible for career progression, but those who did 8 hour shifts to fit around family commitments were not.

A familiar complaint was that individuals were made to feel like a troublemaker if they raised the possibility of work-life balance arrangements. One member said their manager had told them ëI donít do part-timeí. In several organisations, flexibility was only available to a chosen few.

Union members also reported that available work-life balance options were inappropriate to them. For example, members expressed a strong preference for time off to care for people other than children (71%). But fewer than half of workplaces offer this option. By contrast, 8 out of 10 employers offer job sharing, but just 37% of members say this is useful to them.

The study found:

One in four said that work was too demanding.

A total of 30% said their career had been damaged by caring responsibilities.

Some 66% say their job was stressful compared with 34% who said their home life was stressful.

A total of 68% of members called for greater flexibility in working arrangements.

Some 66% said extending work-life balance options to workers without children would be worthwhile.

However, while the report suggested union members may be struggling to see the benefit of work-life balance policies, they nevertheless remain committed both to the potential of work-life balance and to their jobs.

Some 70% say they are satisfied with their job and share the values of the organisation they are working for.

A total of 77% say they have a high degree of control over how they work.

Some 99% said people work best when they can balance their work and other aspects of their lives.

UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis said: ëIt is clear from this report that too many employers are still paying lip-service to providing a proper work-life balance in our public services. We need to get employers to understand that achieving that balance can produce great results with a well-motivated workforce delivering quality services.

íHere in the UK, we already work some of the longest hours in Europe and that has got to change if people are to get a proper balance. There is a very clear role for unions here in encouraging employers, first, to offer more flexible working options, second, to ensure that members get access to them, and third that the options are appropriate to peopleís needs.í