Habits of work? Habits of Culture?

In the 2003 UWA Working Life Survey, 60.4% (n=245) of teaching and research respondents indicated ‘I subordinate most aspects of my life for my work’ (UWA, 2004). When asked what they would spend more time doing to create a more satisfactory balance in their life, respondents indicated they wanted to spend more time with family (65%), doing physical activity (53%), being with friends or in social activities (49%), and taking holidays (41%). Sadly, only 9.6% indicated they were satisfied with the current balance between their work and the rest of their lives.

So why is it that UWA staff feel that work dominates their life? The University offers a range of flexible work arrangements and innovative leave options and some of the most progressive parental leave provisions in the country; yet take-up rates for all but a few of these entitlements are low, particularly amongst academic staff.

A recent report on work-life balance (Hudson Highland Group, 2005), suggests that aspects of an organisation’s culture can be a formidable barrier between flexible work policies and their translation into practice. The extent to which leaders and supervisors actively foster a work environment that encourages staff to take their leave or simply take the weekend off, adding credibility to this message by taking a break themselves, is one measure of this barrier of culture. The unregulated nature of the academic working week suggests that academic staff should have real choices as to when they will work. However, the expectation that some at least will be required to work ‘unsocial’ hours in the early morning, evening and weekend, makes it very difficult to achieve a desirable ‘life balance’.

The ‘gendered perceptions’ associated with the adoption of flexible work practices is a multilayered barrier in itself. The report suggests that, in some work cultures, it is only considered legitimate for women to purchase extra leave, work reduced hours or opt for a fractional appointment, or even just not work a long day, in order to care for a new baby or young children. Implicit within such work cultures, however, is the judgement that a person taking time out from work for caring responsibilities (and this includes elder care) is not ‘committed to their work’, or is ‘not serious about their career’. Increasingly, as men choose to strike a better balance between work and their caring roles, they too feel the disapproval of their peers.

A further impediment in some work cultures reflects back on the staff member who has no caring responsibilities. To what extent does our work culture create an impression that taking leave is only valid (and sanctioned) if it involves such responsibilities?

In more than a few academic departments, the pursuit of a career is viewed more as a sprint than a well-paced jog creating a further barrier of ‘time expectations’. Long hours are the norm, fostering a perception that one should always be ‘on the run’. However, the diminishing returns from long hours, the likelihood of fatigue and burnout, the added pressures on family and loved ones and, finally, the often too late realisation that there is more to life than work, makes this aspect of our work culture particularly counter-productive and even destructive.

So if these barriers are present in our work culture, what can be done? The organisational culture is shaped by us all and can be changed. Consider the story of the academic who, when advised at a late Friday afternoon meeting that all should come back with a further draft for an early Monday morning meeting, shocked those present by announcing that they ‘take weekends’. By taking a stand, that staff member made it possible for others to also object to the timelines.

Don’t let yet another period of annual leave expire, having been deemed to be taken. Book time out for yourself; consider signing up for a deferred salary option to include funded leave with a planned period of study leave, or other forms of leave. Put boundaries around a portion of your day or weekend to pursue an activity unrelated to the daily work routine. Join the University gym, take up dancing, singing, meditating, find an activity that makes you laugh. Have an enjoyable life as well as a career.

• Hudson Highland Group (2005). The case for work/ life balance: Closing the gap between policy and practice (20:20 Series). Retrieved August 12, 2005, from http://au.hudson.com/documents/emp_au_Hudson_Work-Life_A4_Std.pdf?SID=4443

• UWA (2004). Working life survey 2003 – Supplement 1. Retrieved August 24, 2005, from http://www.hr.uwa.edu.au/?f=44076