Aust employees feel the strain

A quarter of full-time employees who responded to a national study said work regularly interfered with their personal lives. One of the authors of SA Uni’s 2009 Aust Work & Life Index report, Prof Barbara Pocock, said the results concerned her because average working hours had dropped since last year’s survey. “Average hours have dropped one [hour], relative to March last year, but we’re not seeing a slowdown in negative work-life interference.” Pocock, director of SA Uni’s Work + Life Centre, said overwork was harming workers’ ability to improve skills. She said two-thirds of the 60% of employees who wanted to do further training did not have time. She said the fed Fair Work Act would help improve job flexibility for some workers. One in five employees sought more flexible working hours, the report said. “Two-thirds of those requests were met in full, and employees who had requests granted achieved much better work-life outcomes,” she said. “This legislation opens the door, so hopefully more people will feel comfortable making requests.”

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