Work-life balance is getting worse for Australians: new report

The balance between work and life is deteriorating for four in 10 people, according to a new study which also found Australians are donating $110 billion in free labour each year.

Job insecurity and an expectation from bosses that employees will work longer hours are the reasons why people are doing more overtime.

The average full-time worker is doing six hours of unpaid overtime each week worth an estimated $9471 a year, according to a report to be released on Wednesday by 
The Australia Institute think tank.

Executive director Richard Denniss said many Australians were giving their valuable time freely to organisations that are legally obliged to pay for it.

"Whether they realise it or not Australians are far more generous to their employer than they are to any charity," he said. 

The survey of close to 1000 people around the country found 46 per cent of people are expected to work longer hours and 27 per cent said their position had become insecure. 
Director of Research, David Baker, said fear about job security was widespread. 

"For many Australian workers rocking the boat appears to be a genuine concern," Mr Baker said. "If seeking better balance is perceived to be a threat to career prospects people are unlikely to freely raise the issue with their boss," Mr Baker said.

Most people said they were willing to get more flexible work hours and fixed finishing times to improve their work/life balance, but three quarters said they were unwilling to reduce their pay.

Dr Denniss said the study suggested it was not enough to raise awareness among workers about the need for work/life balance.

"It's time that employers and industry groups started to talk about how they are going to tackle this problem. It's time that governments took this problem a lot more seriously. 

"A simple thing they could do is require all large companies to survey their employees each year on work/life balance and publish those surveys on their websites."


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