Less Working Hours Do Not Improve Aussie Work Life Balance
Dr. Paul Lanthois
October 10, 2010
Arecent Work Life survey from the University of South Australia shows that we have an increasing dissatisfaction with our work life balance. This was despite the survey and more recent Australian Bureau of Statistics data showing that we are working about one and a half hours less each week when compared with previous years.
We are working less but we are more out of balance so we have to stop blaming work for all our woes. It may be easier to blame someone else but it's time we take greater personal responsibility for how we juggle our health, work and family commitments.
The greatest work life balance challenge for workers is finding enough time for ourselves but improving time management skills isn't the only solution.
The first step is to a better work life balance is to discard outdated work life balance advice like, "You should work to live and not live to work".
Work isn't just a means to an end. It has the opportunity to be the source of great personal, emotional and financial fulfilment. People should be putting more life into their work, not less.
If we begin to work on improving our health and relationships it would go along way to recouping lost time to help provide a better work life balance
My review of Australian studies that measured the productivity impact of poor healthfound that poor physical and emotional health causes the average Australian employee to lose 24 working days of productivity losses each year. If you add the lost productivity that poor health has at home you can see how much time is wasted by not looking after ourselves.
If you put life into your work and you work on your life and your health, you'll have a healthy life that works. That's how we can improve our own work life balance without having to work less.
We are working less but we are more out of balance so we have to stop blaming work for all our woes. It may be easier to blame someone else but it's time we take greater personal responsibility for how we juggle our health, work and family commitments.
The greatest work life balance challenge for workers is finding enough time for ourselves but improving time management skills isn't the only solution.
The first step is to a better work life balance is to discard outdated work life balance advice like, "You should work to live and not live to work".
Work isn't just a means to an end. It has the opportunity to be the source of great personal, emotional and financial fulfilment. People should be putting more life into their work, not less.
If we begin to work on improving our health and relationships it would go along way to recouping lost time to help provide a better work life balance
My review of Australian studies that measured the productivity impact of poor healthfound that poor physical and emotional health causes the average Australian employee to lose 24 working days of productivity losses each year. If you add the lost productivity that poor health has at home you can see how much time is wasted by not looking after ourselves.
If you put life into your work and you work on your life and your health, you'll have a healthy life that works. That's how we can improve our own work life balance without having to work less.
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