Bringing balance to life

Workers are shifting to part-time work, leaving work on time and downscaling on their responsibilities to give less to their boss and regain more time for themselves.

Recent Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows average weekly working hours in South Australia have decreased by two hours in the past decade, from 35 a week to 33.

It attributes most of the decline to strong growth in part-time employment compared with full-time employment, as the number of full-time workers falls but the number of part-time workers increases.

It finds individual working hours for many full-time workers have increased. That is offset by the increase in people who are formally cutting back on hours.

They are working part-time to achieve a balance between paid work and personal, social and family lives.

The bureau says underemployment also plays a part in the decrease, with some part-time workers preferring more hours of work but unable to secure it from the boss.

Social analyst Mark McCrindle says working hours have been slightly declining for the past two decades.

He says the work/life balance movement has played a large part, with fewer people willing to spend extra hours at work to get ahead.

Workers of all age groups are seeking less time at work, with baby boomers easing into retirement and Generation Y workers wanting more time for themselves, he says.

“GenY are not moving into full-time positions at the same rate as the previous generation,” he says.

“They are working perhaps four days a week, sometimes two or three jobs, rather than one typical 50-hour-a-week job. That gives more control and flexibility.”

His company McCrindle Research has been analysing trends in the employment market for workers, based around work/life balance.

He says the older generation of workers has tended to “downshift” and scale back on working hours from their late 50s rather than retire from all work at age 65 to enjoy more time away from the workplace but still receive an income.

Workers between the two age generations often have families and are choosing to spend more time with them while they are young.

Many grew up with parents who worked long hours and want to be able to enjoy more time at home, he says. “There’s an expectation for mothers and families that they have to be more hands-on than what used to be the case, so they are seeing more enjoyment in work/life balance,” he says.

“People realise they are living longer and working later than has typically been the case and are focusing on the journey, not the traditional approach. They want to enjoy the work part of life and not just the retirement part.”

He says the trend to work less has been most evident among men, who are spending more time doing housework and looking after children than in the past decade.

“It’s pretty solid (working hours) but the point is that people have been doing more unpaid work,” he says. “They are engaging more with the other necessary pursuits in life.”

St Andrew’s School Early Learning Centre director Alicia Flowers has scaled back her hours, from a full-time 38 a week to 14. She returned to work from maternity leave in April and took on part-time working hours to allow her more time with her daughter, one. “I was ready to come back to work and for some external stimulation other than what my daughter could provide and wanted to balance my role as a mother with my role at work,” she says.