A study of more than 31,000 Canadian workers shows that more than half believe that working long hours is the key to success and promotion. Further, 85 per cent of managers believe this to be true.
So pity the employee who wants to head home after an eight-hour workday to spend time with his or her family while their colleagues remain at work.
If the worker leaves, will he or she forfeit promotion, or be the next on the downsizing line – even though the company preaches the values of family and work-life balance?
“There are a lot of organizations that have policies that look great on the books,” says Prof. Linda Duxbury. “But, unfortunately, if you work for a jerk it doesn’t matter what kind of policy you have. You are going to have a lot of problems.”
Duxbury is the co-author of a fascinating Health Canada project checking the pulse of 31,800 Canadian workers in the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors.
A professor at Carleton University’s School of Business, the data is the second half of a companion survey conducted 10 years ago examining work/life conflicts.
Much of the data isn’t pretty. Compared to a decade ago people are more depressed, sicker and work long hours at the expense of their personal lives.
Last week, Duxbury released new findings at a Calgary speech hosted by the United Way and the Calgary Children’s Initiative, a volunteer group trying to create awareness about the benefits of family-friendly workplaces.
Pulling no punches, Duxbury described many of the findings as “pathetic.”
Results from the 2001 research showed that 60 per cent of Canadians feel overloaded by work and family life – an increase of nearly 30 per cent compared to the information collected in 1991.
It also showed that elder care is the next serious issue facing Canadian families, and that depression is reaching desperate levels.
And Canadians are deeply worried. Duxbury notes that of the 31,800 people surveyed, 18,000 took time to add written comments, and an amazing 17,000 gave their names for follow-up interviews. (A book will be published in March to convey their views.)
“In the study, the most touching comments were those written about elder care,” says Duxbury. “Some of them made me cry, because people’s lives are so intense, so difficult.”
The issue isn’t going away, says Duxbury. Elder-care facilities are insufficient and, as our population ages, many people will be forced to take care of their parents.
Professional workers who delayed having families face a unique position. They now have young children and aging parents. Dubbed the ‘sandwich generation’, this group will face huge challenges, says Duxbury. She notes that 10 years ago, one in eight families had responsibility for children and parents; the ratio is now one in five.
Late last fall, when the first instalment of results for the 2001 survey were released, Duxbury told Business Edge she believes that a major change is afoot as Baby Boomers begin to retire – creating a shortage of workers that will force employers to shift their attitudes.
She noted that in 2001, about 51 per cent of Canadian workers averaged 34 hours of unpaid overtime each month; only 50 per cent felt loyal to their companies; and 45 per cent felt highly satisfied with their jobs.
In her Calgary speech last week, she added more insight.
The most troublesome finding, she said, is that in 1991,
11 to 12 per cent of Canadians reported high levels of depressed moods. That number has jumped to one in three Canadians now reporting depression.
Duxbury suggests that a national health commission led by Roy Romanow should look closely at the workplace – an environment that’s creating an appetite for health care and prescription drugs, she says.
Duxbury and co-author Chris Higgins, of the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, headed the 1991 and 2001 surveys. Based on the results, they are making recommendations to government and industry.
The authors call for legislation protecting an employee’s right to refuse overtime, the right to take time off in lieu of overtime pay, and suggest that employees receive up to five days paid personal leave per year.
They also suggest that Ottawa take the lead in establishing national child-care and elder-care programs in conjunction with the provinces.
“What I’m telling employers is you’d better get a handle on that stress and workload component,” she says.
“This is something that is not sustainable.”
Too many organizations are “anorexic,” having stripped themselves down to the bare bones, and are now eating away at their muscle. You can be anorexic for while, says Duxbury, but over a sustained length of time it’s lethal.
Other results show that flexible work arrangements and telework has not changed in the past decade. The 9-to-5 workday has declined, but the hours people work are up, she notes.
Ten years ago, one per cent of the workforce telecommuted, the same percentage as today. And technology means people are bringing work home with them every night.
Compressed work weeks have increased slightly, but there has been an increase in other “brutal” work arrangements such as rotating shifts, split-shifts, 10 days on and one day off, she says.
So why don’t people just quit their jobs and simplify their lives by reducing their lifestyles?
“We know that one in three families would drop below the low-income cutoff if one partner stayed home,” says Duxbury.
While there are some high-income earners working for the big house and fancy SUVs, the reality is that most “traditional” families require both parents working.
A Statistics Canada survey showed that a traditional family with two children requires 72 weeks of paid labour to support that family.
And as it stands today, she says, we have more single-parent families than traditional families.
She believes that as a labour shortage develops with more people taking early retirement, and fewer young people entering the workforce, organizations will be forced to become more responsive to peoples’ needs.
“They must recognize that they can’t talk about being family-friendly, and balanced, and treat people any old way and expect there won’t be consequences for the organization.”
According to the survey, one-third of respondents said they felt their workplace provided an environment that supported a balanced lifestyle.
As for companies where 85 per cent of management feels you must work 50-plus hour weeks, and it’s unacceptable to refuse more work, Duxbury offers this assessment:
“The culture in organizations like that is not work and family,” she says.
“It’s not family-friendly. In fact I describe the culture as work or family.”
Results from Work-Life Balance in the New Millennium: Where Are We? Where Do We Need to Go? are being released in instalments over the next year. Findings can be found www.cprn.org
