Australia has a chronic culture of long working hours, an issue that is receiving scant attention from the Federal Government.
The dilemma of working parents is highlighted in the Negotiating the Life Course project debated at the ANU this week.
The decade-long study is uncovering a pattern in Australia of some of the longest full-time working hours among developed countries.
The findings are timely, coming on top of the excellent proposal from the Productivity Commission for paid parental leave. It is hoped the Government will react speedily and favourably to the commission's suggestion of 18 weeks' paid leave for mothers and an extra two weeks for fathers. The proposal is a significant factor in trying to ease the financial situation of new parents. It should allow mothers to stay home longer with their new-born babies, if that is their choice.
Researchers working on the Negotiating the Life Course project say about 50 per cent of middle-aged men want to work fewer hours but are trapped into thinking that they need to work long hours to have a good career and provide for the family. We have come to accept this situation, say the researchers, who are calling for a rethink.
Their observations are welcome in putting due recognition on the plight of working parents, male and female.
It is often said working mothers are, in effect, doing two full-time jobs. When they come home after a long and possibly stressful day at work, all too often they are faced with much of the cooking and cleaning. It is to be hoped that men are taking on more housework but various studies show the higher proportion still falls to women.
The research issued at the ANU does not let men off the hook for their responsibilities at home but suggests they feel duty-bound to work longer to provide for their family. They tended to overcompensate with long work hours when their partners took on most of the caring responsibilities at home.
Most research does not consider how becoming a father changes men's lives, but studies that do delve into the area have shown that fathers work longer hours than men who have no children.
There might be a small proportion of working fathers who would prefer to stay at the office rather than be with their family. But fathers who feel trapped in long working hours resent not spending more time with their families, especially when the children are young. That resentment manifests itself when, for instance, a federal politician resigns unexpectedly, citing the ''lost'' years when typically they have missed most of their children's birthdays because the dates clashed with parliamentary sittings
The need for working parents to adjust their life balance comes against a background of Australians extending their working life. Penalty rates were once a counterbalance against longer hours. Some industries had ''compulsory'' overtime, with appropriate penalties paid for a few extra hours worked a week as part of a roster. Weekend and evening work also attract loadings. John Howard radically changed the industrial relations regulatory environment. Cashing out penalties into annual salaries did not necessarily mean employees had to work longer hours, but the boundaries were blurred.
The Rudd Government is slowly winding back the WorkChoices legislation but the researchers say one factor has remained constant working time regulation and, in particular, protection from long working hours, has remained absent.
Working hours in Australia increased from the late 1970s until the mid-1990s and they have stabilised at quite high levels in the last 10 years. Researchers have identified a ''very long hours culture'' among full-time workers in Australia, but point to a European Union directive to limit the working week to 48 hours. Full-time jobs in Australia are not based on the standard working week of 38 hours. Many jobs are task-based rather than time-based, so people stay at work until they get the job done, or they take it home to finish and present first thing the next morning.
The result is, Australia has the longest full-time working hours among employees in 23 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries, full-time employees working an average of 44 hours a week.
This is an issue that affects men and women, notwithstanding the researchers' findings on male workers feeling obliged to dig deep when their partners are taking time off paid work when the children are young.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the issue of work-life balance was important and then proceeded, upon his election, to ask public servants to work very long hours to rush his huge reform agenda into legislation.
That does not inspire optimism that the issue of long working hours is on Rudd's radar, but the findings of the Negotiating the Life Course project mean it should be.
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