Work & Family

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 42% of the NSW population currently has responsibilities to care for a family member. With the aging of our population, that number is rapidly increasing and it’s clear that most workers will need to manage family responsibilities at some time in their working life.

More and more parents of young children are also continuing in paid work. Women now make up almost half the Australian workforce and most couple families rely on two incomes - 63% of couples with dependant children are now two income families and more than half of working mothers have returned to work before their baby is two.

Balancing Work and Family

The NSW Government and Universities all have policies which can help workers balance their work and family responsibilities. In the public sector these include things like the Flexible Work Practices: Policy & Guidelines and others (see resources section for more details).

Most agencies also have policies including local Flexible Working Hours agreements/Flexi-Time agreements and some have specific Work and Family policies

Legal Rights

Workers' rights to balance their work & family responsibilities are also protected under state and federal law.

Rights to parental leave & maternity leave are set out in Industrial Relations laws; NSW Anti Discrimination laws prohibit discrimination because of sex, pregnancy & responsibilities as a carer and Federal Sex Discrimination law prohibits discrimination because of sex, pregnancy & family responsibilities.

Awards & enterprise agreements also set out parental and maternity leave entitlements, arrangements for part time work and reasonable working hours

Flexible Workplace Arrangements

Flexible work practices can include:

• working less than full time hours;
• variable start and finish times;
• leave for family, community & other responsibilities;
• varying the location where work is done.

	availability in public sector
parental leave	all
job sharing	all
part time work	all
part time leave without pay	all
career break schemes	some agencies
part time return to work from parental leave	all
flexible working hours and rosters	all
working from home/tele-commuting	all
care's (FACS) leave	all
children at work policies	some agencies
work-based childcare	some agencies
access to phone for personal reasons	all
elder care/child care referral service	some agencies
facilities for breast-feeding mothers	some agencies
family rooms	some agencies
part year/variable year employment	all
subsidized vacation care places	some agencies
arrangements for pregnant employees	all

How to Access Flexible Work Practices

1. Think about & plan what you want to do & if your ideas are realistic in your workplace eg: if you are in customer service, working from home might not be an option

2. Arm yourself with information - check out your award/agreement, Premier's Dept policy etc. Ask the Union or your EEO unit for advice

3. Approach your supervisor or manager with a proposal. Make sure you explain how the needs of your employer can continue to be met

4. Try to be flexible yourself - flexible work agreements are at agency discretion & need to be agreed between yourself and your boss so try & work something out that will work for you & your team/agency.

5. When you have come to an agreement, make sure it is written down & signed by both parties. Should include - type of arrangement, hours of work, length of agreement, position it applies to, agreed right of return to previous working arrangements, other relevant info eg: for jobshare, what happens if one employee leaves, etc

If you or another member in your workplace is having problems with balancing work and family, chances are it's affecting lots of people in the workplace. Improving the way your workplace deals with work & family issues can be a great way of recruiting more members and activating existing members.

You could start some initiatives yourself to help get work and family issues on the agenda. Following are some ideas:

• bring up the issue at your workplace group meeting/DC or JCC;
• conduct a survey of your workplace;
• start a petition;
• produce a newsletter about work and family issues;
• talk to part time & casual workers who may feel excluded;
• have a lunchtime meeting with a speaker (like someone from the Women's Unit) about work/life balance;
• build coalitions with other groups - other unions, students, parents organisations, campus childcare centres.

NSW Office of the Director of Equal Opportunity in Public Employment (ODEOPE) - website www.eeo.nsw.gov.au, phone (02) 9248 3555, (TTY (02) 9248 3544).

Premier's Department website at www.dpc.nsw.gov.au for NSW public sector policies including: Strategies for Flexible Workplace Arrangements; Flexible Work Practices: Policy & Guidelines; and Premier's Department Circulars eg: 2001-26 Carer's Responsibilities Amendment Act 2000 - Employer Responsibilities.

NSW Anti-Discrimination Board - website: www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/adb, phone (02) 9268 5544 or 1800 670 812 (TTY (02) 9268 5522), Newcastle (02) 4926 4300, Wollongong (02) 4224 9660.

Office of Industrial Relations (formerly the Department of IR, now in Dept of Commerce) - www.industrialrelations.nsw.gov.au Phone:(02)9243 8888 Postal Address: PO Box 847, Darlinghurst NSW 1300

Federal Dept of Employment & Workplace Relations, Work & Family Unit www.workplace.gov.au/WorkFamily phone: (02) 6121-7742