155 Unison

Work-life balance:
Rhetoric versus reality?
An independent report
commissioned by UNISON
Fiona Visser
Laura Williams
Contents
Foreword 4
Acknowledgements 6
Executive summary 7
1 Introduction 10
1.1 What are the drivers for change? 10

1.2 What is the case for work-life balance? 11
1.3 Making the case in the public sector 11
1.4 About this project 13
1.5 About this report 13
2 Context 14
2.1 What is work-life balance? 14

2.2 How has the work-life balance debate evolved? 15
2.3 Has progress been made? 16
3 The case for work-life balance – UNISON members' perspective 18
4 Members’ working lives 21
4.1 Control over work 22

4.2 Organisational culture and employer integrity 24
5 Work-life balance policies and practice 26
5.1 Employer initiatives 26

5.2 Availability and promotion to members 27
5.3 Policies in practice: take-up of options 28
5.4 Unmet demand 30
6 Impact of work-life balance policies and practice 32
6.1 Matching rhetoric to reality: what are the barriers? 33

6.2 Comparisons with other studies: what are the common barriers? 38
7 The way forward 41
7.1 What more could employers do? 41

7.2 What can UNISON do? 42
8 What are the remaining challenges? 44
8.1 Challenge one: Employers do not adequately and transparently 45

communicate about work-life balance
8.2 Challenge two: Employers are pursuing inappropriate work-life 46
balance arrangements
8.3 Challenge three: There are high levels of unmet demand for some 46
work-life balance options that go beyond the current ‘family friendly’
approach
8.4 Challenge four: Managers act as barriers to members achieving 47
appropriate work-life balance
8.5 Challenge five: Pressure on resources hinders people from getting 48
a work-life balance
8.6 Conclusions 48
Bibliography 50
Appendix A Methodology and survey sample 52
Appendix B Glossary of work-life balance terms 58
3
Foreword
Flexibility at work continues to be the great double-edged sword in today’s

labour market. On the one side there is the progressive model where working
people have the flexibility to meet their wider responsibilities and enjoy their
lives. On the other is the ideological push for a flexible labour market where
some regard anything much beyond a minimum standard as red tape and a
bar to our competitiveness.
One of the challenges for UNISON and other trade unions over the coming
months and years is to ensure that we win the right kind of flexibility so that
our jobs and our careers are part of what we do and who we are, but where
we also have control. We must show the benefits for the organisations that
we work for and service users to achieve this aim. We also need to make a
robust case for work-life balance as something good in itself. As this timely
and very welcome report makes clear this can be achieved – although there
is some way to go before we attain a situation in which all who want to
benefit do so.
Work-life balance policies are having an impact on the way people work
and how organisations operate and are becoming an established part of the
labour market landscape. Our members tell us that having the flexibility to
strike the right work-life balance improves morale, helps organisations with
staff retention and enables our members to feel in control of their working
lives. So how do we move forward from here? This report tells us that, despite
the progress that has been made, there are still barriers that we have to
address. It also sends a clear message that UNISON has to broaden the debate
from one about how the organisations we work for accommodate individual
arrangements to one in which organisations are transformed.
We will be helped in no small part by the introduction of the new Gender

Equality Duty. From April 2007 this will require public authorities to promote
gender equality and eliminate sex discrimination. Instead of individuals
having to make complaints about sex discrimination, the duty places a legal
responsibility on public authorities to demonstrate that they treat men and
women fairly. In terms of employment policies, all public service providers will
have to think about issues such as whether there is a pay gap between men
and women, how flexible working can help men and women and, where it is
an issue, how the return rate from maternity leave can be improved.
4 W O R K - L I F E B A L A N C E : R H E TO R I C V E R S U S R E A L I T Y ?
FOREWORD
In the months and years ahead UNISON will be at the forefront of efforts to
use the Gender Equality Duty and all other tools at our disposal to deliver
the progressive flexibility that can make work-life balance possible for our
members. We thank The Work Foundation for the significant contribution
they have made to moving this work forward.
Dave Prentis
UNISON General Secretary
W O R K - L I F E B A L A N C E : R H E TO R I C V E R S U S R E A L I T Y ? 5
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank UNISON, its members and branch secretaries
who took part in the research, and in particular Sandra Dean and Tom Spamer
for organising focus groups. We would also like to thank Michelle Singleton,
Ross Hendry and David Arnold for their support and input into the research.
Thanks also to Dr Michelle Mahdon, researcher at The Work Foundation, who

conducted an initial literature review for this project that fed into this report.
Also at The Work Foundation we would like to thank David Coats and
Alexandra Jones who made significant contributions to the report, as well as
Ruth Holmes, Karen Fox and Stephen Overell.
Please note that the views in this report represent those of the authors and
should not be seen necessarily to represent those of UNISON.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Fiona Visser is a researcher at The Work Foundation, having joined in 2002
originally in an HR capacity. Previously she worked in HR-related roles at Coin
Street Community Builders and Cantab Marketing Services ( The Netherlands).
Laura Williams is a senior researcher at The Work Foundation, working across

the research programme and focusing on cities, changing demographics and
work-life balance. Previously she worked at the Office of the Deputy Prime
Minister.
Executive summary
• ‘Work-life balance’ is at the forefront of public policy debates about

flexibility and is widely reported in the media as having the potential to
transform the world of work, lead to higher productivity and better
conditions of work for employees. UNISON’s 2002 launch of a work-life
balance campaign aimed to inform members and promote the potential
benefits of work-life balance for service delivery and staff satisfaction.
• The purpose of this report is to answer the following questions: what does
‘work-life balance’ mean to UNISON members and what are their
experiences of work-life balance in light of this campaign? What are the
barriers to work-life balance? And what role can unions play to further the
debate and practice of work-life balance in public services?
• Key findings from the study, informed by surveys of UNISON members

and branch secretaries, as well as four focus groups with members, include:
• Members report high levels of job satisfaction and are generally happy
with their working arrangements
• Work-life balance is important to members, but can be less important
than other factors and is significantly affected by other issues, such as
the amount of control people have over their work
• There is a feeling that employers are investing in work-life balance, but
the ‘solutions’ offered are not always compatible with members’ needs.
In some cases members feel that employers are paying lip service to the
idea of work-life balance, but are not making sufficient investment in
managing the implementation of initiatives
• Some members feel that they are not always making well-informed
decisions about their own work-life balance or that of the staff they
manage. Indeed, some feel that their employer deliberately
communicates work-life balance policies ineffectively. Related to this is
a concern that some policies are implemented on an inconsistent and
inequitable basis
• There is significant ‘unmet demand’ for some work-life balance options
• Individual control and voice is important: many members wanted to have
a dialogue with their managers about managing their work-life balance
• Members are pragmatic about workable solutions: although members
have views about their ‘ideal’ working arrangement, they are prepared to
settle for different arrangements and are willing to make compromises
and to balance their own needs with those of the organisation, customers
and other staff.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
• On the basis of these findings, this report highlights four key barriers to
the benefits of work-life balance being realised by UNISON members:
1. Insufficient employer commitment to work-life balance
2. Balancing care and work affects career progression
3. Available work-life balance options are not always appropriate
4. Organisational culture does not always permit the implementation
of initiatives.
• Given these barriers and the extent of UNISON members’ frustrations with
employers around work-life balance, and despite general satisfaction with
work and working arrangements, it is apparent that there is still some way
to go in reaching a position where the needs of employers, employees and
service users are reconciled to the advantage, or at least satisfaction, of all
parties.
• The challenges to reaching this position include:

• Employers do not adequately and transparently communicate about
work-life balance
• Employers are pursuing inappropriate work-life balance arrangements
• Work-life balance options for which there are high levels of demand are
not being provided
• Managers act as barriers to members achieving appropriate work-life
balance
• Pressure on resources hinders people from achieving a work-life balance.
• There has been much progress on work-life balance in the wider world over
the last ten years, of which UNISON and its members have been a part. This
report gives UNISON a well-developed account of the extent to which
principles and policies have been implemented in practice. For example, it
can be said with some confidence that despite real progress in some areas,
there is still much to be done to broaden the work-life balance debate so
that it embraces work organisation, job design, management standards and
organisational culture. More still needs to be done to demonstrate that
work-life balance is not just an instrument that allows employers to satisfy
individuals’ preferences or needs for more flexibility. If organisations are to
change the way they work, then this implicitly demands a reconfiguration
of the relationship between employer and employee, and the roles and
responsibilities that each party has in the delivery of the organisation’s
objectives.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
• All of the challenges outlined in this report highlight the importance of the
trade union role. Based on the survey findings, we would argue that UNISON
should make the following essential contributions:
• Changing the terms of the debate: moving work-life balance from
being seen as a gender or parenting issue; talking about the challenges
and how they may be overcome, as well as the potential benefits;
developing specialist work-life balance expertise within UNISON to
contribute to implementing change
• Focusing on the collective elements of work-life balance policies
to support a move away from focusing only on individual needs and
tinkering around the edges of working practices towards a more holistic
view of developing and implementing new ways of working.
• By taking these leads, UNISON has the opportunity to revitalise this debate
and lead the way in pushing for reality to match the rhetoric.
1 Introduction
In response to shifts in the labour market and the changing nature of work,
work-life balance is now at the top of the agenda for government and
business. While work-life balance traditionally focused on family-friendly
workplaces – essentially concerned with enabling mothers to balance work
and childcare responsibilities – there is increasing recognition from
organisations that work-life balance is about more than families, and are
instead helping employees to have access to working arrangements that are
compatible with their other responsibilities, lifestyle and, of course, their work.
It is also recognised that work-life balance can lead indirectly to productivity
gains through increased retention and helps organisations to respond to
customer needs more effectively. Government has also recognised that this
is the domain of policy: the right to request flexible working for parents with
children aged under six or disabled children aged 18 and under was
introduced in 2003 and has bedded in well. This right is being extended to
carers in 2007.
1.1 What are the Work-life balance has become increasingly important for a number of social
drivers for and economic reasons that are making:
change? • organisations think about how they work
• government think about how people balance paid and unpaid work and
care
• individuals think about the role work has and will have at different stages
of their lives.
Broadly, this shift is influenced by changes to markets, ways of working, the

labour market and expectations of work. In the public sector, these drivers
mean:
• pressures to increase efficiencies while at the same time responding to the
demands of service users, creating more flexible and responsive public
services 1
• that there is a need to understand better and respond to customer
requirements in a population that is becoming older and more ethnically
diverse. Therefore people who possess these skills and relationships are
crucial to helping organisations understand new customer segments,
promote creativity and cope with increasingly complex business models. 2
1 See for example Jones A and Williams L, Why ICT?: The role of ICT in public services, London, The Work Foundation, 2005
2 Rajan A et al, Harnessing Workforce Diversity to Raise the Bottom Line, CREATE, 2003
INTRODUCTION
1.2 What is the The case for work-life balance tends to be made on two counts. First, that
case for work-life work-life balance improves individuals’ health, wellbeing and job satisfaction.
balance? Second, that business can benefit from work-life balance because these
policies:
• improve productivity and worker commitment
• reduce sickness absence (from 12 per cent to 2 per cent according to
UNISON research)
• increase retention rates for talented workers and reduce replacement costs
• allow organisations to recruit from a wider pool of talent
• enable organisations to offer services beyond usual business hours by
employing workers on different shifts that fit in with caring responsibilities.
1.3 Making the The business case arguments have had particular resonance with the public
case in the sector, where a high proportion of the workforce is female and there is a drive
public sector to provide increasingly customer-focused services at more flexible times,
requiring differentiated patterns of work. UNISON’s 2002 launch of its work-
life balance campaign aimed to inform and promote policies across the union
in recognition of the potential benefits of work-life balance for service
delivery and staff satisfaction. The strategy also recognised the growing
importance of work-life balance as a non-pay issue that unions can negotiate
on and use to attract new members. The importance of these issues is
highlighted in the TUC’s 2003 report, A Perfect Union?, which reveals a strong
desire among union members for effective action by their unions to improve
the quality of the working environment. 3 One might also say that a focus on
work-life balance is likely to prove attractive to those people who have not
been union members so far in their working lives and who are more
concerned with ‘getting on’ than ‘getting even’.
Previous research by UNISON suggests that the public sector’s good

reputation on work-life balance issues has some grounding in fact: 86 per
cent of respondents reported that flexible working is available to at least
some staff in the organisation and 90 per cent said that job sharing was an
option. 4 Yet current research gives little insight into how work-life balance
policies and practice vary between the different parts of the public sector
and how the availability of work-life balance options translates into improved
work-life balance.
3 TUC, A Perfect Union?: What workers want from unions, London, 2003
4 See http://www.unison.org.uk/worklifebalance/casefor.asp
INTRODUCTION
The typical business case for work-life balance lends itself better to the
practices and languages of the private sector. However, despite the different
needs of public and private sector organisations, many of the work-life
balance drivers are similar:
• increasing services’ customer focus
• reducing absenteeism
• attracting and retaining talented people
• improving productivity and making efficiency gains.
The case for work-life balance is increasingly recognised by employers too,

as demonstrated by the regular Working Families awards to businesses
innovating in this area, and the high profile advocacy of businesses such
as BT and Lloyds TSB about the importance of these issues.
Yet, when we look at the evidence on whether work-life balance policies have
achieved all they set out to and whether people really are able to achieve
the work-life balance they want, a different picture emerges. Furthermore,
the case for work-life balance is different for employers and employees.
Employers may be attracted by the efficiency gains and customer response
improvements that work-life balance policies such as flexible working
promise. However, for individuals, the case for such policies needs to be made
on what it will mean for their job, their career and their life outside work.
The ‘rhetoric-reality’ gap – the gap between the aspirations of organisations

and their policies, and then the policies and their practice – is also likely to
vary in different parts of the public sector. In some areas, work-life balance
policies can be and are implemented effectively, open to all staff, and result
in improved productivity and higher staff satisfaction. Elsewhere there are
significant challenges to realising these benefits. These challenges often
include:
• lack of awareness about the existence of work-life balance policies on the
part of staff and/or managers
• workplace cultures that inhibit take-up of work-life balance policies
• lack of line manager buy-in
• employee concern about loss of income, damage to career progression or
workload
• work-life balance policies being available to parents only.
INTRODUCTION
1.4 About this UNISON commissioned this project to improve its understanding of work-life
project balance among members, to analyse the extent to which the growing
awareness and popularity of work-life balance has translated into cultural
change, and to develop recommendations about how organisations in the
public sector need to move debates and practice forward. The Work
Foundation has a long history of work-life balance research and consultancy
and was delighted to conduct this research project and participate in the
debate about the role of unions in making work-life balance a reality for
their members.
1.5 About this This report presents findings from a literature review, surveys of UNISON
report members and branch secretaries, and four focus groups with participants
from UNISON’s membership base conducted by The Work Foundation
between February and October 2006. 5 The core questions for the research
were:
• How is the case for work-life balance currently being made in the public
sector? What are the existing policies and how are they being promoted?
• How are work-life balance policies being implemented in practice?
• How important is work-life balance to UNISON members? Do members
report a good work-life balance? What are the barriers and enablers?
• How should the case for work-life balance be made in the future? How
can challenges be overcome? How can UNISON be involved in moving
debates and practice forward?
This report presents our answers to these questions.
5 Please see Appendix A for a detailed methodology
2 Context
2.1 What is work- While work-life balance is an increasingly popular term, there is no clear
life balance? consensus on what it means, although most definitions do include the
concepts of flexibility, juggling and sustainability. 6 Work-life balance is most
frequently used to describe the equilibrium between responsibilities at work
and responsibilities outside paid work; having a work-life balance means that
this equilibrium is in the right position for the individual concerned.
There is no one-size-fits-all definition for work-life balance. For some people

it means spending more time in paid work and less time at home, while for
others it means ensuring that paid work does not encroach on time needed
for other responsibilities. Of course, there is a tension here as the term implies
that work and life are and should be separate, whereas for many people the
distinction between the two is somewhat blurred. Furthermore, ‘balance’ and
‘imbalance’ varies for different people at different times of their lives, making
the notion of a single definition of work-life balance unrealistic. This is
compounded by differences in socio-economic circumstances: for those in
low-paid work, longer hours may be a financial necessity. With this in mind,
we define work-life balance as having sufficient control and autonomy over
where, when and how you work to fulfil your responsibilities inside and
outside paid work.
Much of the debates about work-life balance actually focus on imbalance.

In the focus groups conducted as part of this study, UNISON members tended
to focus on imbalance – feeling a lack of control and autonomy over where,
when and how you work – when asked what work-life balance means. Some
strong themes emerged, for example the:
• role that work-life balance plays in people’s health, with the lack of it
causing higher sickness absence levels
• strain on relationships – both at home and work – that results from a lack
of work-life balance
• pressure to make a decision between career progression and a life outside
of work.
As these findings suggest, a work-life imbalance can have disastrous

consequences for the individual in terms of stress, ill health and lack of
motivation. The impact of this imbalance at the individual level has been well
documented – see Marmot’s work on the detrimental impact on health that a
6 Neault R, That Elusive Work-Life Balance!, Canada, NATCON Papers, 2005
CONTEXT
lack of control and autonomy at work has 7 – and many strategies have been
suggested to improve the balance. In focus group discussions, members
recognised that an ideal work-life balance varies from person to person,
depending on the individual and their life circumstances. Balancing both
home and work life allows an individual to achieve the best in both
situations, but the balance that is right for them may involve much more or
much less time at work than for another – and this balance may also change
at different times in individuals’ lives.
2.2 How has the In spite of some of the constraining definitions of work-life balance, progress
work-life balance in this area of policy and in organisations has been significant over the last
debate evolved? ten years. The ‘right to request’ legislation, which came into effect in 2003,
gave parents with children aged under six the right to ask their employers to
work flexibly. And this has bedded in well: more than three-quarters (77 per
cent) of requests were fully accepted and a further 9 per cent were partly
accepted or a compromise reached. 8 This right will be extended to those with
caring responsibilities in 2007. A survey (based on a representative sample of
workers in the UK) conducted by The Work Foundation in 2005 found that
two-thirds of respondents agree that flexible working is good for employers
as well as employees, suggesting that there has been a shift away from
viewing work-life balance as being all about the individual. Stevens et al’s
report from the second Work-Life Balance Survey reveals that more
employees in 2003 than 2000 believe that the business case should be a
priority (60 per cent versus a previous 53 per cent) when granting a request
for flexible working. 9
Further evidence that progress is being made comes from the 2004 British
Social Attitudes (BSA) survey. 10 The survey reports that the number of flexible
working options made available by employers in the UK rose from an average
of 1.39 in 1998 to 1.99 in 2004. The availability of some type of ad hoc
arrangements was reported by 73 per cent of the respondents, indicating
the presence of a ‘flexible ethos’. The following options were available to
respondents, where for:
• 64 per cent part-time work was available
• 49 per cent flexible hours were an option
• 38 per cent job sharing was an option
7 Marmot M, Status Syndrome: How our position on the social gradient affects longevity and health, London, Bloomsbury, 2004
8 See http://www.dti.gov.uk/employment/workandfamilies/flexible-working/index.html
9 Stevens et al, The Second Work-Life Balance Survey: Results from the employees’ survey, Employment Relations Research Series No
27, Department of Trade and Industry, 2004
10 Bell A and Bryson C, ‘Work-life balance – still a “women’s issue”?’ in British Social Attitudes, London, NatCen, 2005
CONTEXT
• 24 per cent working from home was an option

• 24 per cent term-time work was an option.
However, despite the increase in flexible working options and this ‘flexible
ethos’, BSA survey findings as well as evidence from other surveys suggest
that there is not universal awareness of ‘time off ’ policies. For example, the
BSA survey found that 11–15 per cent did not know what policies were
available to them, and a Work Foundation survey in 2005 found that 19 per
cent were unaware of the options. 11 The BSA survey report suggests that this
reflects a lack of explicitness among employers about these policies so that
employees only find out about the policies when they have to make use of
them. Mothers appear to show more awareness of the policy options than
men and fathers, perhaps because they continue to have the main
responsibility for caring and so are more likely to ‘have’ to make use of some
flexible options. Employers seem to recognise this: women are much more
likely than men to be offered flexible options (fixed and ad hoc), even when
other significantly influential factors are controlled for. This suggests that
work-life balance may still be perceived by some as a ‘women’s issue’.
2.3 Has progress The overall story on work-life balance is positive. It is increasingly popular, it
been made? is bedding down in organisations, and individuals are aware of the options
available and are taking these up where possible.
However, there are some worrying variations in availability and take-up. The
first of these is gender-related. As outlined above, women are much more
likely to have available to them and take up work-life balance policies and
while this is not a problem in itself as it supports women to work while they
bring up children, the consequences of this variation are more concerning.
For example, research by Smithson et al suggests that the nature of take-up
among men and women can contribute to the gender pay gap. 12 Their review
of the accountancy profession found that women tend to use flexible
working arrangements to cover childcare responsibilities at a time in their
careers that damages their prospects of moving to a more senior role in the
future. Men, however, tend to make use of flexible working arrangements
later in their careers, reducing the detrimental effects.
Availability and take-up vary significantly according to sector, the size of the
organisation and employee grade. For example, the BSA survey shows that
11 Williams L, Overcoming the Barriers to Flexible Working, London, The Work Foundation, 2005
12 Smithson et al, ‘Flexible Working and the Gender Pay Gap in the Accountancy Profession’, Work, Employment & Society, Vol 18
No 1, pp115-135, 2004
CONTEXT
those with GCSE/O level qualifications are more likely to be offered flexibility
than those without. The survey also reveals geographical differences with
employees in Scotland and the Midlands less likely to support a range of
flexible time options than employees in the South East of England.
3 The case for work-life balance –
UNISON members’ perspective
Given the increased profile of work-life balance in the UK, this section starts
to explore how changing attitudes and the rise of work-life balance on the
agendas of politicians, policymakers, employers and individuals are shaping
the expectations and experiences of UNISON members.
Tables 1 and 2 show that branch secretaries and members are

overwhelmingly positive about work-life balance. They are convinced (as
shown by the mean scores, where a low score demonstrates strong
agreement and a high score demonstrates strong disagreement) that work-
life balance is good for people’s individual performance, beneficial to
employers, responsive to customers and consistent with the development of
one’s career. This last point is particularly important given that almost nine in
ten members agree that home/family is more important to them than career
progression. What this finding suggests is that while family commitments are
more important to members than their future careers they should not have
to make the choice between them. The two are not mutually exclusive.
Table 1: Branch secretaries on work-life balance
How strongly do you agree or Agree Agree Neither agree Disagree Disagree Mean
disagree with the following strongly nor disagree strongly
statements? (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)
People work best when they can balance 77 22 1 0 0 1.24

their work and other aspects of their lives
Offering a good work-life balance to 75 24 0 1 0 1.27

employees is beneficial for employers
Staff with a good work-life balance are 66 27 6 2 0 1.44

better able to respond to the needs of
customers or service users
Work-life balance is for those who don’t 1 0 3 31 65 4.59

take their careers seriously
Note: Where figures do not add up to 100 per cent this is due to rounding
THE CASE FOR WORK-LIFE BALANCE – UNISON MEMBERS’ PERSPECTIVE
Table 2: Members on work-life balance
To what extent do you agree or Agree Agree Neither agree Disagree Disagree Mean
statements? (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)
My family or home life is more important 59 29 8 3 0 1.56

to me than career progression
People work best when they can balance 67 32 1 0 0 1.35

their work and other aspects of their lives
Staff with a good work-life balance are 63 33 2 2 0 1.43

better able to respond to the needs of
customers or service users
Offering a good work-life balance to 66 31 2 1 0 1.38

employees is beneficial for employers
Unsurprisingly, members with caring responsibilities have stronger feelings

about home and family being more important than those without.
Interestingly, however, there were no differences in response between men
and women. This may reflect the general attitudinal shift that seems to be
taking place: caring and family responsibilities are increasingly not being
written off as a ‘women’s issue’ and work-life balance as an issue is becoming
mainstream. These findings are supported by focus groups where participants
generally agreed that work-life balance does affect decisions about whether
to work for a particular employer or about their future career.
The survey findings shown in Tables 1 and 2 above indicate that members
and branch secretaries alike endorse the case for work-life balance. Indeed,
the percentages are very similar for members and branch secretaries,
revealing strength in commitment to the concept of work-life balance as well
as strong consensus of opinion. The message for UNISON is clear: members
and branch secretaries agree that work-life balance has positive outcomes for
employers, employees and customers. Furthermore, branch secretaries offer a
THE CASE FOR WORK-LIFE BALANCE – UNISON MEMBERS’ PERSPECTIVE
resounding ‘no’ to the suggestion that work-life balance is for people who do
not take their careers seriously.
However, while there may be overwhelming support for work-life balance,

what happens in practice may vary dramatically from what members and
branch secretaries think should happen. This issue will be explored in greater
depth throughout the report.
4 Members’ working lives
Against this backdrop of members endorsing the case for work-life balance,
the survey also found that, overall, members report high levels of job
satisfaction and commitment to the organisation they work for (see Table 3
below). Seventy per cent are satisfied or very satisfied with their job and the
same percentage share the values of the organisation they are working for.
Over half would speak highly of their organisation (55 per cent), compared
to the second Workers’ Index 2005 in which a quarter (27 per cent) of public
sector workers said they would. 13 Two-thirds (66 per cent) agree that there
will be a job for them as long as they want it. This paints a picture of work
that is generally good for members: satisfied, committed employees who
feel secure in their jobs.
Table 3: Members’ working lives
To what extent do you agree or Very Fairly Neither Fairly Very Mean
disagree with the following satisfied satisfied satisfied nor dissatisfied dissatisfied
statements? (%) (%) dissatisfied (%) (%) (%)
All things considered, how satisfied are 25 45 13 11 6 2.27

you with your job at present?
Agree Agree Neither Disagree Disagree Mean

strongly agree nor strongly
(%) (%) disagree (%) (%) (%)
I feel there will be a job for me as long as 31 35 10 14 10 2.38

I want it
I’m always on the lookout for a job that is 14 19 11 33 23 3.32

better than mine
I share many of the values of my 26 44 15 10 5 2.23

organisation
I would speak highly of my organisation 22 33 17 19 8 2.59

without being asked
13 Coats D, Second Workers’ Index: The Work Foundation’s commentary, London, The Work Foundation, 2005
MEMBERS’ WORKING LIVES
Levels of satisfaction and other indicators about how members feel about
the organisations they work for vary by gender ( Table 4), with women being
consistently and significantly more positive in their outlook than men. There
was a similar trend with hours worked ( Table 5), with members working part-
time being significantly more satisfied with their job than their full-time
counterparts.
Table 4: Members on job satisfaction, by gender
All things considered, how satisfied Very Fairly Neither Fairly Very Mean
are you with your job at present? 14 satisfied satisfied satisfied nor dissatisfied dissatisfied
(%) (%) dissatisfied (%) (%) (%)
Men 20 46 13 14 9 2.44
Women 27 45 13 10 5 2.21
Table 5: Members on job satisfaction, by hours worked
All things considered, how satisfied Very Fairly Neither Fairly Very Mean
are you with your job at present? 15 satisfied satisfied satisfied nor dissatisfied dissatisfied
(%) (%) dissatisfied (%) (%) (%)
In full-time employment 24 44 13 13 7 2.35

In part-time employment 27 48 13 7 4 2.13
4.1 Control over Table 6 shows that most members felt they had a high degree of control
work over how and when they manage their work (77 per cent and 71 per cent
respectively). Despite this, 66 per cent said their job was stressful compared
to just 34 per cent who said their home life was stressful. There are slight
gender differences here, with just over a third of women (36 per cent)
reporting a stressful home life compared to just over a quarter of men
14 Significance level of p<0.01

(27 per cent), with women reporting significantly greater lack of time at home
than men. 16 This is likely to reflect the continuing traditional role of women
as primary homemaker.
Table 6: Members on control over work
statements? (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)
I have a high degree of control over how 36 41 9 10 5 2.08

I do my work
I have a lot of control over managing my 31 40 8 14 7 2.27

time at work
There are so many things to do at work, 33 28 8 22 9 2.47

I often run out of time before I get them
all done
My job is stressful 29 37 11 18 6 2.36
There are so many things to do at home, 40 30 6 17 7 2.19

I often run out of time before I get them
all done
My home life is not stressful 26 31 9 23 11 2.61
Focus group discussions gave an added perspective to these findings with

members expressing the view that deadlines at work were immovable, unlike
those at home, and therefore it was home life that tended to suffer when
the pressure was on. Furthermore, expected standards of behaviour at work
meant that people felt less able to confront stress while maintaining their
professionalism, but could let their guard down at home and sometimes
found themselves taking out frustrations on those around them.
Participants were universal in their view about the increasing intensity of

work, with the associated issue that work was no longer just nine-to-five, but
encroached on evenings and weekends. This in turn had led to participants
feeling ‘time squeezed’: trying to juggle paid work, voluntary work and
childcare responsibilities had become increasingly difficult. Those working
part-time, often because of caring for children, particularly felt under pressure
to work more hours or a different pattern of hours than contracted.
Having said this, just over half (56 per cent) of participants reported being
happy with their current work-life balance, although one in four (26 per cent)
reported that work was too demanding. Small numbers of participants (4 per
cent) felt that home was too demanding and similarly (4 per cent) that both
home and work are too demanding.
4.2 On the whole, members felt trusted by their managers to get on with their
Organisational work, but did not trust these managers as decision-makers, as shown by
culture and Table 7 below. There were no differences in views seen across the different
employer occupational groups, with even 44 per cent of managers and senior officials
integrity feeling that management were unreliable in keeping their promises.
Table 7: Members on organisational culture and employer integrity
statements? (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)
Management can be relied on to keep 10 29 14 25 22 3.20

their promises
My organisation puts the needs of its 33 40 11 10 6 2.16

customers first
These findings, although concerning, are not dissimilar to those reported

by the CIPD, where fewer than half the respondents said that they trust
their senior management or believe they have a clear vision of where the
organisation is going. 17 They are not as positive as those found in the second
17 Emmot M, ‘Am I Bothered?’, Impact, Issue 17, London, CIPD, October 2006
Workers’ Index 2005 18, where just over half (53 per cent) of public sector
workers felt that their senior team had a clear vision for their organisation.
This cynicism towards management was also evident in the view expressed
by focus group participants that it is a very one-sided relationship between
employer and employee: the employer expects the support of employees
to get the business done without reciprocating this support for members’
commitments outside work. Members appreciated the need to offer
appropriate service levels to customers, but were frustrated by the lack of
vision that management demonstrated in seeking win-win solutions for
employees and the organisation.
18 Coats D, Second Workers’ Index: The Work Foundation’s commentary, London, The Work Foundation, 2005
5 Work-life balance policies and
practice
Members and branch secretaries are convinced of the benefits of work-life

balance. However, our work suggests that a culture of high expectations has
been created – expectations that are often disappointed by employers’
lukewarm implementation of what might outwardly appear to be exemplary
policies. Certainly, progress has been made, but there can be no doubt that a
large gap remains between rhetoric and reality.
5.1 Employer On the face of it, public sector employers have apparently accepted the case
initiatives for work-life balance with some enthusiasm. For example, branch secretaries
reported that the employers they work with take work-life balance seriously:
• 43 per cent of employers had long-standing initiatives or projects
• 33 per cent had recently started to focus on the area
• 6 per cent had not yet undertaken any initiatives, but were likely to in the
near future
• 11 per cent had not undertaken any initiatives and were unlikely to in the
near future.
Overall, three-quarters of employers have initiatives or projects concerned

with work-life balance, working hours or flexibility, although one in ten do
not and have no plans to do so. There are some sectoral differences: just over
half (52 per cent) of organisations in the education sector had undertaken
initiatives, compared to other sectors where the majority (70 per cent and
higher) had initiatives.
Supporting other research 19, our survey found that flexible working is the
most popular work-life balance initiative, with three-quarters of employers
(75 per cent) offering flexible working to some or all staff. Table 8 shows the
breakdown for other initiatives among all the employers, indicating that job
sharing and home working are also popular.
19 For example, see the British Social Attitudes survey
WORK-LIFE BALANCE POLICIES AND PRACTICE
Table 8: Employer initiatives – reported by branch secretaries
Employer initiatives %
Flexible working 75
Job sharing 63
Home working 50
Time off for parents to care for sick children 44
Career breaks 43
Time off to care for people other than children 35
Term-time contracts 33
Childcare provision 32
Time off for parents to care for children when they are not sick 25
Other 10
5.2 Availability As Table 9 shows, members report a higher level of availability for all options
and promotion to except home working than the British Social Attitudes survey. This is in line
members with other findings from the British Social Attitudes Survey that employees
in the public sector generally report higher levels of availability, with the
exception of home working. Also supporting the findings, respondents to
the UNISON survey of members in the South East in managerial or senior
roles report higher levels of availability. And those working in elementary
occupations are less likely to have the different options available to them.
Men and women report similar levels of availability, although as we will
discuss, take-up of options does vary by gender.
Table 9: Comparing availability of options to members with the British

Social Attitudes survey findings
Work-life balance option Members: British Social Attitudes

offered availability (%) survey, 2004 (%)
Flexitime 53 49
Job sharing 52 38
Term-time working 32 24
Homeworking 19 24
The most interesting finding in terms of availability is the different levels of

availability reported by members and branch secretaries. To an extent, the
differences can be explained by the fact that branch secretaries are thinking
about the organisation as a whole, whereas members may only be able to
reflect on the area of organisation that they work in and their own job roles
in the organisation. Focus group participants in the same establishment
report different availability of options, for example.
However, the figures also suggest a lack of awareness of the options available
among members. This is part of the rhetoric-reality gap discussed earlier
where employers say they are committed to work-life balance and offer
policies to back this up, but fail at the implementation stage, meaning that
employees do not benefit from their employer’s commitment to work-life
balance.
This rhetoric-reality gap is corroborated by discussions in the focus groups

where members expressed their belief that employers were wilfully evasive
about informing their employees of options available to them through tactics
like burying policies on intranets and using language that does not simply
convey the information that employees are looking for. This communication
failure is recognised by branch secretaries, who see a role for UNISON here:
70 per cent thought that UNISON should do more in raising awareness
among members.
While the lack of communication is concerning, it is also a finding from other

research. The DTI’s Work-Life Balance Employees’ Survey 20 conducted in 2006
found little change in reported availability of work-life balance options even
though WERS 2004 21 found significant increases as reported by employers.
This should be a wake-up call to employers and to UNISON – the message
is not getting through.
5.3 Policies in The surveys also revealed a gap between the options offered and take-up.
practice: take-up Table 10 shows what members report as being on offer alongside take-up
of options rates and figures from the British Social Attitudes survey for national
comparison.
20 Hooker H, Neathey F, Casebourne J and Munro M, The Third Work-Life Balance Employees’ Survey: Executive summary, London,
DTI, 2006
21 Kersley B, Alpin C, Forth J, Bryson A, Bewley H, Dix G and Oxenbridge S, Inside the Workplace: First findings from the 2004
Workplace Employment Relations Survey, London, DTI, 2005
Table 10: Members’ take-up of options available versus take-up in the

British Social Attitudes survey
Organisations Have used Like to use Not of interest Not applicable British Social
offering option (%) but not done (%) (%) Attitudes
(% – from so yet survey
members’ survey) (%) (%)
Flexible hours 53 69 16 10 5 67
Job sharing 52 16 25 48 11 24
Working from home 19 51 16 13 20 69
Term-time contracts 32 26 17 27 31 37
Time off for sick children 64 25 30 13 33 –
Time off to care for 51 23 29 14 34 –

children
Time off to care for 48 34 44 11 12 –

others
With the exception of flexible hours, UNISON members are less likely to have
taken up the option of job sharing and working at home than the national
labour market (as measured by the British Social Attitudes survey). This may
be explained in part by the sectors represented by UNISON, which
predominantly employ customer-facing staff with no option of working at
home. However, even where individual jobs may be suitable for home
working, organisations may be reluctant to enable it to happen because they
are not geared up for the implications of home working. The lower likelihood
of job sharing and home working may also reflect social and economic
factors, such as the proportion of low-paid, part-time women working across
the public services that UNISON represents.
There are also differences in take-up between men and women comparable
to those found in the British Social Attitudes survey, as Table 11 shows.
Women are more likely to take up work-life balance options with the
exception of home working, which is used by the more office-based, less
customer-facing occupational groups of managers, professionals and
associated professionals. Half (50 per cent) of the male respondents work
in these occupations, as compared to a third of the female respondents
(33 per cent).
Table 11: Members – gender differences in take-up rates
Option Level of take-up: Level of take-up: British Social British Social

men women Attitudes survey Attitudes survey
(%) (%) level of take-up: level of take-up:
father (%) mother (%)
Flexible hours 31 39 34 44
Job sharing 3 10 2 17
Working from home 10 9 21 18
Term-time contracts 5 10 7 21
Time off for sick children 10 18 – –
Time off to care for children 11 12 – –
Time off to care for others 12 18 – –
5.4 Unmet We asked members which options they would like to have access to and
demand discovered significant levels of unmet demand. Members indicated that they
would make use of certain options if they were available. In particular, there is
demand for the opportunity to work flexible hours, as shown by Table 12, and
for time off to care for others.
Table 12: Members’ unmet demand for work-life balance options
Organisations Take–up of option

not offering option if it were available
(%) (%)
Time off to care for others 52 71

Flexible hours 47 70
Time off for sick children 36 44
Time off to care for children 49 39
Job sharing 48 37
Working from home 81 37
Term-time contracts 68 36
Branch secretaries also recognise that there is unmet demand among

members more generally: two-thirds (66 per cent) felt that employers should
extend work-life balance options to those without children to help them
achieve a better work-life balance.
Focus group discussions mentioned studying, voluntary work, childcare,

eldercare and large-scale personal projects as major commitments outside
of paid work. Demand to take time off to care for others is likely to grow in
the future. Many participants anticipated that, in particular, they will be
responsible for caring for elderly relatives. In part, this is explained by the
demographic of both UNISON members and focus group participants – a
large proportion of whom were women aged over 40. However, it also
reflects a more general demographic trend that employers will need to
consider when planning future work-life balance initiatives.
6 Impact of work-life balance policies
and practice
As we have discussed, UNISON members report significant levels of unmet

demand and are less likely to take up the available options when compared
to the wider workforce. This section considers how these areas of shortfall
translate into members’ experience of their working arrangements.
As Table 13 shows, three-quarters of members (75 per cent) reported that

they were happy with their working arrangements. This is higher than the
number of focus group participants satisfied solely with their work-life
balance (56 per cent), indicating that there are a number of factors involved
in overall satisfaction with working arrangements. Just over half of
respondents could make choices about their working arrangements, although
two in five could not, and a large proportion (76 per cent) feel comfortable
talking to their manager about these. There was no significant difference
between men and women. Those who worked the longest hours (more than
41 hours a week) were less happy with their working arrangements than
those who worked fewer than 30 hours a week (66 per cent compared to
83 per cent), although there were no differences in the extent to which they
felt they could make a choice about their working arrangements or how
comfortable they felt in talking to their line manager.
IMPACT OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE POLICIES AND PRACTICE
Table 13: Members on satisfaction with working arrangements
statements? (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)
I am happy with my current working 34 41 8 11 6 2.13

arrangements
I can make choices about my current 15 36 9 27 13 2.87

working arrangements
I feel comfortable discussing changes to 33 43 5 13 8 2.20

my working arrangements with my
manager
My manager trusts me to get on with 57 38 2 2 2 1.53

my work
My line manager inspires me to do a 20 34 14 19 13 2.73

better job
Three-quarters of members feel comfortable discussing changes with their

managers. Yet focus group discussions revealed that members saw line
managers as the key barrier or enabler to a change in working arrangements.
As one participant put it: ‘[ There’s] no point in having an "option"; it won’t
make any difference – it’s down to the manager.’ Therefore, it would appear
that members may be able to initiate a discussion about working
arrangements, but do not feel that the decision made will necessarily reflect
the work-life balance policies in place in the organisation.
6.1 Matching Most members report being happy on the whole with their working
rhetoric to arrangements. However, almost two in ten are not happy, and this should
reality: what are be seen in light of members reporting an increasing intensity of work, which
the barriers? has implications for how they manage home and work responsibilities. In
addition, those taking up part-time working arrangements are finding that
their workloads, or how their jobs are designed and managed, create pressure
for them to work additional hours or take on more than their part-time hours
would allow them to complete.
This section explores the barriers that are preventing UNISON members from
having a work-life balance or from seeing the benefits of changed ways of
working.
6.1.1 Insufficient The finding that four out of ten branch secretaries feel that the work-life
employer balance options offered to employees are not genuine choices raises the
commitment to question of how committed employers really are to helping their employees
work-life balance achieve work-life balance.
Focus group participants suspected their employers of concealing

information about work-life balance policies. Despite the activity around
work-life balance initiatives reported earlier, only a quarter (24 per cent)
of branch secretaries believe employers are committed to helping their
employees achieve a balance, while half of them think employers are not
at all committed to this (see Table 14).
Branch secretaries therefore believe that employers could do more: almost

half of them feel that the flexible working options on offer are restrictive
(47 per cent) and only a quarter (23 per cent) feel that their employer
receives requests to change working patterns positively. Just under half
(48 per cent) feel that part-time staff do not have equal access to career
progression, particularly worrying given that this disproportionately affects
women (92 per cent of member respondents working part-time are women).
Members also reflected that employers could do more to demonstrate their

commitment to work-life balance. For example, half of respondents believed
that management are committed to work-life balance, but this means that
the remaining half are either unsure or disagree. A number of members who
participated in focus groups felt that senior management paid lip service to
the ideas of work-life balance, offering sympathy but not enough practical
help. Some felt that senior managers make gestures for ‘brownie points’
rather than as a means to supporting individuals and teams to balance work
with other commitments.
Table 14: Branch secretaries on employer commitment to work-life

balance
How strongly do you agree or disagree Agree Agree Neither agree Disagree Disagree Mean
with the following statements about strongly nor disagree strongly
working arrangements in relation to (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)
the employer?
Employees with family commitments have 4 33 29 29 5 2.96

equal career opportunities in the
workplace
Part-time staff have equal access to career 4 27 21 37 11 3.24

progression
Work-life balance options are only 2 37 23 30 8 3.05

available to parents or carers
All staff have access to flexible working 2 26 11 45 16 3.48

arrangements
Requests to change working patterns 1 22 39 32 6 3.21

are received positively by the employer
The flexible working options on offer 14 33 26 27 1 2.69

are restrictive
The employer doesn’t do enough to 11 41 21 24 4 2.70

enable people to pursue education
or training opportunities
Management are committed to helping 0 24 27 39 11 3.24

employees achieve a good work-life
balance
Consistency of arrangements was also a common issue raised by focus group

participants. Although it was recognised that some jobs lend themselves
more easily than others to different working arrangements, many participants
expressed a view that favouritism was a factor in whether a manager granted
a request.
6.1.2 Balancing care Members were asked for their views on career progression in relation to
and work can have a caring responsibilities. Of the 53 per cent of members with caring
perceived impact on responsibilities (for children, elderly relatives and others):
career progression • 10 per cent thought their caring responsibilities had got in the way of
their progress at work a great deal
• 20 per cent a little
• 14 per cent not very much
• 55 per cent not at all
• 1 per cent didn’t know.
This picture is very positive: around two-thirds of those with caring

responsibilities felt that these did not get in the way of their career
progression. However, as with satisfaction with working arrangements, a
sizeable minority felt that their career progression had been affected by their
role as carers. While it is difficult to disentangle whether the obstacles lay in
the responsibilities themselves or in how employers supported those with
caring responsibilities, these findings do indicate that for whatever reason
30 per cent of those with caring responsibilities thought that their career
development had been restrained because of these caring responsibilities.
The proportion of those who felt that their caring responsibilities had
affected their ability to fulfil their job role to a greater or limited extent was
slightly higher (41 per cent) and there is a strong correlation between the
two 22, ie those who report that their career had been affected are also those
who report that caring responsibilities have compromised their ability to
fulfil their role.
This was an issue explored in focus group discussions. For example, one
participant described their work in a 24-7 organisation that operates in shifts.
She reported that there is an unwritten policy that employees must work the
longer (12-hour) shift in order to qualify for career progression. Those with
caring responsibilities for whom the shorter (8-hour) shift would better
enable them to balance work with caring responsibilities must make a choice
between their career and caring.
22 Significant at the 0.01 level
6.1.3 Available Another cause of members’ dissatisfaction with their working arrangements
work-life balance may result from the discrepancy between what arrangements would be
options are not useful to them and what is offered by their employer.
always
appropriate It is interesting that the work-life balance initiatives that employers pursue,
reported earlier, are not necessarily those that employees desire. Besides
flexible hours, the demand from members was found to be particularly for
time off to care for people other than children, both from members where
it was already available and where it wasn’t (78 per cent and 71 per cent
respectively). However, branch secretaries report that only about a third of
their employers (35 per cent) have addressed this wish. Conversely, members
saw job sharing as less useful (41 per cent and 37 per cent respectively),
although more than six out of ten employers have an initiative in this area.
This may reflect the financial reality of job sharing for individuals.
The British Social Attitudes survey distinguishes between flexible practices

offered by an employer and that employer’s flexible ethos. The split between
what members demand and what employers deliver relates to the flexible
ethos and lends support to the branch secretary view that many employers
are not genuinely committed to helping their staff achieve work-life balance.
6.1.4 Supporting other research in this area 23, the biggest barrier identified by
Organisational members was line management. Line managers play a role as ‘gate keepers’
culture in blocking communication about work-life balance options, in creating a
culture of inflexibility and in reinforcing perceptions that asking for changes
in working arrangements may jeopardise future career prospects. Workload
and resources are also key issues whereby people have too much work and
so work long hours. If they work in a team, then they are aware of the added
burden for colleagues if they make use of their work-life balance options.
However, it is important to remember that UNISON members are managers

too and so have a role to play in supporting the organisation’s leaders in
setting the tone. This may involve including the handling of flexible working
as part of the performance objectives for operational managers. Placing the
management of work-life balance on the performance agenda will also
require more support for managers, as well as increased organisational
awareness of their management skills base and whether their current
23 Bloom et al, Work-Life Balance, Management Practices and Productivity, Centre for Economic Performance, January 2006
managers can cope with flexibility. One route to achieving this is ensuring
that organisational policies are joined up rather than contradictory.
6.2 Comparisons It is worth reiterating that the majority of UNISON members are satisfied with
with other their jobs and working arrangements and do not feel that their careers have
studies: what are been adversely affected by caring responsibilities. However, as discussed,
the common there is a sizeable minority for whom work-life balance is not a reality due to
barriers? a number of barriers. This project’s findings underline the barriers highlighted
in other studies.
Previous research on work-life balance has found a number of obstacles to

both the successful implementation of policies and to the wider expected
outcomes of improved productivity, staff morale and individuals feeling that
the balance between work and the rest of their life is about right.
6.2.1 Culture and Despite the popularity of work-life balance initiatives, the dominant model
climate of working practices in organisations is often inflexible. In some organisations,
the view that flexible working is a deviation from the norm persists. Full-time
work with fixed hours is often seen as the norm with ‘presenteeism’ being the
measure of a valuable employee rather than the value of their contribution. 24
In some organisations there is a culture of shunning flexible working
practices even if they are available since the perception is that ‘strong players’
or ‘good employees’ are those who put work first over family. The use of
flexible working practices may be seen as weak and suggestive of a lack of
commitment to the job.
In a study of the accountancy profession, socialising outside work was seen

as a key route to showing commitment and therefore a route to career
progression. Flexible working is regarded as restricting these practices and
employees have had their commitment openly challenged on the basis of
their desire to work flexibly to fulfil family responsibilities. There are even
judgements made about the reasons that people work flexibly. In one
instance a worker was working part-time, but he also had another job where
he spent the rest of his time, which was seen more favourably than a worker
who worked part-time due to family commitments. 25
The effects of the culture and climate of an organisation towards flexible

working are also reflected in the behaviour and attitudes of managers.
24 Equal Opportunities Commission, Britain’s Hidden Brain Drain – Final Report: The EOC’s investigation into flexible and part-time
working, EOC, 2005
25 Smithson et al, ‘Flexible Working and the Gender Pay Gap in the Accountancy Profession’, Work, Employment & Society, Vol 18
No 1, pp115-135, 2004
6.2.2 Managerial The rhetoric-reality gap will never be closed until managers know how to
ability to make these policies work in practice. This is not to say that managers are
implement wholly to blame for the present impasse. It is more a matter of organisational
policies and be innovation getting ahead of management skill. Therefore, continually
a positive role improving the management skill base is essential for successful
model implementation. The supportiveness of managers can increase the success
and uptake of policies and a lack of support can have the reverse effect. Yet
managers often lack the skills to implement policies effectively and little
training is being carried out to help managers learn how to manage flexible
working, even where HR departments accept the skill deficit of managers.26
Managers themselves report a reluctance to implement strategies as they

feel it takes up more time to manage those using flexible working practices.
In addition to the ability to manage flexible arrangements a supportive
attitude is essential. Managerial communication and implicit assumptions
about what good performance looks like often support a traditional way of
working and undermine flexible working initiatives. A manager’s own use
of flexible working arrangements sends a clear message to employees about
what is expected and acceptable in terms of use of work-life balance policies.
All types of communication, including body language, informal comments
and personal use of the policies together with formal verbal and written
messages, contribute to the signals being sent to employees.
6.2.3 Perceived Stevens et al argue that the take-up of flexible working, particularly part-time
and real negative working, is limited by employee concern for job security, career prospects and
impact on career feasibility for the implementation of certain practices (eg the job won’t allow
and finances it). 27 Furthermore, research has shown that managers can underestimate the
skill and commitment of part-time employees and under-utilise them. Part-
time workers also miss out on training opportunities. A 2005 study reported
that part-time employees are approximately 40 per cent less likely to receive
training than full-time workers. 28 This has implications for long-term career
opportunities and financial prospects.
Survey results from the DTI following the ‘right to request’ legislation show
that 56 per cent of respondents who had changed their working pattern
reported a negative consequence. Not all the consequences are simply
26 EOC, Ibid
27 Stevens et al, The Second Work-Life Balance Survey: Results from the employees’ survey, Employment Relations Research Series No
27, Department of Trade and Industry, 2004
28 Francesconi M and Gosling A, Career Paths of Part-Time Workers, EOC Working Paper Series No 19, EOC, 2005
related to an inevitable reduction in pay from reduced hours. 29 For example,

employees returning from maternity cover expressing a wish for flexible
working have been downgraded or passed by for promotion. 30 Furthermore,
the report found that flexible working options, particularly part-time working,
often results in pension penalties, reducing the financially viable
opportunities for employees to take up flexible working arrangements.
6.2.4 Lack of Good communication and trust between employees and managers is key to
effective the success of any strategy. 31 Just as managers might not have the right skill
communication set or attitude, employees might also be unrealistic about what is achievable.
about policies Both need to work together to assess what is feasible. Lack of effective
communication around policies can also result in a lack of awareness of
policies or a belief that they are only applicable to certain types of
employees.
29 Holt H and Grainger H, Results of the Second Flexible Working Employee Survey, DTI Employment Relations Research Series No
39, DTI, 2005
30 EOC, Ibid
31 EOC, Ibid
7 The way forward
So, given these barriers and the extent of the frustrations with employers, it
becomes apparent that there is still some way to go in reaching a position
where the needs of employers, employees and service users are reconciled to
the advantage, or at least satisfaction, of all parties. In this section, we explore
views on what employees believe employers can do to help move towards a
more balanced position, and the role that UNISON could or should adopt in
assisting this process.
7.1 What more Branch secretaries were asked what else they felt employers could reasonably
could employers provide to support employees in achieving a better work-life balance (see
do? Table 15). The most frequently chosen – by two-thirds of respondents (68%) –
was a greater flexibility in working arrangements and a recognition perhaps
that there is no such thing as one-size-fits-all for work-life balance. Many also
felt that extending options to those without children was also important, in
line with the view that work-life balance is relevant to everybody, not just
those with childcare responsibilities. Just 4 per cent said that their employers
were already doing all that they could, commensurate with the finding that
most branch secretaries felt that their employers were not committed to
helping employees get the balance right.
Table 15: Branch secretaries on what employers can reasonably do to

support employees achieve a better work-life balance
Greater flexibility in working arrangements 68

Extending work-life balance options to those without children 66
Better pay and conditions 57
Better information about parental leave 53
More support for parents to arrange childcare 48
More support for parents to pay for childcare 46
Better maternity or paternity leave offerings 39
Nothing – the employer already does as much as could be expected 4
Branch secretaries made comments relating to better communication of

policies and the options available, as well as better consideration by the
employer of the needs of neglected groups, such as those with eldercare
responsibilities. These were also issues that were of concern to members,
THE WAY FORWARD
as shown in Table 16, which ranks initiatives according to the perceived

impact they would make (the most helpful first).
Table 16: Members on the extent to which certain initiatives would help
them better balance their lives
Ranking
Listen to and take on board employees’ suggestions 1

Communicate better the work-life balance options available 2
Offer the option of part-time working during retirement =3
Make the process of applying for a new working pattern easier =3
Approve more requests for flexible working =3
Extend entitlement so more employees have the opportunity
to take up flexible working options 6
Getting managers to model behaviours =7
Make current options more flexible, eg to allow occasional working from home =7
Extend the range of flexible working options 9
Once again, the desire for better communication ranks highly, along with
the desire for a dialogue on work-life balance and for views being taken on
board. In fact, members were more concerned with the processes associated
with implementation than with extending the range of flexible working
options available. Interestingly, members did not feel that managers
modelling appropriate behaviours, such as leaving on time, would help
people with their own work-life balance, despite this being a key enabler
found in other studies. This is perhaps a reflection of the cynicism with which
members view management, but should be treated with caution as it may be
a case of ‘not seen it yet and not sure it would happen’. If senior managers
did work flexibly, then it would communicate effectively that these policies
are available, demonstrate commitment and could start people thinking
about designing jobs that respond to employer and employee needs.
7.2 What can Members and branch secretaries felt strongly that work-life balance is an
UNISON do? issue for UNISON and an area that needs more support. There was also
recognition that communication between employers and employees is an
issue, with seven out of ten branch secretaries agreeing that UNISON should
raise awareness among members (see Table 17).
THE WAY FORWARD
Table 17: Branch secretaries on what else UNISON could do to support

members to achieve a better work-life balance
Advice on negotiating work-life balance provision 73

Raising awareness among members 70
Information on legal rights 66
Sharing best practice 60
Signposting bargaining resources 49
Nothing – UNISON is already on the right track 7
The role of UNISON was also discussed in the focus groups. Members
primarily saw a collective role for UNISON rather than one working with
individual members – for example in supporting requests for flexible working
– particularly around:
• making the case to an employer about the benefits of introducing work-life
balance policies
• consulting with the employer about the issues and problems that
individuals face in trying to achieve a work-life balance
• providing examples of work-life balance practices that other organisations
have introduced.
8 What are the remaining challenges?
The findings from this study paint a rich picture of the experiences of
UNISON members as they strive to juggle their responsibilities at home and
work. Different experiences were reported by men and women in line with
findings from other reports (eg the British Social Attitudes survey), with
women bearing the brunt of caring responsibilities, making more use of
work-life balance arrangements where available and being on the whole
more positive about their working experience.
The findings show that many members feel they have an appropriate work-
life balance:
• There is strong support for the concept of work-life balance and an
understanding of its potential benefits for employers among members
and branch secretaries
• Three-quarters of employers have implemented work-life balance initiatives,
with there being a wider availability of options in UNISON workplaces than
in general
• Seven out of ten members are satisfied with their jobs and three-quarters
are happy with their working arrangements.
Although the majority of employers and employees appear to be making

good progress in addressing work-life balance issues, there is still a significant
minority for whom working arrangements are less satisfactory:
• Despite plenty of activity by employers in this area, a significant proportion
of respondents felt that employers are not committed to work-life balance
and this finding is underpinned by high levels of mistrust of senior
management
• This is likely to be exacerbated by the poor communication of work-life
balance arrangements by employers to employees
• Comparisons to the British Social Attitudes survey reveal that take-up of
options is lower among UNISON members than the wider workforce,
despite higher availability
• While members are generally satisfied with how they work, four out of
ten members report that they cannot make choices about their working
arrangements, which leads to questions about whether members have
sufficient labour market power to make decisions about work-life balance.
So, what are the challenges that the findings suggest for employers,
employees and UNISON in moving the work-life balance debate forward?
This section considers this question and suggests recommendations to
address the challenges.
WHAT ARE THE REMAINING CHALLENGES?
Based on our analysis, we would argue that there are five key challenges to
realising the benefits of work-life balance. These challenges are not mutually
exclusive. Each one is interlinked and raises issues pertinent to UNISON, its
members and their employers, considering the roles and responsibilities of
each party. However, the uniting context in which all these challenges need
to be understood is organisational culture, which as other research in this
area has shown can act as a major barrier to work-life balance initiatives
succeeding and the benefits of such initiatives being realised. This is an issue
not just for individual organisations, but also for sectors (where there can be
endemic cultures of inflexibility and/or long-hours working) and for the UK
as a whole.
8.1 Challenge Our survey findings suggest that poor communication results in members
one: Employers having lower levels of awareness of the options available. This can lead to
do not members doubting the integrity of senior management as they feel that
adequately and communication is opaque. The factors contributing to this challenge include:
transparently • organisational culture
communicate • apathy about changing the status quo
about work-life • reluctance and fear around how to manage a flood of requests if work-life
balance balance initiatives were better communicated (risk management).
Implications for action include:

• Employers: need to consider their business issues (eg the need to respond
to customers/citizens, and recruit and retain staff ) and the risks of not
responding; review how work-life balance policies might help them
respond; and invest time in developing a transparent approach to
communicating work-life balance initiatives
• UNISON: there is an opportunity to play a more pivotal role in helping
members and employers to understand and obtain information about
work-life balance
• Members: have a responsibility to be proactive in finding out information
and be partners rather than victims.
Recommendation for UNISON: UNISON should work with employers on

developing and understanding the business case and how best to
communicate this to make it accessible to members.
8.2 Challenge There is a mismatch between what employers offer and what members want.
two: Employers The key factors contributing to this are:
are pursuing • employers take the easy route with a one-size-fits-all approach
inappropriate • organisational size tends to restrict imagination and result in limited
work-life balance thinking
arrangements • the options offered, such as part-time working, are those commonly cited
in available work-life balance information and thus may be inappropriate
solutions – all too often organisations don’t ask the workforce what they
would like
• poor implementation of work-life balance initiatives with employers paying
lip service to change and not engaging in dialogue and consultation with
employees.
Implications for action include:

• Employers: there is a need for employers to understand better the pitfalls
as well as the benefits of work-life balance – and to ask their workforce
what options would work for them
• UNISON: there is an opportunity to play a partnership role in broadening
thinking and pushing a more honest approach to work-life balance issues,
as well as encouraging employee consultation
• Members: need to take the opportunity to engage with employers, both
indirectly via UNISON and directly via line managers.
Recommendation for UNISON: UNISON to reshape its role and build

confidence through facilitating dialogue between members and employers
about work-life balance, focusing on the challenges as well as the benefits.
8.3 Challenge Particular demand for the opportunity to work flexible hours and to have
three: There are time off to care for people other than children was found among members.
high levels of Contributing factors include:
unmet demand • employer concerns over their ability to manage large numbers of non-
for some work- standard working patterns
life balance • a lack of recognition of the wants and needs of employees who do not
options that go have responsibilities for young children
beyond the • no legislation that these employees can rely on to coerce employers.
current ‘family
friendly’ Implications for action include:
approach • Employers: need to recognise the potential for damaged employee
relations and reduced levels of discretionary effort if work-life balance
does not go beyond the family friendly. They need to think about the needs
of their whole workforce and consider how they can reconcile unmet
demand for work-life balance options with the priorities of the organisation
and its service users
• UNISON: members without children do not have access to the work-life
balance arrangements that would suit their needs – parents have in the
past been well represented on this issue, but there is a need now to extend
this to people without children. UNISON needs to lead the way in
broadening work-life balance beyond a debate for parents
• Members: need to avoid falling into the trap of resenting colleagues who
may have better access to work-life balance options and focus on using
their voice via UNISON and having a constructive dialogue with managers.
Recommendation for UNISON: UNISON can play a key role in broadening

the traditional family-friendly focus to cover other members.
8.4 Challenge Managerial behaviour and attitudes are both influenced by and are influences
four: Managers on organisational culture. While research has shown that management role-
act as barriers to modelling of good work-life balance behaviours is an enabler in helping staff
members manage home and work, the more fundamental requirement is the shift in
achieving attitude from managing work to managing people. Research has also shown
appropriate that line managers are a major influence on employee satisfaction.
work-life balance Contributing factors include:
• work organisation and job design are high enough on the list when it
comes to ensuring work-life balance policies work, but not when it comes
to organisations providing support to managers
• many line managers lack sufficient decision-making power to grant
authority and enable changes to working arrangements
• the hierarchy and processes inherent in most large organisations mean that
there are no incentives for managers to act differently or to think creatively
about changing working arrangements
• people are still managed on inputs, not outputs, because they are easier to
monitor, leading to the persistence of presenteeism
• lack of consistent responses to requests for work-life balance arrangements
from employees.
Implications for action:

• Employers: need to consider managers’ skills, including the handling of
flexible working arrangements as a performance objective. Employers also
need to ensure that the consistency of flexible working practice

implementation is assessed, and that this assessment is acted on
• UNISON: the membership base includes managers, which means that
UNISON has a part to play in ensuring that managers are supported in
developing the skills needed to manage flexible working arrangements.
Recommendation for UNISON: Having articulated the business case for

work-life balance, employers need to equip managers with the relevant skills
to manage people, and to match the objectives of work-life balance initiatives
with other performance objectives in the organisation.
8.5 Challenge Although members reported home life was ultimately a higher priority than
five: Pressure on work, on a day-to-day level it is home life that suffers as people struggle to
resources hinders fulfil work demands, particularly workload. Contributing factors include:
people from • the intensification of work
getting a work- • higher expectations from the public about the quality and range of public
life balance services
• structural change and headcount reduction in response to decreasing
budgets
• high usage of temporary contracts
• employer expectations about the usefulness of ICT.
This has implications for action:

• Employers: there is a need to introduce work-life balance initiatives as part
of a response to specific business issues. Only then will sufficient time and
financial resources be invested
• UNISON: UNISON needs to raise awareness of the business case for work-
life balance.
Recommendations for UNISON: More focus on achieving greater employee

involvement in decisions over staffing patterns, and more honest discussions
about rising expectations and how to create responsive public services.
8.6 Conclusions Much progress on work-life balance has been made over the last ten years,
of which UNISON and its members have been a part. Increasingly, some of
the myths are being challenged. This project has provided UNISON with an
update on how this progress has translated into practice and has raised many
questions about what actually happens on the ground. There is still much to
be done in broadening the work-life balance debate from being one about
accommodating individual arrangements to reforming the organisation.
Implicit in this is a reconfiguration of the relationship between employer
and employee and thereby the roles and responsibilities that each party has
in the delivery of the organisation’s objectives.
All of the challenges above explicitly or implicitly indicate that UNISON has
an important part to play in the work-life balance debate. We would argue
based on the survey findings that UNISON has a clear role to play in:
• Changing the terms of the debate: moving work-life balance from
being regarded primarily as a gender or parenting issue; talking about
the challenges and how they may be overcome, as well as the potential
benefits; developing specialist work-life balance expertise in UNISON to
contribute to implementing change
• Focusing on the collective elements of work-life balance policies to
support a move away from tinkering around the edges by looking at
individual needs towards a more holistic view of developing and
implementing new ways of working.
By taking these leads, UNISON has the opportunity to revitalise this debate
and lead the way in pushing for reality to match the rhetoric.
Bibliography
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Social Attitudes, London, NatCen, 2005
Bloom et al, Work-Life Balance, Management Practices and Productivity, Centre

for Economic Performance, January 2006
Coats D, Second Workers’ Index: The Work Foundation’s commentary, London,

The Work Foundation, 2005
Emmot M, ‘Am I Bothered?’, Impact, Issue 17, London, CIPD, October 2006
Equal Opportunities Commission, Britain’s Hidden Brain Drain – Final Report:

The EOC’s investigation into flexible and part-time working, EOC, 2005
Francesconi M and Gosling A, Career Paths of Part-Time Workers, EOC Working

Paper Series No 19, 2005
Holt H and Grainger H, Results of the Second Flexible Working Employee Survey,
DTI Employment Relations Research Series No 39, DTI, 2005
Hooker H, Neathey F, Casebourne J and Munro M, The Third Work-Life Balance

Employees’ Survey: Executive summary, London, DTI, 2006
Jones A and Williams L, Why ICT?: The role of ICT in public services, London,
The Work Foundation, 2005
Kersley B, Alpin C, Forth J, Bryson A, Bewley H, Dix G and Oxenbridge S, Inside

the Workplace: First findings from the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations
Survey, London, DTI, 2005
Lewis S, ‘Flexible Working Arrangements: Implementation, outcomes and

management’ in Cooper C L and Robertson I (eds), Annual Review of Industrial
and Organisational Psychology, Wiley, 2003
Marmot M, Status Syndrome: How our position on the social gradient affects
longevity and health, London, Bloomsbury, 2004
Neault R, That Elusive Work-Life Balance!, Canada, NATCON Papers, 2005
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Rajan A et al, Harnessing Workforce Diversity to Raise the Bottom Line, CREATE,
2003
Smithson et al, ‘Flexible Working and the Gender Pay Gap in the Accountancy
Profession’, Work, Employment & Society, Vol 18 No 1, pp115-135, 2004
Stevens et al, The Second Work-Life Balance Survey: Results from the employees’
survey, Employment Relations Research Series No 27, Department of Trade
and Industry, 2004
TUC, A Perfect Union?: What workers want from unions, London, 2003
Williams L, Overcoming the Barriers to Flexible Working, London, The Work

Foundation, 2005
Wise S, Work-Life Balance and Careers in the NHS – Nursing and Midwifery,
Edinburgh, Employment Research Institute, Napier University, 2004
Appendix A
Methodology and survey sample
The findings presented in this report are based on:

• a literature review conducted by Dr Michelle Mahdon, researcher at The
Work Foundation
• a telephone survey of 1,000 UNISON members conducted by IFF Research
on behalf of The Work Foundation in May 2006
• an online survey run by The Work Foundation of 112 UNISON branch
secretaries
• four focus groups conducted by The Work Foundation. Mixed sectors were
represented at those held in London and Manchester; higher education in
Leeds; and healthcare in Walsall. A total of 27 people attended the four
groups. Workbooks were used alongside facilitated discussion.
About the survey Members’ survey

respondents Respondents to the members’ survey seem broadly to reflect the profile of
UNISON members. They were mostly female, married and aged over 40, with
the overwhelming majority being white British. Just over half have caring
responsibilities, mostly for children. Sixty-four per cent of the sample work
full-time and 36 per cent work part-time, and 40 per cent have formal
responsibility for supervising other employees. Table A gives a detailed
breakdown of the sample profile.
APPENDIX A: METHODOLOGY AND SURVEY SAMPLE
Table A: Profile of respondents to the members’ survey
Demographic variables (%)
Gender Male 28
Female 72
Age 16-19 0.2
20-29 8.1
30-39 18.6
40-49 33.8
50-65 38.7
65+ 0.6
Ethnicity White British 92.4
White Irish 1.8
All other ethnic backgrounds 5.8
Marital status Married 69
Living with partner 8
Single 15
Divorced/separated 7
Widowed 1
Caring responsibilities Yes 53
No 47
Children under 6 14
Children aged 6-16 32
Elderly relatives 14
Other relatives 6
Anyone else 2
N=1,000
Large numbers of respondents were:

• located in the North: North West, Scotland, Yorkshire & Humberside
• in associate professional and technical, or administrative secretarial
occupations
• in the health and education sectors (about three-quarters), reflecting
UNISON’s membership base.
Further details about the survey sample are provided in the tables below.
Table B: Member survey respondents by region
Region (%)
South West 10
South East 5
London 5
East of England 5
Wales 8
West Midlands 9
East Midlands 8
Yorkshire & Humberside 10
North West 17
North East 7
Scotland 14
Northern Ireland 2
Table C: Member survey respondents by occupation
Occupation (%)
Managers and senior officials 9

Personal service occupations 19
Professional occupations 5
Sales and customer service occupations 3
Associate professionals and technical occupations 23
Process, plane and machine operatives 2
Administrative and secretarial occupations 22
Elementary occupations 14
Skilled trades occupations 2
Table D: Member survey respondents by sector
Sector (%)
Health 42
Education 32
Local government 5
Utilities 3
Housing 5
Voluntary sector 4
Other 9
Branch secretaries’ survey

Respondents to the branch secretaries’ survey were also mostly aged over
40, although equally likely to be male or female. About a third (31 per cent)
described themselves as branch stewards, four out of ten (42 per cent) as
branch secretaries and the remainder as ‘other’. This often included treasurer,
learning rep, branch chair or H&S rep, sometimes as supplementary roles to
that of branch steward or secretary.
Table E: Profile of respondents to the branch secretaries’ survey
Demographic variables (%)
Gender Male 48
Female 52
Age 16-19 0.0
20-29 2.7
30-39 21.4
40-49 31.3
50-65 43.8
65+ 0.9
Role at UNISON Branch steward 31
Branch secretary 42
Other 27
Unlike member respondents, the overwhelming majority of branch secretary

respondents came from England, particularly the North East and South East,
and a far greater number work for local government, although health and
education are also well represented.
Table F: Branch secretaries’ survey respondents by region
Region (%)
South West 9
South East 15
London 10
East of England 7
Wales 4
West Midlands 8
East Midlands 4
Yorkshire & Humberside 6
North West 13
North East 15
Scotland 9
Northern Ireland 0
Table G: Branch secretaries’ survey respondents by sector
Sector (%)
Health 11
Education 21
Local government 59
Utilities 6
Other 3
Because of the sectoral differences between member and branch secretary

respondents, the data was filtered so that only health, education and local
government sectors were included when analysing questions relating to
workplace perceptions.
Appendix B
Glossary of work-life balance terms
• Annual hours: Hours are calculated annually. Majority of shifts are

allocated. Workers can be called in at short notice to work remaining hours
• Compressed working hours: Cover total working hours in fewer days
• Flexi-time: Choosing when to work outside core hours
• Home working/teleworking: All or part of week spent working from
home or off premises
• Job sharing: Full-time post is split across two workers who agree hours
between them
• Part-time working: Working less than standard basic hours/full-time hours
(usually fewer than 30 hours a week)
• Sabbatical/career break: Extended period of time off (paid/unpaid)
• Self-rostering: Staff nominate their preferred shifts and shifts are allocated
as far as possible to fit these preferences
• Shift swapping: Workers arrange shifts between themselves, provided all
hours are covered
• Staggered hours: Different start and finish hours among workers
• Term-time working: Permanent contract where workers can take time
off (paid/unpaid) during school holidays
• Time off in lieu (TOIL): Time off to compensate for extra hours worked
• V-time working: Hours can be reduced for a short period of time (usually
several months) on the basis of resuming full-time hours at the end of the
period
• Zero-hours contracts: Only work (and are paid for) the hours needed
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, and/or otherwise without the prior written
permission of the publishers. This report may not be lent, resold, hired out
or otherwise disposed of by way of trade in any form, binding or cover other
than that in which it is published without prior consent of the publisher.
We provide:
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© The Work Foundation
Registered as a charity no: 290003
First published: December 2006
ISBN No: 1 84373 030 8
The Work Foundation

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Work-life balance:

Rhetoric versus reality?

1.1 What are the drivers for change? 10

2.1 What is work-life balance? 14

3 The case for work-life balance – UNISON members' perspective 18

4 Members’ working lives 21

4.1 Control over work 22

5 Work-life balance policies and practice 26

5.1 Employer initiatives 26

6 Impact of work-life balance policies and practice 32

6.1 Matching rhetoric to reality: what are the barriers? 33

7 The way forward 41

7.1 What more could employers do? 41

8.1 Challenge one: Employers do not adequately and transparently 45

Appendix A Methodology and survey sample 52

Appendix B Glossary of work-life balance terms 58

Flexibility at work continues to be the great double-edged sword in today’s

We will be helped in no small part by the introduction of the new Gender

Thanks also to Dr Michelle Mahdon, researcher at The Work Foundation, who

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Laura Williams is a senior researcher at The Work Foundation, working across

• ‘Work-life balance’ is at the forefront of public policy debates about

• Key findings from the study, informed by surveys of UNISON members

• The challenges to reaching this position include:

Broadly, this shift is influenced by changes to markets, ways of working, the

Previous research by UNISON suggests that the public sector’s good

The case for work-life balance is increasingly recognised by employers too,

The ‘rhetoric-reality’ gap – the gap between the aspirations of organisations

This report presents our answers to these questions.

5 Please see Appendix A for a detailed methodology

There is no one-size-fits-all definition for work-life balance. For some people

Much of the debates about work-life balance actually focus on imbalance.

As these findings suggest, a work-life imbalance can have disastrous

6 Neault R, That Elusive Work-Life Balance!, Canada, NATCON Papers, 2005

• 24 per cent working from home was an option

Tables 1 and 2 show that branch secretaries and members are

Table 1: Branch secretaries on work-life balance

People work best when they can balance 77 22 1 0 0 1.24

Offering a good work-life balance to 75 24 0 1 0 1.27

Staff with a good work-life balance are 66 27 6 2 0 1.44

Work-life balance is for those who don’t 1 0 3 31 65 4.59

Table 2: Members on work-life balance

My family or home life is more important 59 29 8 3 0 1.56

People work best when they can balance 67 32 1 0 0 1.35

Staff with a good work-life balance are 63 33 2 2 0 1.43

Offering a good work-life balance to 66 31 2 1 0 1.38

Unsurprisingly, members with caring responsibilities have stronger feelings

However, while there may be overwhelming support for work-life balance,

Table 3: Members’ working lives

All things considered, how satisfied are 25 45 13 11 6 2.27

Agree Agree Neither Disagree Disagree Mean

I feel there will be a job for me as long as 31 35 10 14 10 2.38

I’m always on the lookout for a job that is 14 19 11 33 23 3.32

I share many of the values of my 26 44 15 10 5 2.23

I would speak highly of my organisation 22 33 17 19 8 2.59

Table 4: Members on job satisfaction, by gender

Table 5: Members on job satisfaction, by hours worked

In full-time employment 24 44 13 13 7 2.35

14 Significance level of p<0.01

Table 6: Members on control over work

I have a high degree of control over how 36 41 9 10 5 2.08

I have a lot of control over managing my 31 40 8 14 7 2.27