Council to help workers get a life

A new body established by the State Government will address family-friendly employment practices and issues.

Former state ALP president Jill Hennessy will become the inaugural chairwoman of the State Government's Working Families Council, which aims to develop employment practices to balance work, family and community time.

Ms Hennessy, a lawyer, is a part-time manager at the City of Port Phillip who is on maternity leave. She is also a director of the Western Region Community Health Service.

The Brumby Government's decision to introduce a working families council underscores the increasing importance governments are attributing to the balance between work and private life as employers relentlessly strive for productivity gains.

The WFC was allocated $730,000 in this year's budget and will comprise 15 members from government, industry organisations, business, academia, community organisations and unions.

A key mission of the WFC will be to design and promote a system of "model" employers - those who have implemented job arrangements to assist working families.

This could include the implementation of a Heart Foundation-like tick of approval for companies that have good work-family balance policies.

The WFC will also advise the Deputy Premier and Minister for Industrial Relations Rob Hulls of pay equity strategies and initiatives. Any consideration of pay equity would strongly focus on disparate male-female pay levels.

Mr Hulls said the Victorian Government had always been committed to supporting working families and their employers.

He said it was very difficult for working families to secure a living wage, adequate predictable time with their families and workplace flexibilities to meet particular needs.

"The Working Families Council will work with stakeholders to champion the issues of working families, including assisting employees with strategies to improve work and family balance.

"The Government will also protect family time in the area of employment.

"Employees should not be discriminated (against) at work for trying to find a decent balance between their work and the responsibilities they have because of their parental or career status," he said.

Ms Hennessy said an enormous amount of research had already been done on work-life balance in Victoria.

"We will be seeking a context from this material as to where it should focus its energies in the start-up period of the council," she said.

One of the key areas of research the council will consider is the findings from last year's Victorian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey about the provisions of work and family entitlements across the state.

The survey consisted of 800 20-minute telephone interviews with workplace managers, excluding those in the agriculture, forestry and fishing industries as well as public administration.

In relation to work and family entitlements it found that just over two-thirds of workplaces had dedicated paid family or carers leave and just over one-quarter had paid maternity leave.

The survey found:
· Workers in the hospitality and retail areas had the lowest of paid family or carers leave while people with intermediate clerical jobs had the highest.
· Paid maternity leave and paid family or carers leave was least common in workplaces where the average wage for the lowest paid employees was less than $400 a week.
· Workplaces where women make up fewer than 20 per cent of employees are the least likely to have a written work and family policy, paid family or carers leave or paid maternity leave.
· Workplaces with casual employees had the lowest level of work and family entitlements but, in contrast, workplaces with part-time employees had better work and family entitlements when compared to all Victorian workplaces.
· The provision of workplace work and family entitlements is strongly related to workplace size. Larger size workplaces are more likely to provide them.
· Wholly foreign-owned workplaces were more likely to have paid family or carers leave and a written work and family policy while partially- owned Australian workplaces were more likely to have paid maternity leave.

The WFC will hold it first meeting on Tuesday and meet four times a year after that.

Published: 25 August 2007