Relax and go home on time

(The Ballarat Courier, 4-4-04)

Go home. Stressed out Australians are spending too much time at work.

The work and family debate, now a major issue on the federal political agenda in this election year, has been the focus of an international conference this week in Brisbane.

The conference has heard that family life and even the physical well being of workers is suffering from people putting too much emphasis on their jobs.

One of the main speakers, Australia Institute senior research fellow Richard Denniss, believed consumer demands and too-high employer expectations were a major threat to Australian families.
“We see consumerism as posing a very real threat to people’s well-being and family functioning,” he said.
Mr Denniss said society seemed to have lost touch with the simple things in life such as enjoying time with family and friends.
“For centuries people have understood that money didn’t buy happiness and they’ve wondered what the meaning of life is,” he said.
“But in the last 10 years we’ve seemed to have shrugged our shoulders and said “I don’t know...but a pay rise wouldn’t be bad.”

Mr Denniss said improved economic growth in Australia was not solving the problems facing families.
“Both through invididual choice and government policy, most of this growth has been directed towards new consumer demands such as mobile phones that take photos, flat screen tvs costing thousands of dollars and larger and larger houses for our smaller and smaller families,” he said.

Mr Dennis said people believed they needed to earn high incomes to properly provide for their families.
“We’re not suggesting for a minute that earning more money can’t make it easier for you to meet some of those needs,” he said.
“But if what you have to give up to get that higher income is having time to spend with your family and eating dinner together, then you’re probably doing yourself and your family a disservice.”

Mr Dennis, a one time chief of staff of former Australian Democrats leader Natasha Stott Despoja, said Australia needed a national “go home on time day.”

A lot of people have lost touch with the fact that once upon a time they were home at 5.30 in the afternoon, “ he said.

“What we’ve created since we started to de-regulate the labour market was an environment in which people feel very afraid to actually say “I’m committed to my job but I’m also committed to my family.”

Mr Denniss said business and political leaders needed to play a part in achieving the balance between work and leisure time.

“I think it’s ironic that conservative political people like John Howard who do so much to talk about the role of the family in bringing up children and in taking responsibility and crating a good society, are the same people who are creating a workplace culture which almost stops people from having that kind of experience at home because Dad’s working overtime and Mum’s working split shifts,” he said.


I'd be interested in hearing other people's reactions to this newspaper article, as I imagine it might surprise more than a few of you to know that Australia also has a stress problem.
You might think that Aussies who haven't been to Europe don't understand real stress (and in some ways you're probably right), but I guess it depends on your definition of stress.
If stress is defined in terms of being too busy to fit everything you have to do (and want to do) into the day that in the past you can remember that you did have time for, and not enough time to spend with family, and a feeling that your life is running a bit (or a lot) out of control, then I would say a lot of Australians (not just in the biggest cities either) do have this problem.
I agree with the article that it has been mainly in the last 10 years that this change has taken place. It's true now that many workers are often afraid to go home on time, even if they could manage it and they're not getting paid for the overtime they do (and many aren't).
A few years ago I was one of these overworked 'stressed out Australians' who didn't like to 'lose face' by going home from work on time, and felt really guilty if I did, and it wasn't a pretty sight.

But no more

Ces jours, I'm firmly back living in the belief that it's much better to always take some time out for yourself and to 'take it easy' in the good old Aussie tradition

Kate