From Ottawa Citizen – January 22, 2009
Linda Duxbury, a business professor at Carleton University's Sprott
School of Business, delivered her sixth and final report on work-life
balance yesterday with the warning that the federal government's
stimulus package should include policies that support working families
to get the economy rolling again.
She argued policy-makers must
recognize that heavy workloads and their interference on family life
are key reasons for Canada's declining birth rate and labour force.
They need to develop strategies, polices and interventions to help stem
this work-life "tsunami."
"We're going to hire all these
construction workers to build roads, which we need; but what about
support for elder care and child care?" she said in an interview.
"Governments
aren't paying attention to this issue. All the focus is on the economy
and how to stimulate it. … We aren't paying attention to fundamental
issues like our fertility rates and labour shortages, which are as big,
if not bigger, issues for our long-term competitiveness."
About the Report listed above
As listed on Canadian Social Research Links Website:
Work-Life Conflict in Canada in the New Millennium:
Key Findings and Recommendations From The 2001 National Work-Life
Conflict Study
Report Six
December 2008 (PDF file date)
By Dr. Linda Duxbury and Dr. Chris Higgins
Complete report:
HTML version
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-
PDF version (2.6MB, 76 pages)
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-
Executive Summary
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-
The 2001 National Work-Life Conflict Study and the reports produced from
this research to date have given business and labour leaders,
policy-makers and academics an objective 'big picture' view of this
issue. This report, the last in the series of six reports, provides a
summary of the key findings and recommendations coming from this
research program.
Earlier reports in this series:
Report One:
The 2001 National Work-Life Conflict Study
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/
March 2002
– puts the series into context by describing the sample of employees who
participated in the research and examining the various risk factors
associated with work-life conflict.
Report Two:
Work-life Conflict in Canada in the New Millennium: A Status Report
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/
October 2003
– makes the business case for change by looking at how high levels role
overload, work to family interference, family to work interference,
caregiver strain and spillover from work to family affect employers,
employees and their families.
Report Three:
Exploring the Link between Work-Life Conflict and the Use of Canada's
Health Care System
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/
March 2004
– focuses on how work-life conflict affects Canada's health care system
(i.e. quantifies the system demands associated with high work-life
conflict and attempts to put some kind of dollar value on how much it
costs Canada to treat the health consequences of such conflict).
Report Four:
Who Is at Risk? Predictors of High Work-Life Conflict
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/
September 2005
– identifies key risk factors for role overload, work interferes with
family, family interferes with work and caregiver strain.
Report Five:
Reducing Work-Life Conflict: What Works? What Doesn't?
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-
August 2008
– examines what employers, employees and their families can do to reduce
work-life conflict.
Source:
Health Canada
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/index-
[ The survey was commissioned by Health Canada
to examine how Canadians are coping with the demands of their work and
family lives. ]
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