September 3, 2001—The UK Trades Union Congress (TUC) and The Industrial Society have joined forces to condemn the UK’s long work hours and to urge employers to adopt a more positive approach to work/life balance. The TUC says that people in the UK work the longest hours in Europe and almost half of the country’s employees have no flexible working arrangements in place.
According to the TUC, work-life balance isn’t just about introducing policies for working parents but ensuring everyone at work has the opportunity to take the time to pursue other interests. Recent surveys suggest the majority of employees do not have the freedom to do this. The 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey (WERS) suggests only one in three employees (32%) are able to take the advantages of flex-time, a quarter (28%) are allowed to take parental leave, and only 16% have access to a job-share scheme. Almost half of the employees surveyed (46%) said there was no provision for flexible working at all.
On top of this, UK workers still work the longest hours in Europe (43.6 hours a week compared to 38.4 hours a week for Belgian workers), and four million employees are still regularly working over 48 hours a week despite the 1999 European Working Time Directive.
To provide these tools, the TUC has introduced Changing times, a new guide to flexible working, which is available from the TUC publications priced at 30 for commercial organizations and 5 for member unions. In addition, The Industrial Society and the TUC have jointly produced Get the balance right, a video training pack on work/life balance. The video training pack includes a 25 minute drama-based video and user guide, the Changing times guide to establishing a successful work-life policy, and The Industrial Society’s Work-Life Manual. The video pack is available for 895, and 225 for trade unions. Copies are available through The Industrial Society at 0870 400 1000. For trade union sales contact Davinder Sahota at 020 7467 1230.
