Flexibility essential for work/life balance, research shows

A two-year study has demonstrated that workplace flexibility is needed over a five-day week for building and construction workers to achieve a healthy work/life balance.

A new study, conducted by the Master Builders Association (MBA) of NSW in partnership with the School of the Built Environment at the University of Technology Sydney, explored the working patterns and extent of work/life balance enjoyed by those in the building and construction industry.

The study – conducted over a two-year period – specifically examined the question of whether a five-day working week would promote meaningful work/life balance in the state’s building and construction industry.

Speaking about the findings, MBA NSW executive director Brian Seidler said: “Everyone has a right to a healthy work/life balance. Workplace cultures that provide employees with a work/life balance represent the foundation of a productive and resilient workforce.

“This extensive research underpinned by interviews, surveys, and international literature reviews has found that universal claims around the benefits of a five-day week should be treated with caution.”

Seidler continued: “Achieving a healthier work/life balance across the industry is far more complex than just reducing hours and days worked.

“While many people would like to work a five-day week, few are prepared to pay for it. Few people are willing to work longer hours, take a pay cut or increase their productivity and businesses and clients are unlikely to share the costs.”

Moves to a hard five-day work week may have unintended consequences, Seidler warned, including increased risks, costs and time delays impacting workers, employers, and clients.

“Industry participants told us that a healthy work/life balance is most effectively and efficiently achieved by providing people with greater and more equal access to flexibility and control over when, where, how and how long they work,” he said.

“Although work/life balance can be increased for many in the industry, especially on large inner-city construction sites, the majority have an acceptable, good or very good work/life balance.

“We need to attract more workers to the industry, including women, and to do that, we need to make the industry more flexible to suit the diverse needs of the workforce.”