Canadian Social Life in Work Perspective

Canadian Social Life in Work Perspective

Background information about work-life balance

Work-life balance is defined as the dilemma of managing work obligations and personal and or family responsibilities. Keeping one's personal life separate from the professional life was once thought to be the best strategy for keeping a balance between the two entities. Recent studies in this area suggest that one of the possible solutions could be integrating work responsibilities and family obligations. Rather than keeping them separate, work-life integration is designed to take a holistic approach rather than a compartmentalized approach.

Survey sample of the last decade of Canada

Today, nearly half of Canadians say that trying to balance work and personal life causes them a degree of stress medium or large, ten years ago, only said the same. What has changed in the lives of Canadians has made ??people more stressed?

Document Highlights

This research report, the first of the first of a two-part study, draws attention to a tendency increasingly pronounced which is reflected in several ways on workers, their families and the organization that employs them. In this report, we examine the following topics:

Work and personal life: the challenges of Canadians. Things are getting better or worse

The situation at work; the impact of family responsibilities on workers and their employers.

The solutions proposed by the Canadians have not changed so much over the last decade.

These are flexibility in scheduling work, work arrangements and varied opportunity to take time off for various reasons

Expanding options for child care, child care particularly in the workplace or near the workplace;

Understanding, compassion and attention from employers (Akyeampong 2001, 47).

How the key work-life factors have been changes over time

Today more than ever, Canadians play multiple roles. They are worker, parent, spouse, partner and friend, they take care of their elderly parents and they volunteer in their communities. They must also find time to look after their own welfare physically and mentally. It is obviously difficult to find a balance among these priorities. In fact, 58% of Canadians report "overload" because of their multiple roles.

New technologies, which should simplify our lives, may, however, complicate. With email, cell phones and other electronic tools, many workers are expected to be available 24 hours on 24/7, which does not facilitate the right balance between their work and personal lives (Sourani 2008, 79).

Works and non-work demands in Canadian social life

More and more managers and employers recognize the importance of promoting good work-life balance for their employees. The advantages that this balance provides businesses are increasingly well known and employers are more likely than ever to develop ways to help their employees balance their work and other aspects of their lives. They are right to do so: the lack of balance between work and personal life costs businesses nearly twelve billion dollars a year.

Of course, employers and managers must first ensure the health of their business. After all, if it does not get good results, its employees could find themselves without ...