The Eight-hour Working Day poll asked Couch members if they worked more hours than they are contracted to do, and if they do, how this affected their family life. This poll only asked about paid employment, although some members also discussed voluntary non-paid employment. Because the Families Commission is carrying out research in this area, we were interested in gathering information on the experiences of families. We were also interested to know if Couch members worked any extra hours. ‘Extra hours’ were defined as any paid or unpaid hours worked over and above normal contracted hours. This poll ran for two weeks at the beginning of October 2007.
Thanks to the 574 Couch members who completed the poll. The majority of Couch members told us that they have at least one person working in excess of 40 hours a week in their household. In fact, 70 percent of respondents worked extra hours, above their contracted norm, but this seemed to be okay. Most respondents said the number of hours they worked were about right. Interestingly, over half said they had never or rarely missed a family commitment due to their work commitments. But when asked to comment further, many Couch members expressed deep regret at missing family commitments and a desire to put family first, however, their need for the money from work often ended up as a higher priority.
One-third of people who reported that they work in paid employment worked 40 to 50 hours per week and a further 14 percent worked more than 50 hours per week.
Of people who reported that their partner worked in paid employment, 38 percent said their partners worked 41 to 50 hours per week, 23 percent said their partner worked more than 50 hours per week and almost 20 percent worked 31 to 40 hours.
Over half said the total number of hours they worked was about right, but 39 percent believed they worked too many hours.
For this question the split was much more even with nearly half of all people saying their partner worked too many hours and 49 percent believing their partner’s hours were about right.
About one in five reported they worked extra hours every day. One in four respondents said they worked extra hours a few times a week.
Just over one in four people reported their partner worked extra hours a few times a week. Twenty-three percent of partners worked extra hours a few times a month, 22 percent every day.
About one-third of all respondents said that their employers recognised the extra hours they worked by giving them time off in lieu. Twenty-nine percent reported that the extra hours they worked were not recognised by their employer.
Couch members told us there were a variety of reasons they worked extra hours, but the top response was commitment to the job, closely followed by it just being the nature of the job. But half believed their work couldn’t be done without doing extra hours.
Couch members seemed to be able to work around the extra hours, with most rarely or only sometimes missing or postponing a family commitment because of the extra hours they worked.
However, it was school concerts/performances/sporting events or planned family events that suffered the most, coming out the highest in the events missed.
Q11: Comments from Couch members about missed or postponed family commitments or responsibilities.
When asked to discuss this issue further people told us they had mixed feelings about having to work extra or long hours and the effect it had on families. Even though some said their family was supportive of their work commitments, many had feelings of guilt or sadness at the effect. Most people felt they had no choice but to work the longer hours, while many commented on the value of having flexible working hours.
“It’s the very worst thing you can possibly do but when you have to make ends meet you have no choice.”
“Paid work comes first… without it there is no income… it’s not a choice one has got”
Although most people wanted to spend time with their families and put them first it was not always possible, and some had struggled to find a balance between spending time with their family and still being able to provide for them financially.
“Hard to be all things to all people. Don’t like to let anyone down. Sometimes feel my family comes second to work – not what is in my heart.”
“Family should come first but if you haven’t got a job you can’t support the family so something’s got to give.”
Couch members were disappointed they were unable to provide enough for their family, ie provide an income for the family and be there for them. The extra work hours are actually putting stress on relationships within families not only with children, but also between partners.
“It is never possible to feel as though you are doing all you can, either as an employee, or a parent, or supporting other family members. This leads to a constant feeling of guilt. I’ve tried to create a work-life balance by taking two afternoons a week off, but even on those afternoons off, I get called in by work, on non-urgent work that could have been done days earlier if someone else had been organised or could wait one day.”
“… can be very hurtful and the time cannot be regained. The hurt in children’s hearts is very difficult to heal.”
“Our relationship has suffered terribly. Out of hours work has put a real strain on us as a couple.”
However, some said flexibility at work meant they were able to juggle their time better and take advantage of time in lieu to attend family commitments that otherwise would have been missed.
“I work in not-for-profit and have always been able to take time off for family commitments as necessary and either make up the time or use time in lieu – although I don’t generally record this, most of my employers have been happy for me to manage my hours as long as I am meeting my targets…”
And families supported those who had to work extra hours by being understanding and flexible themselves.
“The children are very understanding about the need for us to work. Now they are older it is less of an issue.”
Cultural and community commitments could be as important as family commitments, and this was something that was not always taken into account by employers. This was particularly the case for Māori.
“Some employers don’t recognise the extra commitments that Māori have. Like hapu and iwi meetings, helping at tangi, being available for seemingly unrelated hui because of the ability to speak on the taumaha. This can create extra stress on people who already have huge responsibilities outside of their immediate whānau.”
Just over one-third of Couch members felt their family relationships were under strain because of the extra hours they or their partner worked.
Most Couch members spent 16 to 45 minutes commuting to and from work each day (38 percent).
Three main issues faced by families coping with long working hours.
Balancing work and family life vs money
Even though it isn’t always possible people know how important it is to try and put family first.
“Family is more important than work and yet too many men are only seeing their children in the morning and getting home after they are in bed. Everyone knows that eating together as a family is really important but most guys are working too late to be able to do that.”
“I hate not having more flexibility so that I can factor in family commitments. My family is most important and I have to treat them as less important.”
“…In our family, for me to be able to stay at home with the children my husband has to work huge, huge hours. This means that they get VERY little quality time with each other. My husband is a fantastic father and puts a huge amount of effort and energy into the children when he’s at home, but this is nearly killing him. He has NO recreation time at all…”
“My husband works long hours to help pay the mortgage and there seems to be no way around it and I feel I have to work to support the finances otherwise we wouldn’t be able to meet our financial obligations. However, our children miss out on time with me looking after them fulltime during their preschool years.”
“Need to work 70 hours to make ends meet.”
Stress and fatigue
”The stressful nature of my husband’s job often leaves him tired and lethargic in the evenings and weekends and without energy to partake in lots of activities.”
“You get run-down, especially with my hours as they are irregular, start and finish times can vary up to three or four hours. Don’t see the kids every day, quality time with whole family hard. Would like to work less, but need the money…”
“Tiredness means that we both have shorter tempers than we should and the children don’t get to go out as much as would be good because we are both tired (my husband and I)…”
New Zealand work ethic
“The concept of a 40 hour work week is a joke!”
“I know I am more stressed and short-tempered because of the increased hours in my job in the last few years. I’ve tried to counteract that by restructuring my job to have two afternoons off without a huge amount of success. It is too easy to be available – we have cell phones and people call you even though they know you are not officially at work. Even if they don’t call they believe you are not working as hard because for the five hours a week you are not in the office (they conveniently forget the fact that you show up two hours every day before they do). It takes huge amount of patience and commitment to try to make those afternoons ‘non-work’ time – sometimes it feels like it’s harder/more stressful trying to create non-work time than working!”
“The culture of men working 50 hours plus travel time is way too strong in Auckland.”
“The eight hour day is no longer anything to shout about. Historically it was good, but the most developed parts of the world have moved on. A seven hour day is perfectly suitable and enables much greater flexibility for families. New Zealand society still focuses on job first, family second and employers are shocking culprits in perpetuating this.”
Conclusion
The extra hours New Zealanders work are putting a strain on families’ lives with a third of people telling us the longer working hours had affected their family relationships, especially with their children, but also with their partner.
We found that almost half of respondents said they worked over 40 hours per week and almost two-thirds said that their partner worked over 40 hours per week. Nearly 70 percent of respondents reported they worked extra hours at least once a week.
But these extra hours are considered acceptable, with most people reporting that they believed the number of hours they worked were about right. Employers seem to be recognising the extra work that is being put in by New Zealand employees, however, with some sort of reward, generally time in lieu, being given. Although, nearly a third said their employer did not provide any recognition for the extra hours they worked.
Although just over half of respondents said they never or only rarely missed a family engagement, many mentioned the guilt they felt about having to put work before family. Most felt there was little choice about the hours they worked mainly due to financial pressures.
The Families Commission has several projects underway to support its advocacy for a better work-life balance for family members. We are particularly interested in better uptake of flexible work arrangements, improvements to paid parental leave, and more affordable, accessible and quality childcare for school children (ie before and after school care and school holiday programmes).
Thanks again to the 574 Couch members who took part in this poll.
