Giving employees some control over their time use, for example, in terms of being able to leave work in an emergency without loss of pay, to have some say in start and finish times, to decide how to do tasks and the pace of the work, and being able to work the hours per week most desired, produces better outcomes in terms of job satisfaction, job stress and satisfaction with the balance between work and family life. Male carers tend to rate lower than female carers on job satisfaction and changes to the satisfaction with the balance between work and family. They also experience greater rates of job stress. The analysis undertaken for the work and family report suggests a number of important conclusions. The data on federal certified agreements and Australian workplace agreements provides evidence that a majority of agreements provide at least one family- provision.
Flexible hours are the most common family-friendly provision.
These measures are particularly significant because they assist employees no matter what age their children or dependants, and they are also cost effective. The data provide support for the view that certified agreements and Australian workplace agreements both provide effective mechanisms for implementing the type of family-friendly provisions that are appropriate to individual workplaces and employees. Workplace size is often related to whether or not family-friendly provisions are likely to be available to employees. The larger the workplace the more likely that family-friendly provisions are provided. The report provides evidence that organisations are increasingly providing a broad range of family-friendly provisions that meet the needs of employees and employers at the workplace level.