Work-life balance difficult for many, impossible for lower income families. (Child & Family).OTTAWA -- For most Canadians their work and their lives are "intricately in·tri·cate adj. 1. Having many complexly arranged elements; elaborate. See Synonyms at elaborate. 2. Solvable or comprehensible only with painstaking effort. See Synonyms at complex. connected" and changes in one area "echo in the other" says the study, Voices of Canadians: Seeking Work-Life Balance The expression work-life balance was first used in 1986 in the US (although had been used in the UK from the late 1970s by organisations such as New Ways to Work and the Working Mother's Association) to help explain the unhealthy life choices that many people were making; they were . The study notes that although the majority of comments indicate that most Canadians feel stress resulting from a lack of balance between work and life, "balance is virtually impossible in lower-income families" due to financial strain. Consequently, the study suggests that one way to reduce work-life conflict is to "make work pay," by governments introducing tax credits or changes to the minimum wage. Written by Dr. Linda Duxbury and Dr. Christopher Dr. John R. Christopher, known popularly as "Dr. Christopher" was one of very few nationally prominent doctors of herbal medicine of the middle third of the 20th century, a "dark ages" of herbalism and was responsible for the herbal renaissance of the 1960s. Higgins, the report cautions government and policy makers to "take heed Verb 1. take heed - listen and pay attention; "Listen to your father"; "We must hear the expert before we make a decision" listen, hear focus, pore, rivet, center, centre, concentrate - direct one's attention on something; "Please focus on your studies and " of Canadians' concerns while warning employers that it is in their best interest to "take whatever measures they can to accommodate employees' responsibilities outside work." The study asserts that balance in work and life "may be strongly linked to the bottom line." A compilation Compiling a program. See compiler. of comments from Canadian Canadian (kənā`dēən), river, 906 mi (1,458 km) long, rising in NE New Mexico. and flowing E across N Texas and central Oklahoma into the Arkansas River in E Oklahoma. workers about the daily stress they face when trying to balance their work and family, the study drew from 10,000 comments provided by participants in Health Canada's 2001 National Work-Life Conflict Study. That study surveyed workers in the public, private and not-for-profit organizations in a wide range of large organizations across the country. The authors contend that by using Canadians' own words, the study clearly demonstrates how people are experiencing "often extreme levels of stress due to conflict between work and home." As well, it identifies the causes of workplace stress, and urges employers to increase the number of supportive managers, devote more efforts to improving "people management practices, provide greater flexibility around work and increase employees' sense of control." Further the study recommends that the federal and provincial governments, as large employers, should become "best practice and model" employers in the area of work-life balance by enacting forward-thinking policies and changing accountability frameworks. As well, the authors call for a federal-provincial national childcare program and a national eldercare eld·er·care n. Social and medical programs and facilities intended for the care and maintenance of the aged. program along with changes to the tax act to eliminate negative tax implications for those who wish to stay home to look after children or elderly dependents. |
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