Workers pay price to stay in rat race
Staff are working excessive hours, commuting times are increasing and there’s a chronic shortage of parking spaces in towns and cities, according to the study.
Trinity College statistics lecturer Dr Eileen Drew, who led the survey, told delegates at the SIPTU women’s conference in Galway that traditional working times must change.
“Long commuting times and the difficulty in getting parking are the biggest issues that affect workers,”
Dr Drew said. This is all leading to severe stress that puts workers’ health and safety at risk,” she said.
Some Dublin commuters spend up to four hours travelling to and from work. This is leading to chronic traffic problems.
The study was carried out for the Family Friendly National Framework Committee and it surveyed 912 employers and 1006 employees.
Politicians and employers will have to introduce new work arrangements that won’t lead to a wages cut for staff, Dr Drew said.
“All employees cannot afford to avail of arrangements such as reduced working time with a corresponding loss in earnings.
Apart from the potential loss of earnings, there is also a perception that opting for less than full-time hours signals a lack of commitment or that the individual has put their career on hold,” she said.
Dr Drew said many workers wanted different solutions to the working time problem and employers needed to be flexible. “Individual needs may alter radically throughout a person’s lifespan,” she said.
Any changes in work arrangements must ensure that men and women can reduce their hours.
Currently, more women work part-time, and men, who are not as health conscious, don’t want to cut back on their hours, Dr Drew said.
“We don’t want men in the fast lane working excessive hours in full-time employment and women in the slow lane working reduced hours.
“This can only be achieved by convincing those in senior management positions, in particular men, to actively promote and adopt such practices,” Dr Drew said.
