Workers urged to balance work and play

WORKERS in offices, shops and factories were yesterday urged to take time to balance the increasingly hectic demands of work with the need for a good home life.

To address growing fears over Ireland’s long-hours culture, Labour Affairs Minister Tony Killeen yesterday met union officials as well as employers.

At their meeting, coinciding with work-life balance day, Mr Killeen unveiled a Government initiative to help employers ensure their staff manage to juggle the demands of work and home.

But the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) said the Government needed to put in place laws to address the worsening problem of poor work-life balance.

“Ireland sits at the wrong end of almost every international comparison of the policies and measures needed to make work-life balance. All workers must enjoy a legal right to flexible working (hours) if a genuine work-life balance is to become a sustainable reality,” said ICTU assistant general secretary Sally Anne Kinahan.

She said most workers had no control over the times they started or finished work, so were unable to take advantage of measures to help them juggle the demands of home with work. She added that all workers should be entitled to flexible working arrangements, while parental leave should be increased. “For many, work now dominates their lives and they are close to breaking point in trying to juggle the demands of work and personal lives,” she said.