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The NEWORK Centre Level 2 Willbank House 57 Willis Street Wellington Phone 499 1048 e-mail nework@xtra.co.nz

No 13                                                                                    February 2004

Work-Life Balance

The Project website introduces the project thus : "Work-life balance is about combining healthy, productive work with other aspects of life. It matters for everyone and it's different for everyone!"

This is something that has been raised at the NEWORK Centre on a number of occasions. Now is the opportunity to participate in the Project. On Thursday 5 February 2004, Michael Hampl (LMPG, DOL), manager for the project came to our "First Thursday lunch" to introduce and speak about the Project.

Michael introduced the aims and objectives of the project and acknowledged the need to have as wide a participation in the project and contribution of views as possible.Work-life balance isn t a one-size-fits-all issue  nor is it a new one. Many organisations are already investing in work practices that support good work-life balance. But there are also suggestions that more could be done to support and promote these approaches.

In setting up the project, the Minister made it clear that Government s role is to support the debate, and help the development of practical solutions for work-life balance  not telling people how to run their lives or businesses.

The process being followed was to obtain stories, views and experiences across the spectrum. Obviously, a difficulty was to obtain the views of people who were not represented by any particular organisation - ie the self-employed or portfolio worker.

Much of the comment received by the project team to this point focussed on those who wanted to change their work life balance because they were being required to work for an employer for more hours than they wanted, at times in the day when alternatives were required etc.

The project website http://www.dol.govt.nz/worklife/index.asp is the main means of encouraging discussion and on that site there are a number of resources This includes a discussion pack and response forms. The information sheets are included in the Information pack.

The website is the main means of communicating with an online response form or by email to worklife@dol.govt.nz or in writing/submission to

Work-Life Balance Project
PO Box 3705,
Wellington

Be involved, put your ideas together and forward them to the Work-Life Balance Project.

Get a Life

In recent years union members in New Zealand and internationally are increasingly saying that the important issues for them are not just higher wages, but all the other things that make a quality of life. The union campaign for a quality of life both inside and outside work is called Get A Life!

The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Site "Get a Life" has information on the campaign for a work-life balance all be it from a employee/employer perspective.

Working from Home? Working Portfolio?

Recently, I was asked to organise a meeting for a client. This meeting was to between managers of the business from across Australasia. I had over the years met with my client in his office but more often in the local café. Those meetings had been professional but they had also been very informal. And there was the perception. Could I organise a meeting in a city office conference Room and facilitate it.

As a portfolio worker, outside the formal relationship of the corporate office, the tendency is there to become informal in all that we do. It is imperative to that as portfolio workers we act professionally and hat includes the café meeting.

We need to be aware of costs and that includes the area of meetings. We as individuals need to look at what we do and to think and arrange things in a business-like manner. Remember as portfolio workers we are business men and women, just as much as those in the corporate world.

In organising the meeting, a few thoughts seemed to me to be very relevant when organising that meeting

• Is there another efficient way of conducting the meeting? If attendees are travelling from other locations around the country or from overseas then video/audio conferencing or net meeting maybe a better option in terms of saving travel costs and time.
• Think about the most appropriate place to hold the meeting. Numbers may be such that a conference facility needs to be hired. Do you want the meeting interrupted? If not take it away from the office setting.
• Look at the list of attendees, does everyone at the meeting need:

1. To be present, or;
2. Present for the whole duration

• If you are one of the initiators let others come prepared by circulating the agenda at least a few days before the meeting. If you are one of the attendees come prepared by making sure that you read the agenda before the meeting.
• Stick to the agenda, otherwise deviations can drag you off into the middle of no mans land. If other important issues arise ask for them to be addressed at the end of the meeting after all the agenda items have been discussed.
• Rank agenda items in order of priority, this ensures that those who may not be able to attend all of the meeting are present for the most critical issues.
• Set out before the meeting any rules that might be appropriate eg cellphones will be turned off or left outside the meeting. This enables the participant to make other arrangements
• Follow up the meeting as soon as possible with copies of the minutes. This will ensure that everyone will know who is doing what and when.

The NEWORKer can be viewed online at the Work & Age Website

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