| Good afternoon. I'm really pleased to be back at this
year's Work Life Balance Week and to see so many good friends and
colleagues.
Thanks as always to Shirley for her marvellous organisation in
bringing us all together and putting together such a tremendously
successful week.
Shirley once famously wrote, "Life is too short to stuff a
mushroom". From the length of time allotted for my speech, I assume
she also thinks "Life is too short to listen to a politician."
So I'll keep my comments short. But I do want to plant a few seeds
for discussion around the room.
We know the world of work is changing.
The family is no longer defined by male breadwinners/woman
homemakers; and the workplace is no longer defined by 9 to 5. Instead,
there are many more dual career families; and many more companies with
24/7 production for 24/7 demand. We know there has been a steady
increase in the number of one-parent families throughout the last decade
and that a worrying trend is emerging of too many mothers and fathers
with lower incomes juggling several jobs and working more shifts, just
to make ends meet.
We all have stakes in this change - enabling companies and
individuals to reach their potential.
And we're all playing a role - in business, as individuals, as
Government - both driving and responding to this change. As shown in the
Good Housekeeping Magazine survey published this morning.
But still, there's a long way to go. A pay gap of 19%. 2% of all
working days lost to stress. Longer working hours than anyone else in
Europe yet lower productivity than the States, France and Germany.
So for the discussion, I would be interested to hear what more you
think we can do - as business, individuals and Government - to tackle
these problems and create the workplace of the future. Stress down.
Productivity up. Inequality out. Opportunity in.
So:
- as business, what more can be done to meet the changing needs of
their customers and their employees? We already have many examples
of excellent practice, but how do we get others to follow? What
works well for business in practice and what doesn't?
- as individuals, what more can we do to drive change? How can we
better share the responsibilities of childcare? How can we change
the culture at work so women have the confidence to challenge
workaholic attitudes and men have the confidence to say, "I
have children, I have a life". How do we engage men in this
work life debate better - just from looking around the room, it does
seem there is a risk we're not engaging men well enough?
- as Government, what more can we do. We've already introduced
substantial new rights but does Government have a further role? Is
there a case for more regulation so that fathers have
interchangeable rights to care for children as women? Is there more
to be gained for Government by standing back from the debate at this
point?
With these questions left hanging in the air, I'll close now and hand
over to you.
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