Problems and Challenges at the Organizational Level

While we talk about work and family balance being a partnership between individuals, the organizations that employ them and the family that supports them (and is, in turn, supported by them), the analysis of the comments done for this report would suggest that it is not a partnership of equals. In this survey, 41% of the comments provided by working Canadians dealt with problems and challenges at the organizational level. This would suggest that many Canadians attribute the challenges they face with respect to balance to their employer and how work is being managed. What factors at the organizational level make balance more difficult? Canadians identified the following factors:

• Heavy workloads
• Cultures that do not support balance
• The perception that one has to choose between career advancement and balance
• Constant change
• Management that does not support balance
• Lack of policies
• Temporary work
• Work-related travel

Also discussed in this section are organizational challenges facing three groups: "baby boomers," teachers and nurses. Those readers who are interested in the problems facing older workers and NFP sector employees such as teachers and nurses are advised to read The 2001 National Work-Life Conflict Study: Report One , which is on the Health Canada Web site. This section ends with two comments that seem to articulate all of the above concerns. Comments on specific work-life policies such as flextime, telework, and so on, were not included in this report but can be found on the authors' Web site

Finally, it is interesting to note that almost half (48%) of the men who provided comments at the end of the survey talked about challenges they were having at work. This compares with 39% of women who gave comments of this type.