1. Social and Economic Impacts of Mining Forum, Emerald, 17 May 2006 Balancing Work and Life in the Mining Industry Dr Connie Zheng School of Management Faculty of Business and Informatics CENTRAL QUEENSLAND UNIVERISTY

2. Social and Economic Impacts of Mining Forum, Emerald, 17 May 2006 Contents of presentation Importance of balancing work and life Importance of balancing work and life Changing work practices in mines Changing work practices in mines Impact of changes on work-life balance Impact of changes on work-life balance Suggestions for managing imbalance Suggestions for managing imbalance

3. Social and Economic Impacts of Mining Forum, Emerald, 17 May 2006 Importance of balancing work and life What is work-life balance? What is work-life balance? Why is important? Why is important? How applicable to the mining industry? How applicable to the mining industry?

4. Social and Economic Impacts of Mining Forum, Emerald, 17 May 2006 What is work-life balance / conflict?......when the cumulative demands of work and non-work life roles are incompatible in some respect so that participation in one role is made more difficult by participation in other role...........when the cumulative demands of work and non-work life roles are incompatible in some respect so that participation in one role is made more difficult by participation in other role..... –(Todd 2004, p. 9)

5. Social and Economic Impacts of Mining Forum, Emerald, 17 May 2006 What is work-life balance / conflict? A particular element of work-life conflict is A particular element of work-life conflict is work-related stress, which can be caused by: – –heavy workload – –lack of participation in decision-making – –health and safety hazards – –job insecurity and – –tight deadline

6. Social and Economic Impacts of Mining Forum, Emerald, 17 May 2006 Why is work-life balance an important issue? mental and physical well-being of employees mental and physical well-being of employees quality of personal relationships outside of work quality of personal relationships outside of work effects on organisation’s bottom line effects on organisation’s bottom line

7. Social and Economic Impacts of Mining Forum, Emerald, 17 May 2006 Work-life balance - applicable to the mining industry? Labour shortage Labour shortage Issue of recruitment and retention Issue of recruitment and retention Sustainable growth Sustainable growth Competitive/comparative advantage Competitive/comparative advantage

8. Social and Economic Impacts of Mining Forum, Emerald, 17 May 2006 Changing work practices in the mining industry Numerical flexibility Numerical flexibility Functional flexibility Functional flexibility Temporal flexibility Temporal flexibility Flexible wage determination Flexible wage determination

9. Social and Economic Impacts of Mining Forum, Emerald, 17 May 2006 Numerical flexibility ‘core and peripheral workers’ ‘core and peripheral workers’ part-time, casual employees and contractors part-time, casual employees and contractors ‘just-in-time labour’ ‘just-in-time labour’

10. Social and Economic Impacts of Mining Forum, Emerald, 17 May 2006 Functional Flexibility ‘flexible skills’ ‘flexible skills’ multi-skilling multi-skilling broader tasks broader tasks broader classification of jobs broader classification of jobs

11. Social and Economic Impacts of Mining Forum, Emerald, 17 May 2006 Temporal flexibility non-standard working time non-standard working time shiftwork & shifthours shiftwork & shifthours shorter v. longer working hours shorter v. longer working hours

12. Social and Economic Impacts of Mining Forum, Emerald, 17 May 2006 Flexible compensation new wages system new wages system linking skills and training to compensation linking skills and training to compensation market rate instead of award rate market rate instead of award rate substantial increase in disposable income substantial increase in disposable income

13. Social and Economic Impacts of Mining Forum, Emerald, 17 May 2006 Impact of changes on work-life balance Source: HRSDC 2006

14. Social and Economic Impacts of Mining Forum, Emerald, 17 May 2006 Impacts of changes on work-life balance lifestyle choices lifestyle choices health and safety health and safety employee commitment employee commitment

15. Social and Economic Impacts of Mining Forum, Emerald, 17 May 2006 Life style choices working longer shift blocks working longer shift blocks having more time with family having more time with family DIDO or FIFO work-life style DIDO or FIFO work-life style

16. Social and Economic Impacts of Mining Forum, Emerald, 17 May 2006 Health and safety work-related stress work-related stress Health and safety hazards Health and safety hazards

17. Social and Economic Impacts of Mining Forum, Emerald, 17 May 2006 Employee commitment satisfaction with work and life satisfaction with work and life low employee turnover low employee turnover high employee commitment high employee commitment high firm performance high firm performance

18. Social and Economic Impacts of Mining Forum, Emerald, 17 May 2006 Suggestions for managing work-life balance above legislative requirement above legislative requirement regular employee survey regular employee survey reviewing work design reviewing work design building a strong culture building a strong culture