Worklife and Aboriginal workers in Australia: white work, black gaps

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Work/life and Aboriginal workers in Australia
white work, black gaps?

• Barbara Pocock,
• Centre for Work Life,
• University of South Australia
• Seminar presentation to the David Unaipon
  College of Indigenous Education Research, 1
  June 2009

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At CWL we study work-life

• What is it? How do we conceptualise it?
• Why is it interesting? Why does it matter?
• What do we know about Aboriginal citizens and
  work-life issues?
• What research questions are interesting?
• In the bigger picture, how important are these?

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What work-life is not, for us
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Or this.
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Socio-economic difference is vital

• Gail Kelly

Rosa
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Making sense of work-life An ecology exists
across three spheres
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Resources and demands
Demands hours of work, intensity Resources ,
social connection, support
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Resources and demands
Demands hours of work, intensity of work,
travel, boss Resources , social connection,
support, boss
Demands providing support to friends,
family Resources support, care, , food
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Resources and demands
Demands hours of work, intensity Resources ,
social connection, support
Demands care of kids Resources computer, support
Demands providing support to friends,
family Resources support, care, , food
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Life stage matters different resources and
demands at each life stage
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2. Why does work-life matter?

• Australians are working more and more

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Women are joining men in their work fetish
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Work and care combine for many

• Workers torn between work and care and the rest
  of their lives?
• A third of workers responsible for the care of
  children 0-14 years in their households
• Boundaries between work and home are weaker
• Work is greedy and expansive

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We feel pressed for time
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Market work matterstoo much?

• We have moved from
• Rights of labour (industrial revolution.)
• Right to labour (post war full employment push)
• Duty to labour (1990s.)
• By the 1990s, the main message was that there
  was a duty to labour, epitomized by talk about
  'no rights without responsibilities' and the
  'reciprocity principle'. Standing, 1999 1)

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Duty to work

• In Australia mutual obligation
• Taken up by Noel Pearson and others
• no work, no pay and end to sit down money as
  part of push to end welfare dependency and
  exercise self-determination
• Cape York Institute for Policy and Leadership
  (CYIPL) real jobs
• CDEP jobs need conversion to real jobs (CYIPL)
• Magical things can happen when you give a
  person a job (Pearson, August 22, 2008)
• Warren Mundine has argued that welfare payments
  to unemployed Indigenous workers should be cut if
  they do not accept seasonal work in the
  horticultural industry even if it meant moving
  across the country (The Australian, August 22,
  2008)
• What is the meaning of the work that is implied
  here?
• Only market work? Where does care work, community
  work fit? What is a real job? Is caring for a
  child real? Is making art real?
• And how does work affect participation in larger
  life and community?

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Policy and action around work matters, especially
to the disadvantaged and excluded, BUT

• A triple movement is necessary
• Access to work and its magical things
• Transformation of the terms and conditions of
  work
• so that it does not suck life, but sustains it
• Transformation of the definition of work
• so that it embraces a broad definition of work
  and care, community sustenance and political
  citizenship, and contemplation and gives life
  meaning not just a requirement to exchange our
  time for money
• The same triple movement is required of genuinely
  transformative feminist work project

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3. What do we know about Aboriginal citizens and
work-life issues?

• Work-life research has been largely a study of
  white work-life,
• especially middle-class whites.
• Some international comparative research.
• Reflects whiteness of researchers
• And nature of work for Aboriginal communities
• main work problem is lack of work, prejudice at
  work
• So the relationship between work, households and
  community life is understudied in Indigenous
  communities around the world, and in Australia
• However, we know some things.

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What do we know about ALL?

• Our annual survey of Work-life outcomes across
  Australia (AWALI n1500 or 3000) - which does
  not distinguish Aboriginal from NAA - tells us
  that
• Most Australians are reasonably happy with their
  work-life balance
• But many are affected by work-life strain and
  time shortages
• And it affects not just them, but their household
  and community interaction.
• AWALI tells us that work-life outcomes are shaped
  by
• Hours of work short hours good, long hours bad
• Long commutes are bad and are often paired with
  long hours at work
• Fit between actual and preferred hours good fit
  is good
• Occupation managers, professionals do badly
• Sex women do worse
• Care responsibilities those with care
  responsibilities do worse
• Quality of supervision and supportive workplace
  culture matter
• Employee-centred flexibility matters
• Poor quality job (ie insecure jobs, feeling
  overloaded at work) result in worse work-life
  outcomes

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Research about work, life and Aboriginal
employment sources

• Australian Public Service Commission (no date)
  Connecting government whole of government
  response to Australia. priority challenges, APSC,
  Canberra.
• Barnett, K., J. Spoehr, E. Parnis (2007) Equity
  works achieving the target of 2 Aboriginal
  employment in the South Australian public sector,
  Australian Institute for Social Research,
  Adelaide.
• Barnett, Kate (2007) Equity works achieving the
  target of 2 Aboriginal employment in the South
  Australian public sector, Accompanying report 1.
  Literature review. Australian Institute for
  Social Research, Adelaide.
• Kemmiss, S et al (2006) Indigenous staffing in
  vocational education and training policies,
  strategies and performance, NCVER, Adelaide.
• Pocock, B (2003) The Work-Life Collision,
  Federation Pres, Sydney.
• Purdie N.et al (2006) Enhancing employment
  opportunities for Indigenous Victorians A review
  of the literature. Australian Council for
  Education Research, prepared for Victorian State
  Services, Authority
• Williams, C., B. Thorpe and C. Chapman (2003)
  Aboriginal workers and managers History,
  emotional and community labour and occupation
  health and safety in South Australia, Seaview
  Press, South Australia

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What do we know?

• Aboriginal Australians have lower rates of
  employment
• In 2006 186,900 Aboriginal people in the labour
  force
• Including CDEP (35,000 or 25 of all employment)
• This gives a labour force participation rate of
  about 59 (cities 64).
• Its increasing.
• Men higher than women
• Unemployment who knows? 17 in 2006, could be
  77.6 if exclude CDEP
• Aboriginal employment is different some
  differences give resources (R), most create
  demands (D)
• Mostly public sector or NGO (R)
• More likely to regard their managers as
  trustworthy (R)
• More likely to be short term or fixed term
  contract (D)
• More likely to have wages set by awards than
  bargaining (D)
• More likely to want more hours of work (D)
• Less likely to use flexibility provisions
• Less likely to receive paid sick and holiday
  leave (D)
• Less likely to say they have control over their
  work environment (D)
• More likely to have days off sick or with
  injury (D)
• Discrimination more common for Aboriginal
  workers (D)
• APS 2006 census of workers found 18 of
  Indigenous workers had experienced discrimination
  in past year compared with 6 of all

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Aboriginal workers unique demands at work?

• Aboriginal workers have multiple roles as
  workers in the public sector (and elsewhere?)
• They represent the government
• They also represent their communities
• At work, alongside their jobs, they face
  additional demands (Purdie et al, 2006)
• To deal with all Aboriginal clients
• To speak for Aboriginal people in their service
  or workplace
• To mentor other Aboriginal workers
• To provide exemplary role models
• To do additional representative work on a range
  of committees etc
• Often isolated as Aboriginal workers
  predominant workplace culture acts as a form of
  exclusion (Barnett, 2007, 7)
• They can be expected to represent all Aboriginal
  people even through it is possible only to
  represent themselves. There are often high
  expectations placed on them in terms of providing
  role models and mentors to other Aboriginal
  employees, and in providing time to be official
  representatives on a range of committees and
  other structures. These create significant time
  and personal pressures that are rarely
  acknowledged in practice, or in the research
  literature (Barnett, 2007, p 7).

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Aboriginal workers unique demands at work?

• Aboriginal workers lack cultural security in
  the workplace
• feel the freedom to express cultural values and
  beliefs (Barnett 2007, p 7)
• Workplaces lack cultural competence
• knowledge, skills and accompanying sensitivity
  to overcome the barriers associated with cultural
  difference (Barnett 2007, p 7)
• They have high levels of
• emotional labour
• the work one does to control ones emotions and
  deal with those of others and
• obligatory community labour
• the work and responsibility arising from combined
  responsibilities to family, community and the
  workplace and in bridging cultural communities
  (see quote Williams et al, 2003, p 26)
• For Aboriginal workers, there are often very weak
  (or no) boundaries between work and home
• Lower levels of paid leave and job security

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Manager and leaders especially affected

• Williams, Thorpe and Chapman, 2003, identified
  extremely high levels of stress, with the highest
  levels involving Aboriginal managers
• They could be described as the most at risk
  group in terms of high and ongoing levels of
  stress. They were the most emotionally drained
  and exhausted of all the Aboriginal people
  interviewed in the study. This is worrisome
  because they form an official and unofficial
  stratus of Aboriginal leadership. (2003, p 98).

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Aboriginal workers unique demands at home and in
communities?

• Poorer health in households, communities
• More poverty
• More expansive, extended family care demands
• And unique resources?
• More support from extended family
• Denser community fabric which acts as resource
• Example of care of school children in the Port
  (Pocock, 2003).

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Research about what helps?

• Aboriginal staff networks
• Mentoring
• Coaching
• Promotion of role models
• Flexible work practices
• Measures that increase the cultural security of
  the workplace and the cultural competence of
  co-workers
• Cultural leave
• Recognition of the extra work that arises from
  cultural bridging?

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Research questions?

• Are these threads of work-life difference both
  in terms of demands and resources true?
• How much do they matter?
• Are there particularly interesting issues around
  the
• Double and triple workloads of Aboriginal
  workers?
• The cultural, emotional and obligatory community
  labour of Aboriginal workers?
• And especially for leaders and managers?
• And how much does burn out of the latter matter
  to the future of Aboriginal communities?
• What particular resources do Aboriginal workers
  and communities bring to the work-life collision?
• What else???

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References

• Australian Public Service Commission (no date)
  Connecting government whole of government
  response to Australia. priority challenges, APSC,
  Canberra.
• Barnett, K., J. Spoehr, E. Parnis (2007) Equity
  works achieving the target of 2 Aboriginal
  employment in the South Australian public sector,
  Australian Institute for Social Research,
  Adelaide.
• Barnett, Kate (2007) Equity works achieving the
  target of 2 Aboriginal employment in the South
  Australian public sector, Accompanying report 1.
  Literature review. Australian Institute for
  Social Research, Adelaide.
• Kemmiss, S et al (2006) Indigenous staffing in
  vocational education and training policies,
  strategies and performance, NCVER, Adelaide.
• Pearson, N. (2002) Noel Pearson discusses the
  issues faced by Indigenous communities Lateline,
  26/6/07.
• Pocock, Barbara (2003) The work/life collision
  what work is doing to Australians and what to do
  about it, Federation Press, Sydney.
• Pocock, Barbara (2006) The labour market ate my
  babies work, children and a sustainable future,
  Federation Press, Sydney.
• Purdie N.et al (2006) Enhancing employment
  opportunities for Indigenous Victorians A review
  of the literature. Australian Council for
  Education Research, prepared for Victorian State
  Services, Authority
• Snowden, Warren (2002) Noel Pearson speaks for
  Cape York.... The Age, June 6 2002.
• Standing, Guy (1999) The end of labour? From
  labour to work The global challenge, World of
  work, No. 31, September / October 1999
• Standing, G. (2002). Beyond the new paternalism
  basic security as equality. London, Verso.
• Williams, C., B. Thorpe and C. Chapman (2003)
  Aboriginal workers and managers History,
  emotional and community labour and occupation
  health and safety in South Australia, Seaview
  Press, South Australia

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Abstract for seminar

• Work/Life and Employment Research in Australia
  White work, Black gaps?
• Barbara Pocock, Centre for Work Life,
  University of South Australia
•  
• Australians increasingly give more and more of
  their time to paid work, as well as to unpaid
  work. Women have increasingly joined men in what
  Guy Standing (2002) calls their fetish for paid
  work. As a result many feel very rushed and
  pressed for time, and torn between paid work and
  the care they want to give to their families and
  communities (Pocock 2003, 2006).
• At the same time, Aboriginal commentators like
  Noel Pearson (2002) have argued against sit
  down money for Aboriginal people, instead
  pushing for employment opportunities in
  conventional jobs, and for Aboriginal and Torres
  Strait people to join in the paid work fetish.
  Others, like Warren Snowden (2002) have instead
  argued for negotiation and partnership around
  appropriate employment opportunities for
  Aboriginal communities across Australia, in all
  their diversity.
• This presentation will reflect on work and its
  consequences for the care that workers can give
  to the rest of their families and communities, in
  the process giving an overview of recent research
  at the Centre for Work Life. Aboriginal workers
  and communities have not been the focus of this
  work at the Centre or more broadly in Australia
  to date, leaving some important gaps in our
  knowledge about work, care and the lives of
  Aboriginal compared to non-Aboriginal citizens.
• What are the work and life issues for Aboriginal
  communities and what research questions might be
  given priority?
• The purpose of this seminar is to open up a
  conversation about possible research questions in
  relation to the work and its consequences for
  care and community life for Aboriginal compared
  with non-Aboriginal citizens, to reflect on how
  these questions fit with the research priorities
  of the Aboriginal community in Australia, and to
  begin challenging the whiteness of existing
  work-life research in Australia.