Resources Available

Kiwis Have Their Say on Work-Life Balance

Most Kiwis like the idea, but achieving a balanced life isn't always easy, according to a report "Achieving Balanced Lives and Employment - what NZers are saying about work-life balance". The report summarises the consultations that a Work-Life Balance Project team recently completed. The report shows that many people face significant barriers to achieving a desired work-life balance.

The main barriers preventing people from achieving work-life balance are:

  • lack of access to quality, affordable childcare to suit working parents;
  • difficulty for those on low hourly wage rates, who need to work long hours to earn enough income to support their families;
  • undervaluing of caring and voluntary work;
  • long hours and physically or mentally intensive work, without sufficient recovery time;
  • "precarious" employment arrangements;
  • lack of workplace policies and unsupportive workplace cultures;
  • pressures on small employers to "do everything" in the business, which impacts on their own work-life balance, and their ability to think about work-life balance for staff; and
  • the need for government to lead by example.

Rural People

Many people working in rural areas are self-employed farmers and have similar work-life balance issues as other self-employed people. But for rural families work-life balance also has specific meanings. The necessity to travel distances to get children to and from school transport emerged as a theme, as did a lack of suitably skilled people to relieve farmers so they can take a break. One respondent said:

"Being on a farm brings all the positives of living where you work - minimal travel, home meals, contact with children, etc - but the negatives sometimes counter those: children go with parents on farm work (e.g,. after school/weekends) rather than parents going with children to do what they wish (e.g. trip to beach/hit of tennis/bush walk, etc), work is always staring you in the face making it hard to get away and stop working, e.g., on Sundays, etc; work loads can make it difficult to take holidays."

Some rural submissions expressed the view that balance was very difficult to find, and also highlighted the fact that for family businesses work and life issues are intertwined. One person said:

"There is no balance, if you live in a rural community, your work, family and community commitments just feed off each other. Example: the people who work for us are treated like our family (some actually are), but if they have personal or health problems, they become your concerns too. If you ignore them, they could affect you in the long run."

The report can be downloaded from the Work-Life Balance Project website (www.worklife.govt.nz). Hard copies are available by emailing worklife@dol.govt.nz, or by phoning the Department of Labour on 04 915 4409

Progress on Water Quality and Allocation Programme

Progress towards a framework to manage NZ's freshwater quality and allocation has been highlighted with the release of three independent reports. The reports were commissioned as part of the Water Programme of Action - a two-year, comprehensive review of water management led by the Ministry for the Environment and MAF.

The reports provide information on:

  • the range of economic instruments that could be applied to manage water quality;
  • individual's and groups' actual and perceived rights of water allocation; and
  • individual's and groups' actual and perceived rights of the impact of their land use on water quality.

The Water Programme of Action covers sustainable and equitable freshwater allocation and use, maintaining freshwater quality, and identifying nationally important water bodies.

The first phase of the programme is nearly complete and these three papers are the first of eight information-gathering reports. The programme is expected to deliver decisions on how to improve water management in NZ and the tools and resources required by late 2005.

The reports will be available on the Ministry for the Environment's website at www.mfe.govt.nz under "Publications"

Helping Councils Develop Sustainable Tourism Strategies

Local councils now have a new tool to help them develop tourism strategies that better manage the impacts of tourism growth, while still capturing the benefits. The Tourism Planning Toolkit will help councils plan for tourism, taking into account all the factors, so the positive impacts can be maximised and the negative impacts can be clearly identified and minimised. The web-based resource has been developed by Lincoln University with significant input from Local Government NZ and the Ministry of Tourism.

Talent Identification and Development (Sports)

A lack of success at a young age doesn't mean a child won't become a champion; deliberate practice is as important as innate talent; and the acquisition of basic motor skills in early childhood is crucial, are all findings revealed by a new SPARC-commissioned Talent Identification and Development Taskforce. The Taskforce looked at whether it is possible to predict future talent based on current performance, and if international methods could be applied to NZ to significantly raise performance standards.

The Taskforce concluded there is no simple way to accurately identify future talent as talent is multi-dimensional. It can emerge at any point during an athlete's development, and is affected by factors such as genetics, environment, mental, physiology and support. However, it is possible to create an environment that increases the chances of athletes fulfilling their potential. What's needed, says the Taskforce, is an holistic, long term development process, with an on-going identification strategy built into it. But it should be noted that it takes an average of 12-13 years of deliberate training and development in order to develop talent in most athletes, and the foundations are laid in early childhood, so changes will not be seen overnight.

The Taskforce particularly emphasised the importance of ensuring that all children master fundamental motor skills at an early age, as one of the cornerstones of the successful development of talent is that every child should be physically literate. They also identified quality physical activity programmes in schools as the best foundation for the initial stages of a young athlete's talent development. Other important aspects are quality coaching, supportive parents, emphasis on the joy of sport rather than pressure to perform and access to opportunities.

The Taskforce's report, "Linking Promise to the Podium", is available on the SPARC website: www.sparc.org.nz

Long-term Residential Care Booklet

The Ministry of Health is distributing a booklet to ensure that older people and their families have access to good information about long term care for older people. The booklet is called "Long-term Residential Care in a Rest Home or Hospital, What you need to know". The booklet covers issues such as what people need to pay towards residential care, and how those who cannot afford to pay the full cost can get access to government help.

The booklet also explains what services are not covered by government funding. Examples include, transport to outside social functions, toll calls or private phones. People can be charged for these services.

The booklet will be available from Income Support Service Centres, Age Concern and Grey Power branches and CABs. The document is also available on the Ministry of Health's website: http://www.moh.govt.nz and can be requested from Ministry of Health Publications, c/o Wickliffe Press, PO Box 932, Dunedin, or by emailing moh@wickliffe.co.nz. For telephone queries, contact Residential Care Line on 0800725 463, or from Auckland (09) 375 4395

NZ Housing Research

The Centre for Housing Research, Aotearoa NZ (CHRANZ) has released two research reports:

  • Housing Costs and Affordability (DTZ Research, June 2004). This report identifies and scopes the key issues associated with housing costs and affordability in NZ. The recommended research programme seeks to address what does government (central and local) need to know to better design, implement and measure the results of its interventions seeking to improve affordability?
  • The Impact of Financial Circumstances and Tenure Choice (BERL, June 2004). This report recommends a research programme addressing the relationship between financial circumstances and tenure choices for those NZers in the 18-40 year-old cohort. In the author's view, in developing a housing research agenda it is important to note that the context facing the current 18-40 year old group is very different to the context within which tenure choices were exercised by the same age group in previous decades.

A full copy of the reports are available on the CHRANZ web site at www.chranz.co.nz

RMA Information

The Ministry for the Environment has released "An Everyday Guide to the Resource Management Act". The guide includes an overview of the RMA, along with a number of practical guides for those contemplating involvement in the RMA process.

The Guide can be downloaded from http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/rma/everday-guides-jun04.html

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