This lecture is jointly presented by the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre, The Centre for Work + Life and University of SA School of Management.
Professor Eileen Appelbaum of Rutgers University in the United States, will examine US federal and state policies and initiatives to improve work/life balance.
The US ranks close to the bottom among countries in access of workers to job protected unpaid and paid leave for child birth and bonding, to recover from an illness, or to care for a seriously ill family member. Many workers lose pay, and may even lose their jobs, when they take time off from work to care for a parent who has a stroke or a child who is gravely ill. Research shows, and workers know, that health outcomes are compromised when they can't take time off to care for themselves or their families. Less well known, however, are the costs imposed on businesses and on public health by this lack of paid time off for workers to care for themselves and their families. Improving work/life balance is the second of five goals of President Obama's White House Task Force on Working Families. Initiatives are underway in Congress and in several US states and cities to remedy this lack of access to paid leave.
This lecture will consider implications for working families and businesses, and the adjustments we might consider to encourage implementation now.
