Research

The Government is committed to research in the area of Work Life Balance.

AWALI

SafeWork SA was an industry partner with the Centre for Work + Life at the University of South Australia in a three-year Australian Research Council (ARC) funded project to establish a measurement tool for work life balance - the Australian Work and Life Index (AWALI).

AWALI is a national survey of work-life outcomes amongst working Australians, which serves as a benchmarking tool to compare and contrast work-life outcomes across various groups defined by geographic location, employment characteristics and social demographics.

In partnership with SafeWork SA and the Western Australian Department of Health, the Centre has completed a range of reports, starting from 2008, and repeated annually until 2010, comparing baseline data and key work life balance research questions.

2010 AWALI report - How much should we work? Working hours, holidays, and working life: the participation challenge
2010 South Australian report - Juggling work-life balance in South Australia.

AWALI will be conducted on a bi-annual basis in 2012 and 2014 as part of an ARC Linkage grant - a study of flexibilities that enable workforce participation and skill development and use, and their implications for work-life outcomes in Australia. Grant partners are SafeWork SA and the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.

2012 AWALI Report - The Big Squeeze: Work, home and care in 2012
2012 South Australian Report - Work-Life balance in South Australia 2012

FLAWS in our lives: The Fatigue, Work and Life Strain in South Australia

Working arrangements are both an industrial relations and a workplace health and safety issue.

As part of the 2010 AWALI survey, a representative sample of 854 South Australian workers was surveyed on work factors that impact on wellbeing at work as indicated by work-life interference, sleep issues and fatigue. This SafeWork SA funded research project was a collaboration between the Centre for Work + Life and the Centre for Sleep Research at the University of South Australia.

FLAWS in our lives (PDF 899kb) provides a short summary of the key findings of this important South Australian research project.

Commissioned Research

The Quality at Work: The quality part-time work imperative report (PDF 869kb) was commissioned by SafeWork SA from the Australian Workplace Innovation and Social Research Centre as part of the Quality Part-time Work Project in 2011. The report defines quality work; the advantages of employers offering quality part-time work and the indicators that determine what quality part-time work is.