Written answers

Tuesday, 6 December 2005

Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment

Work-Life Balance

9:00 pm

Photo of Tommy BroughanTommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 115: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if his attention has been drawn to reports of research indicating that job satisfaction has a particular influence on mental health; if his attention has further been drawn to the fact that depression and anxiety are the most common reasons for absenteeism; if specific measures have been taken by his Department to alert employers to the need to tackle the issue of job dissatisfaction in order to avoid these consequences; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37902/05]

Photo of Tony KilleenTony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I am not aware of the reports of research to which the Deputy refers nor is my Department carrying out research in this area. There are many factors which impinge both on job satisfaction and separately mental health. Equally there are a range of factors which impinge on depression, anxiety and absenteeism.

My Department and the Health and Safety Authority, HSA, actively promote the prevention of occupational stress at the workplace. Stress has a significant bearing on job satisfaction which influences wider health. Where there is a risk of stress in a workplace it is important that it is identified as such, assessed, and a strategy put in place to have it dealt with.

The HSA has recently established a steering group which is developing proposals for a strategy for managing occupational health. This will include issues such as work related stress and well-being of employees. Also, the HSA in partnership with the British Health and Safety Executive and Health Scotland have developed Work Positive, which is an audit tool with guidance material for in-house application. Work Positive is a comprehensive risk management tool that incorporates a risk assessment template covering the known causes of workplace stress. It provides a step-by-step guide to assessing risks of stress, outlining the aims of each step and thereby helping managers eliminate these risk factors in their organisation.

On a wider front, research has also been carried out in the context of work life balance and flexible working under the ESF funded EQUAL Community initiative, which is an EU-wide programme co-financed by the European Social Fund, ESF, and managed directly by my Department. One such project, the Work Life Balance Network has developed a toolkit for firms to address information deficits-awareness of work-life balance issues and to assist organisations to adapt policies and adopt new approaches. The toolkit has been piloted in some semi-State companies and disseminated through the national framework committee on work-life balance, which was established under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness and continued under Sustaining Progress on the recommendation of the social partners. Another project, the National Flexi-Work Partnership has published extensive research related to the specific needs of diverse groups in the workforce, including working parents and carers, older workers and those with mental health problems.

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