The findings of a recent survey show that about 30 percent of 1,364 civil servant respondents said that their long working hours were having an impact on their availability to take care of their families, with about 40 percent saying that they were too tired after work to do any housework, while 15 percent of the respondents said that it was difficult for them to work with peace of mind because of family problems, with more than 10 percent saying that they lost their energy to work due to heavy housework.
The “Survey on Civil Servants’ Work-Family Conflicts”, jointly carried out by the Macau Civil Servants Federation (MCSF) and Macao Chinese Civil Servants Association (MCSA), was released on Saturday based on the valid questionnaires collected from 1,364 civil servants, showing that about 30 percent of them suffer from work-to-family conflict.
In terms of the concept of gender in the family, according to the findings, most of the respondents said they have a gender-neutral attitude and see their family members as their most precious investment, with 75 percent saying they believed that both spouses should share housework equally and another 70 percent saying that family was more important than work. However, the findings also showed that 10 percent of the respondents considered that women should focus on family responsibilities rather than a career, with nearly 20 percent saying that a model mother should focus on family responsibilities, indicating that the bias of gender within the family context is one of the reasons for the conflict between work and family for some people.
Regarding the use of mobile phones and other devices after work, the findings show that 47 percent of the respondents often use “information appliances”* in their spare time, averaging one hour or more per day, which, according to the findings, has a negative impact on the performance of family duties.
However, for some staff, working online can provide more flexibility in the performance of duties and help reduce the impact of family matter on their work. The findings showed that improving civil servants’ ability of and confidence in taking care of both work and family is very important to reduce their work-family conflict, in addition to the care for and support of their family members and colleagues.
Representatives of the two groups urged the government during a press conference on Saturday to encourage its various entities to better integrate civil servants’ life with their work hours, while also adopting appropriate work arrangements and ways for the career development of people of different ages, aiming to reduce civil servants’ work anxiety and stimulate their work motivation. The representatives also said that the various government entities (such as bureaus) should be “more flexible” in the management of leave and working hours, such as allowing civil servants to take temporary leave for family matters without it being part of their annual leave and arrange the possibility of flexible working hours.
The government was urged to take the initiative, based on respect for privacy, to take into account the situation of employees with family problems, arrange for experienced colleagues to provide psychological counselling or experience sharing, strengthen awareness and ability training for civil servants on balancing work and family and adjust their work mode, according to their differences in ability to cope with different situations, according to the representatives.
*An information appliance (IA) is an appliance that is designed to easily perform a specific electronic function such as playing music, photography, or editing text. Typical examples are smartphones and personal digital assistants (PDAs). – Source: Wikipedia
Representatives of the Macau Civil Servants Federation and Macao Chinese Civil Servants Association pose during Saturday’s press conference about the findings of their “Survey on Civil Servants’ Work-Family Conflicts”. – Photo courtesy of TDM
