The results of a new Government survey, which will be issued in a few weeks' time, will show that Irish companies had 78,000 job vacancies in the year 2000. This means that at the time of the survey, 6.5 per cent of all jobs were vacant in Ireland.
No fast-growing economy can survive where 6.5 per cent of the labour requirement is not being met, and with an estimated 350,000 jobs being created over the next five years, a range of measures are being considered to address our skills and labour shortages.
One area upon which greater attention is being focused is the extent to which family-friendly policies can be introduced into the workplace. Such policies play a minor role in Irish worklife at present, yet they represent a powerful tool to address the current labour shortages being experienced by employers.
It is difficult to determine the factors behind the low take-up of flexible work practices in Ireland, as there is little information on the demand for such arrangements.
Research does show that employees may be fearful of seeking such arrangements as it may affect their career prospects. Similarly, there may be a reluctance on the part of employers - particularly smaller employers - to support flexible work policies due to the operational difficulties that often arise.
A major report on the issue published recently by the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC) highlighted the following facts:
Labour-force participation in Ireland currently stands at 59 per cent. However, there are significant differences between male and female participation rates, at 71 per cent and 47 per cent respectively;
Major reasons put forward for the low female participation rate are lack of affordable quality childcare, skills deficiencies and unsuitable hours of work;
Around one in three women throughout Europe works in a part-time capacity. The equivalent figure for men is 6 per cent. Parttime work in Ireland follows a similar pattern.
According to IBEC, a strong business case now exists for the introduction of family-friendly policies across Irish industry, as such policies can act as a major incentive in attracting and retaining staff.
IBEC also points out that the issue is now much broader than balancing work and family life and that in a new and more affluent society and with increasing awareness of quality of life issues, new challenges have emerged.
IBEC regards the issue of family-friendly policies as critically important in the context of a rapidly changing workplace. It bases its support for family friendly policies on a number of considerations, some social, some economic and some based on the evolving nature of Irish society. Ultimately, however, IBEC is a business organisation and its primary responsibility is to promote the business agenda.
We are strongly of the view that family-friendly polices can deliver considerable benefits to employers and our workforce. The task now is to build on experience to date and encourage more Irish companies to introduce family-friendly policies. This task is not going to be easy and we face many challenges. I want to refer briefly to three of these challenges.
Firstly, we must provide information to companies to convince them there is a strong business case to introduce family-friendly policies. It is not so long ago that companies went down the road of introducing part-time work, job sharing and other initiatives as a way of reducing staff numbers and overheads. Today the wheel has turned full circle, and we must convince companies that familyfriendly policies can play a major role in staff recruitment and retention.
Secondly, we must avoid being prescriptive and forcing particular solutions upon people. The types of policies that might be successful in a traditional manufacturing company will almost certainly be inappropriate for a young software company. We must recognise that small companies face particular problems. We must also recognise that where policies are introduced not all employees will be in a position to avail of them, and we must take these concerns on board.
Finally, we must recognise that Ireland today bears little resemblance to the Ireland of 10 or 20 years ago. Most of this change is positive and we are rightly looked upon with envy by many other countries. People today face many other opportunities not available to earlier generations.
With our increased affluence, many people are exercising their right to avail of these opportunities, be it through foreign travel, participating in voluntary work or other means. Therefore, when we look at family-friendly policies it is no longer just about ensuring the balance between work and parenting is accommodated.
IBEC is convinced we can meet these challenges and we feel the appropriate way is through the partnership process. Already, significant work is under way through the framework committee established under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness (PPF), and today, March 1st, has been declared Family Friendly Workplace Day.
IBEC, Congress, the Equality Authority and a number of Government Departments have joined forces to create a unique event to promote awareness of the positive role family-friendly policies can play in all our lives.
Brendan Butler is director of social policy at IBEC
brendan.butler@ibec.ie