Stressed Australian Charity Workers Have 'Role Overload'

While many in the Not for Profit sector may have already suspected it now a new Australian study has confirmed that charity workers are some of the most stressed in Australia.

The report called "Work-Life Balance in Australia in the New Millennium: rhetoric versus reality" was written by Canadian academics Dr Linda Duxbury and Dr Chris Higgins and based on research conducted in Australian in 2007 by Beaton Consulting in Melbourne.

The report says Not for Profit workers ranked third highest behind lawyers and accountants in the percentage of those described as having ‘role overload.’

The research says ‘role overload’ occurs when an individual has too much to do and too little time to do it in. It says overloaded people constantly feel rushed and "time crunched".

Some 42 percent of Not for Profit workers and those in education were found to have ‘role overload’ compared with 46 percent of accountants and 54 percent of lawyers.

The report says across all industries, women with dependents (children or parents and elderly relatives) have the highest levels of ‘role overload’.

Those workers with the highest levels are women in education, Not for Profit, manufacturing, trade and finance and insurance.

It says 57 percent of women with dependents in the Third Sector feel stressed.

As well the workers were asked if they had ‘supportive managers’. Not for Profit managers ranked seventh out of eight industry groups questioned.

The study covered a wide range of work-life balance issues from fertility rates to job satisfaction.

The research also pointed to high levels of ambivalence towards work with almost 25 percent of all groups surveyed reporting that they think of leaving their job at least once a week.

The report and executive summary can be downloaded at www.beaton.com.au