Factsheet 2
Best Practice
Work–life balance
What is work–life balance?
‘Work–life balance is about people
having a measure of control over when,
where and how they work. It is achieved
when an individual’s right to a fulfilled
life inside and outside paid work is
accepted and respected as the norm,
to the mutual benefit of the individual,
business and society.’
(The Work Foundation)
Why is it an issue for women in SET?
• It is widely recognised that employees who
achieve a work–life balance that suits them
work more efficiently, are more committed to
their employers and are less likely to become ill
as a result of stress.
• In academic science, engineering and
technology (SET), one of the most common
points at which women abandon their careers
is around the level of post-doc/researcher. This
career stage correlates with the time at which
many female researchers are raising young
children. As women still do the majority of
childcare and domestic work, a lack of flexible
working provision and a long-hours culture will
disadvantage more women than men, as they
will be unable to put in the hours required to
advance their careers.
• If universities are serious about retaining
these highly skilled women in their workforce,
they need to provide a supportive working
environment so that both women and men
can forge a more sustainable balance in
their careers and their personal lives. If
women cannot effectively balance their
responsibilities, it is likely that in the long term
they will change their employer, or change
their career altogether.
What does it mean in practice?
• It usually means more choice about the time
and location of work. The most common
examples are flexitime and part-time working
for the timing of work, and homeworking
for the location of work. The move towards
flexible working is not only a practical change,
but is also a significant cultural shift. It involves
trusting staff and measuring outputs and
achievements, rather than process.
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• In reality, many academics have long had
Maternity and childcare
freedom about the location and timing of their
• Recruit a dedicated childcare and work–life
work. However, in SET disciplines, particularly
balance adviser to provide specialist guidance
at the early career stages, this is not always
to staff and students, to help them find
possible as much of the work can be lab-based,
appropriate childcare solutions or working
site-based or field-based and therefore does
practices to suit their individual family
not offer much location flexibility.
circumstances. (King’s College London)
• Athena SWAN award-winners have introduced
some creative solutions to address the
particular challenges in SET so that working
practices can be made more inclusive, to the
benefit of both men and women. Some of
these are outlined below.
• To find out more about these initiatives
and other SWAN-related work, contact the
respective universities directly. Contact details
for all SWAN members can be found on the
membership section of the SWAN website:
www.athenaswan.org.uk/html/athena-swan/
membership.
Flexible working
• Offer a range of flexible working and parttime working arrangements such as extended
lunch breaks to enable care of elderly relatives,
variable hours to enable staff to complete
school pick-up, and a gradual change in hours
to facilitate the return to full-time working
for parents of young children. (Department
of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing
Engineering, University of Nottingham)
www.athenaswan.org.uk
• Create a support group to link women
planning maternity leave with those who have
recently returned from maternity. (University
of Reading)
• Allow maternity leavers with research grants
to place them in abeyance while the school
employs contract research staff (CRS) from
the grant as temporary teaching fellows. Reemploy the CRS once the grant is resumed on
the staff member’s return.
(University of Nottingham, School of Psychology)
• Extend contracts for fixed-term research
staff to cover maternity leave and enable
the individual to return and complete the
outstanding months on the original contract.
(University of Reading)
• Ensure lighter teaching and administrative
loads for women returning from maternity
leave to enable them to achieve a work–life
balance and re-establish their research base.
(University of Nottingham and University
of Bristol)
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• Provide for one term of sabbatical leave
without teaching commitments for researchactive academics returning from maternity,
adoption, extended carer’s or long-term
sickness leave. This leave will enable staff to
re-establish their research activity more quickly.
(University College London)
• Develop a childcare package that includes
after-school and summer holiday provision, a
voucher scheme and a salary sacrifice scheme,
and a register of childminders. Implement a
maternity leave cover scheme giving schools
funding to find replacement cover. (Queen’s
University Belfast)
• Give all staff with caring responsibilities the
opportunity to apply for up to two years’
unpaid leave under a career break policy, in
addition to maternity and paternity leave
entitlements. (University of Manchester)
Promotion and progression
• Allow part-time academics to supervise PhD
students, in order to strengthen their CV.
(University of Manchester)
• When vacancies occur for lectureships,
encourage appropriate internal candidates
to apply, through mentoring. Extend this
encouragement to those working flexibly,
part-time or currently on a career break.
(University of Leicester)
Raising awareness
• Conduct a web-based survey of academic line
managers and academic and research staff with
caring responsibilities in the university’s SET
faculties in order to discover how widely the
university’s flexible working policy is known.
(University of Manchester)
• Design a programme of training for managers,
including principal investigators, about the
need to concentrate on outputs rather than
inputs. Carry out a communications campaign
with staff and managers, followed by an
evaluation of the success, or otherwise, of their
work–life balance initiatives. (University
of Leicester)
• Create a dedicated section of the university
website on the benefits of a positive working
environment for staff and managers. (University
of Bristol)
• Review the promotion systems to prevent any
discriminatory barriers to progression. Invite
candidates to declare any significant periods of
Recruitment
‘time out’ that may be relevant to their career
history, for example, caring for children or other • Include details of family-friendly policies in
the information sent out to potential job
relatives, maternity leave or long-term sickness.
applicants. Advertise on the university website
(Lancaster University)
the availability of flexible working schemes
that can be tailored to the needs of individuals.
(Lancaster University and University of Bristol)
www.athenaswan.org.uk
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Scheduling meetings and
timetabling
• Hold all key meetings in family-friendly core
hours. (University of Nottingham)
• Undertake timetabling centrally, with a
requirement that the head of school signs
off periods of unavailability for teaching by
individual academics, to make timetabling
fairer. (University of Reading)
Sources of further information and
guidance
• The Athena SWAN Charter is a scheme
to recognise and share good practice on
gender equality in SET in higher education
employment. www.athenaswan.org.uk
• The Flexible Employment Options project,
funded by the Higher Education Funding
Council for England, has produced research
and guidance on the practicalities of flexible
working in the higher education sector.
www.staffs.ac.uk/feo
• The Joint Negotiating Committee for Higher
Education Staff has published Work–Life Balance
Guidance for Higher Education Institutions.
www.ucea.ac.uk/objects_store/JNCHES_
Work-Life_Balance_Guidance.pdf
• The final report of the former Equal
Opportunities Commission’s investigation into
the transformation of work is entitled Enter the
Timelords: Transforming Work to Meet the Future.
www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/projects/
workingbetter/transformingwork/Pages/
default.aspx
• The Chartered Institute of Personnel and
Development has produced a factsheet and
other guidance on the health aspects of work–
life balance. www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/health/
worklifebalance
• The University of Bristol’s ‘Positive Working
Environment’ web pages provide a range of
advice and information on the benefits of a
work–life balance.
www.bris.ac.uk/pwe/work_life_balance.html
The SWAN Charter is funded by Equality Challenge Unit and the UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology