The national framework committee for work-life balance policies was established under the PPF and continued under the national agreement Sustaining Progress with a remit to support and facilitate the development of family friendly policies at the level of the enterprise through the development of a package of practical measures that can be applied. One of the tasks of the committee is to examine how best to improve access to family-friendly working arrangements in order to realise the potential benefits that these arrangements would offer from both an equality and competitiveness perspective. The committee comprises representatives from IBEC, ICTU, the Equality Authority and Departments, and is chaired by my Department.
The research report Off the Treadmill was commissioned by the national framework committee to gather information on the types of family-friendly policies in organisations, the level of availability and take-up of family-friendly working arrangements in workplaces, attitudes to family-friendly arrangements among employers, employees and work colleagues, and to identify existing research available in this area. The report confirms that demands for work-life opportunities are increasing among a broad range of people who are at work or who may be seeking work, not just people who are seeking to balance work and family responsibilities.