Urgh! Another night of no sleep and work again today.
Source: Supplied
- Tired parents cost employers $5 billion per year
- Greater flexibility and a shorter commute at top of wishlist
- Employers should do more to help
WORKING parents are starved of sleep and overcompensate for having family commitments by spending more time at work.
A recent study by global workplace provider, Regus found that nearly one third of working mums and dads sacrificed sleep in order to meet their work and family commitments.
Tired parents are also expensive, according to Regus, as their lack of "mental and emotional engagement at work" is costing employers about $5 billon a year.
Most parents who responded to the Regus survey said that a shorter commute to the office and greater flexibility in where they work would give them more time at home and solve their sleep problem.
But how realistic are these conditions for most people, given the rising cost of real estate in the major Australian cities and the lack of support from big business? Just this week, Yahoo turned its back on staff working from home.
Daria O'Neill - a working mum of two children, 18-month-old daughter and five-year-old son - has been a development manager at Gondwana Choirs since 2010. She describes a typical working week - juggling three-days-a-week of work and home commitments - as tough going.
"At the moment I am changing my days of work every week to fit in with my daughter’s care needs," she said. "We have recently moved house and I have not found childcare for her, so I am juggling work and relying on my parents to get us by."
Ms O’Neill said lack of sleep was definitely a contributing factor to the overall stress she felt as a parent.
"I would love more sleep, but I don’t know when that is going to happen," she said. "At the moment I average around seven hours of broken sleep every night. When I do get back to bed after one of the children has woken up, I find myself thinking about work and not being able to get back to sleep."
Ms O’Neill said her partner was a freelance worker and that allowed him more time at home than most dads to help with the children. But she said employers generally needed to do more to help working parents, including dads playing a greater role in their children’s lives.
"I know people who are doing it really tough, like single mothers who have to send their baby to care very young," she said. "As a mother you are constantly feeling guilty – being at work can make you resentful because you are not with your child. But being home can make you worry that you are not doing enough at work."
Experts agree that parents need to prioritise their own health in order to survive the constant demands of looking after everyone else. Dr Justin Coulson has three stress busters for parents.
Get clear on your priorities. We can get so busy just trying to keep up with our own schedules and our children’s schedules that we forget what is important. Ask yourself, does your child really need to do four sports, or is one per season enough? Once you are clear about what you actually do want to choose, you will feel more in control and this will lessen your feelings of stress.
Create time. This seems counterintuitive, because time is the one thing we parents want but can never seem to find. But as we spend more time with our kids, the better they behave and the happier we feel. Their schoolwork improves and we feel better because we are spending time with them.
Practice positive psychology. Just something simple like remembering to be grateful for three things that happened each day is a good goal. And if you can manage the time, helping other people will also give you a boost.
Follow Lucy on Twitter: @lucyjk
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