ANU to study how families fare when a partner is away working

ANU academic Dr David Bissell, whose popular earlier studies include the pain and joys of commuting, will research the pressure on families caused by mobile work practices that affect tens of thousands of Australians.

Dr Bissell, from the ANU School of Sociology, says the assessment is the first of its kind.

“The strains that travelling for six hours a day puts on peoples’ family life is immense,” David says, recalling one woman who only saw her 10-year-old son on weekends because of a decade of long commutes between the Central Coast and Sydney.

“The opportunity cost was very marked and this was particularly the case for young families.”

David is the lead researcher of the three-year study with Dr Andrew Gorman-Murray from Western Sydney University. It starts in January 2016 following a recent $192,000 grant from the Australian Research Council.

The study will assess people whom the Australian Bureau of Statistics defines as “long-distance commuters” who travel at least 100km to their work place, not merely FIFO (Fly In Fly Out) workers.

“There are about four-fifths of that group who constitute about two percent of the Australian work force who are not FIFO at all,” David says.

“They’re people who work in administration or policy, a whole raft of different professions. This diversity encompasses a host of different living scenarios.

“Some people live in Canberra or work in Sydney and vice versa, others will commute for the week and be home at the weekend.”

The researchers will do an online screening survey in the second half of 2016 to determine who will be interviewed via Skype – mimicking how many mobile workers keep in contact with their families.

Then there will be a representative sample of about 60 individuals which includes visits to homes of about 20 people to see how the occupants live with a family member away working. A PhD student will be hired to assist with research.

“Workplace wellbeing is a huge and ongoing conversation, particularly at the moment where we’re seeing a change in the economic make-up of this country,” David says.

“Obviously with the decline in the resources sector, some people are thinking ‘what is our next job going to be’? ‘Are we going to move for it?’”

The researchers hope their eventual findings will be of use to employers, peak bodies and state and federal governments, the latter which could tweak aspects of policy.

“One of the big things that we’re trying to find in this study are ways in which these families and individuals can be better supported,” David says.

The study into a transient population of mobile workers in Australia and their diverse experiences has not been done before, David says.

“Are there things that we can learn from one group that we can share with another group, for example,” he asks.

The answers to such questions should be known when the study finishes in late 2018.