A recent report by the Productivity Commission into part-time work in Australia confirms what many have long suspected: people would like to work less.
As Kevin Rudd calls for longer and harder hours from Australian public servants, and leads by example to the point of exhaustion, the study has found that there are twice the number of people wanting to move out of full-time work and into part-time work, than the other way around.
I for one do not find this surprising. When discussing my own part-time work arrangements a common reaction I get is: 'I'd love to do that'. But I must say, an equally common reaction is genuine perplexity.
Once people discover that I don't have children, a second job, or a study load, their friendly faces become confused and with crinkled foreheads they ask, 'but what do you do?'
In our society it is largely expected that people only work part-time because of childcare or study commitments, or as a bridge to retirement, excluding the option of part-time work as a lifestyle choice.
Nowhere is this attitude more alarming than in the Victorian Police Force, where policy actually prohibits people working part-time out of choice. Prospective part-time workers must meet one of three eligibility criteria, and unsurprisingly, not one of them is related to lifestyle choice — the bridge to retirement is out too.
It seems that all too often the dominant focus of part-time work is on reconciling work and family, overlooking the importance of creating time for ourselves and our communities.
I know it's not simply a matter of choice, there are very real, complex restrictions — gender, class and ethnic differences — that make striking a healthy work life balance difficult for many people.
But still I can't help wonder why some of the hardest working people in the world, in an economic boom time, won't act on their self-confessed desire to work less.
A survey in 2007 by the Work + Life Centre found that part-time employees more frequently reported feeling satisfied than full-timers, and that part-time hours were associated with better work/life outcomes.
This was confirmed by the Productivity Commission report, which also stated that part-time work arrangements lift workforce participation levels and offer benefits to industry.
So if a lack of beneficial outcomes doesn't seem to be the culprit, perhaps a more likely place to point the finger is at cultural