Employers in the public sector ‘talk the talk’ on work-life balance, but have only low levels of commitment to changing standard working patterns in practice, according to a report from The Work Foundation.

The report, commissioned by the public service union UNISON, found that public sector organisations make substantial ‘paper commitments’ concerning work-life balance.

Three quarters of employers in the public sector have initiatives and policies in place to address work-life balance for some or all staff, yet only 50% of the union members felt they had the chance to make real choices about their working arrangements.

It found just over half said they were aware of the work-life options open to them and a third believed their managers are not committed to helping them achieve work-life balance.

Laura Williams, senior researcher at The Work Foundation and co-author of the report, said: ‘Work-life balance is one of those areas where public sector organisations claim to be most progressive. But what this study does is to take a peek beneath those superficial commitments to what happens in real life. And what we see is a classic rhetoric-reality gap.”