National Families Week is Australia’s annual celebration of families. National Families Week 2008 will be held between 11-17 May. The theme is 'Work and Family - getting the balance right' which reflects the importance of encouraging Australians, particularly working parents and employers, to find ways to more effectively balance work and family life for themselves and for others.

National Families Week coincides with the United Nations International Day of Families on 15 May. This day is observed by the United Nations to mark the importance of families as the most fundamental units of society, and to draw attention to the plight of many families across the world.

The NSW Government is committed to building healthy families and family friendly workplaces through priorities such as ‘A Healthy Workforce: policy on improving the health and well being of public sector employees’. The NSW public sector continues to lead on family friendly entitlements and flexible working arrangements. These conditions provide staff with the opportunity to build a healthy work/life balance.

The Public Sector Workforce Office is developing strategies to encourage the use of best practice flexible work practice models. These strategies will build the position of the NSW public sector as a preferred employer. They will help to attract and retain people to the wide range of occupations available in the NSW public sector.
The NSW Office for Women supports a range of projects and research focused on improving the balance between paid work and family life, as a key issue for women in our State.  NSW Women Issue 8, “Juggling Work and Family” highlights current initiatives to support working parents, carers and families and can be viewed at www.women.nsw.gov.au/Publications/Publications.htm.
I encourage all staff to take time to participate in a National Families Week activity this year.
Information about the Week, including ways to become involved, can be found at: http://www.familiesaustralia.org.au/familiesweek/FAQs.htm.

Robyn Kruk
Director General

Issued: Workforce Planning Development & Equity ( Public Sector Workforce Office)
Contact: Helen McAdam, Senior Adviser
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 9228 3610 Facsimile: 9228 4704