Family-Friendly Work Practices: Differences within and Between Workplaces

Abstract

The present paper analyses the extent to which access to family-friendly work practices is determined by differential access within or between organisations. It is found that the variation in access to a range of work practices is greater among employees working in the same workplace than the variation between workplaces. A number of employee characteristics are found to be related to the probability of accessing family-friendly work practices. Interestingly, there is no relationship between having dependent children and the likelihood of having access to family-friendly work practices. Another finding is that, employers are most likely to offer family-friendly work practices to employees with high skills levels or in whom they have invested training or other resources. An implication of these findings is that policy makers need to focus on policies that will increase the availability of such practices within organisations to all employees who would benefit from access to these practices.