Reconciliation Of Work Research Articles

Pflegende Studierende: Soziale Ungleichheiten in und Belastungen durch die (Nicht-)Vereinbarkeit von Pflege und Studium

Abstract Care work is mostly done by family members. While the (non-)reconciliation of care and work has already been researched in numerous studies, the state of research on studying and caring for (older) adults, such as one’s own parents or grandparents, has gaps. This paper, thus, asks: How many students engage in caregiving activities? How are caregiving activities socially distributed among the group of students? What burdens result from the (non-)reconciliation of study and care? In order to approach these questions, a university-wide online survey was conducted at the University of Stuttgart in October 2021, in which a total of 1622 students participated. Methods of analysis included logistic and linear regressions in addition to descriptive statistics. On the one hand, the results point out that caregiving is unequally distributed: Female and older students show a higher probability of caring for an older person during their studies. This also applies to students with a migrant background. On the other hand, students who are caregivers more often feel overburdened in various areas of their lives, from their studies, their partnership to their own health. This points to the accumulation of social inequalities – those who are already disadvantaged are more likely to find themselves in a care situation and, thus, experience increased stress. We assume that this could have long-term effects on the entire life course (e. g. on academic success, opportunities on the labour market and health).

Ist informelle Telearbeit eine Gefahr für die Vereinbarkeit von Erwerbsarbeit und Familie? Ein Vergleich der Implikationen von formeller und informeller Telearbeit für Vereinbarkeitskonflikte

AbstractThe study analyses the relationship between formal and informal telework and work-family conflicts using the job-demands and resources (JD-R) model. Previously, the model has more frequently been applied to understand the implications of telework without distinguishing between formal telework and informal telework outside contracted working hours. We conducted cross-sectional OLS-regressions on pilot data from the European Social Survey compiled in 2019. The results show that formal telework is associated with fewer, and informal telework with more work-family conflicts. While formal telework appears as a resource, informal telework rather functions as a demand. Additional analyses report that formal teleworkers are nevertheless at risk of work-family conflicts because formal telework often goes hand in hand with informal telework and, thus, work-family conflicts.Practical Relevance: While formal telework can facilitate the reconciliation of work and family life, employees are at risk of counteracting this dynamic when telework is conducted informally during paid or unpaid overtime. The findings suggest that it is important for managers, HR managers and employees to be aware of the potentials and risks of frequent teleworking that come with the ability to work anytime and anywhere in order to avoid unintended consequences. In this context, an organisational culture that values adherence to schedules and ‘switching off’ at the end of the workday, even under conditions of high workloads and low personnel resources, can be beneficial.

Work-Life Balance: Women with at Least One Sick or Disabled Child

Although gender equity was advocated, women with at least one child had difficulty reconciling work and family. If women with healthy children experience conflict between their two spheres of life, what about women living with disabled or sick children? This article highlights the challenges, the different individual strategies adopted and socially responsible management practices that can facilitate the reconciliation of work and private life to break the glass ceiling of women with at least one sick or disabled child. The results of an exploratory qualitative study of 15 women with at least one disabled or sick child show that the challenges of medical emergencies, working hours, working hours, daily stress, permanent insecurity linked to the state of health, the education of its children, the care of his children, the sharing of family responsibility between spouses, care for close relatives, the possibility of changing working hours, overload at work, young children, unfavourable culture does not facilitate conciliation. These women use the individual strategy of social support, redefinition of roles and temporal organization to reconcile their professional and private lives. And finally, the results show that his individual strategies are not enough to reconcile work and family. To do this, companies must put in place socially responsible practices and management that can further enable them to facilitate conciliation and be efficient at work.

SDG 8 – Decent work and sustainability: The case of a public security organization in Brazil

AbstractThe recognition of the importance of work and the worker in the context of sustainability and social responsibility led the International Labor Organization (ILO) to construct the central concept of this research. This study aims to analyze the work environment in police organizations from the perspective of the concept of work that the ILO has termed Decent Work. The questionnaire was constructed based on the literature and validated by experts. Subsequently, it was made available through Google Forms® and submitted to the respondents. The research was based on ILO indicators (employment opportunities; adequate income; decent working hours; reconciliation of work, personal, and family life; stability and security at work; equal opportunities and treatment in employment; safe working environment; social dialogue; representation of workers and employers), and involved the participation of 704 respondents. The main pieces of evidence include: partial compliance with the indicators of decent work, with a negative emphasis on the working environment, where 59.39% classified it as unsafe, followed by evidence of low institutional concern for employees.

Developing and evaluating Compassionate Workplace Programs to promote health and wellbeing around serious illness, dying and loss in the workplace (EU-CoWork): a transdisciplinary, cross-national research project

Background: Most employees will experience serious illness, caregiving, dying and loss (End-of-Life (EoL) experiences) at multiple points throughout their working lives. These experiences impact affected employees but also their colleagues in terms of health and wellbeing, and the workplace as a whole in terms of workplace safety, productivity and labour relations. The impact of EoL experiences on employees means that workplaces are called to play a more active role in providing support for EoL experiences. Aim: To describe how the EU-CoWork (2024–2028) project addresses its main aims to (1) create Compassionate Workplace cultures, practices and policies and improve health and wellbeing for employees dealing with EoL experiences in different national work contexts in Europe; (2) describe and evaluate the process of co-creation and implementation of Compassionate Workplace Programs (CWPs) and how these influence the programs’ outcomes. Design: EU-CoWork employs a facilitated and co-creative Developmental Evaluation approach to the development of 12 tailored CWPs across four European countries (Belgium, Austria, Sweden and Greece). Methods: To evaluate the outcomes and processes leading to these outcomes, a mixed-methods Realist Evaluation methodology is applied, formulating and testing Context-Mechanism-Outcomes configurations and combining longitudinal quantitative and qualitative data collections. Results: EU-CoWork will generate evidence to support an expanded model of occupational health and safety risk factors sensitive to the specific challenges related to employees’ EoL experiences. In doing so, several challenges will have to be navigated: involving employees with EoL experiences while avoiding overburdening them, avoiding tokenistic engagement, managing power differentials, balancing the need for scientific rigour with the flexibility required in co-creation, reconciling different epistemologies and disciplinary traditions and organisational resistance to change. Conclusion: There are potential long-lasting broader societal impacts through the stimulation of open discourse on EoL topics, the reconciliation of work and care, and changes in gendered work and care patterns.

The Intersection of Cross-Border Migration and the Reconciliation of Work and Family: Chinese-Speaking Immigrant Women in Australia

The Intersection of Cross-Border Migration and the Reconciliation of Work and Family: Chinese-Speaking Immigrant Women in Australia

How to Enhance Time Wealth? Insights from Changes in Time Use and Working Conditions During the COVID-19 Lockdown in Germany

This paper investigates the changes in time use, working conditions and subjective time wealth during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. Our analysis draws on panel data collected before and during the first lockdown among 786 employees. It employs a recently developed scale on time wealth which has been suggested as a comprehensive measure to capture the subjective experience of time. We provide separate analyses according to gender and essential occupation. First-difference regressions are applied to examine how changes in time use and changes in working conditions during the lockdown affected subjective time wealth. Our results show a general growth in time wealth during the lockdown which is, among other factors, driven by a decline in work hours and an increase in sleep duration. We also find positive effects on time wealth from decreased time pressure at work, more autonomy in organising one’s working day, and an improved reconciliation of work and private life. This study contributes to existing research by identifying key aspects how to improve time wealth among employees.

Talleres integradores para la conciliación de la vida laboral-familiar como factor de calidad de los servicios estomatológicos

Introduction: Work-life balance has a positive impact on work, family and quality of services. The aim of this study was to propose an intervention through workshops as a contribution to work-life balance as a determinant of the quality of stomatological services.Methods: An intervention study was carried out using non-probability sampling based on selection criteria. The study universe included 10 female stomatologists, five female managers and their respective partners. The proposal was evaluated by experts and workshops were designed to integrate theoretical and practical knowledge, taking as a starting point the experiences of the participants, promoting reflection and collective transformation of the problems.Results: The experts evaluated the proposal as applicable, feasible, generalizable, relevant, valid and original. Six conference sessions and 27 group discussion sessions were held, distributed in three workshops: workshop 1, focused on the action plan as a key factor for the transformation of the current state towards the desired state; workshop 2, focused on conciliation as a determining factor in the quality of stomatological services; and workshop 3, oriented to the systematic follow-up of the tasks of the action plan. The intervention evaluated and implemented allowed contributing to the reconciliation of work and family life through the incorporation of new knowledge and active participation in the processes of organizational change.

Uprawnienia opiekunów dzieci przyznawane przez pracodawców jako przejaw realizacji celów wynikających z dyrektywy 2019/1158

The rights of employees in relation to parenthood granted by employers as a manifestation of the achievement of the objectives of Directive 2019/1158 Directive 2019/1158 obliges Member States to facilitate the reconciliation of work and family life for workers. This task can be carried out directly by the state as well as by employers. In the first case, it is necessary to issue laws. On the other hand, employers can help employees in the implementation of childcare through collective labour agreements, regulations and the so-called soft law. The information contained in the article is based on the research conducted by the author together with Barbara Godlewska-Bujok on the rights of employees in relation to parenthood granted by employers.

Bread or roses? Trade unions, female employment and the expansion of work-family policies

ABSTRACT In the Fordist era, trade unions promoted welfare state expansion and coverage against risks for the broader workforce. With the shift to the post-industrial economy, however, new economic groups have been left without representation. This is particularly evident for women: despite a rapid increase in female employment since the 1980s, unions’ membership base remains anchored in the male, old and industrial working class. Without the crucial pressure of labour, welfare systems have failed to enhance the reconciliation of work and family life. Under which conditions do unions support the expansion of work-family policies? Marshalling evidence from 20 OECD countries in the 1980–2010 period, this paper investigates the role of political actors in family policy reform. Findings suggest that unions promote the expansion of work-family packages when they are gender-inclusive and have institutional access to policy-making.

Interstellar formation of functionalized cyclopropenes

ABSTRACT Nearly two decades since the detection of cyclopropenone (c-C3H2O) in the interstellar medium (ISM), the understanding of how this molecule comes to be remains incomplete. Many hypotheses place the ubiquitous hydrocarbon c-C3H2 at the centre of such discussions. However, insights into c-C3H2 chemistry are further complicated by the recent detection of ethynyl cyclopropenylidene (c-C3HC2H) and the observation of a radio line possibly belonging to methylenecyclopropene (c-C3H2CH2). In a necessary reconciliation of past and current work on the chemical capabilities of c-C3H2 in interstellar environments, the formation pathways of several functionalized cyclopropenes from c-C3H2 and a hydrogenated radical are explored. Chemically accurate CCSD(T)-F12/cc-pVTZ-F12 calculations are used to evaluate the energies of reaction and generate structures along the reaction pathway for formation products deemed chemically plausible. Potential energy scans are used to include or rule out certain paths to product formation based on conformation to the necessary requirements of cold interstellar chemistry. Four functionalized cyclopropenes in addition to c-C3H2O have net exothermic reactions when forming from c-C3H2 (c-C3H2CC, c-C3H2S, c-C3H2NH, and c-C3H2CH2). The former three are found to have reaction profiles favourable for formation in the cold ISM, while c-C3H2CH2 can only form by passage through an association barrier that must be mitigated by an energy source of some kind. c-C3H2S and c-C3H2NH are the best candidates for new spectroscopic searches. A complete detection of c-C3H2CH2 is necessary to fully understand cyclopropenylidene chemistry in the ISM.

Informelle Pflege und Berufstätigkeit: Einflussfaktoren auf die Bereitschaft

IntroductionThe proportion of people in need of care will continue to rise in Germany. In 2019, the majority of people in need of care was cared for at home. Reconciling caregiving and work poses a heavy burden for many caregivers. Therefore, a monetary compensation for care is being discussed politically in order to facilitate the reconciliation of work and care. The aim of this study was to investigate whether and under which circumstances a sample of the German population is willing to care for a close relative. A particular focus was placed on the willingness to reduce working hours, the importance of the expected period of caregiving, and monetary compensation. MethodsA primary data collection was conducted in two modes using a questionnaire. A self-completion postal survey was sent out via the AOK Lower Saxony and complemented with an online survey. Data was analysed descriptively and using logistic regression. Results543 participants were included. 90% of the sample surveyed was willing to provide care for a close relative, with the majority stating that their willingness depended on various factors: both the health status and the person of the family member needing care had the greatest influence. 34% of the employed respondents were not willing to reduce their working hours, mostly for financial reasons. Discussion and conclusionMany older adults want to stay in their homes for as long as possible. Thus, the willingness to provide and take over the role of informal caregiver is and will remain a central pillar of the German care system. Negotiating between informal caregiving and professional activities often creates a substantial burden. For people from lower income households monetary compensation might enhance their willingness to provide informal care. However, in order to increase the willingness to engage in informal care of people from different backgrounds and life stages, flexible approaches are needed that go beyond monetary compensation.

Understanding the use of Flexible Work Arrangements Among Older New Zealand Caregivers.

Flexibility in the workplace has been suggested to promote prolonged employment among older workers. This study focuses on the question of whether the use of flexible work arrangements (FWAs) differs between caregivers and non-caregivers and how potential differences can be explained. Participants were 296 carers and 1611 non-carers (aged 55-70years) who completed the 2018 Health, Work and Retirement survey and were in paid employment. Hierarchical regression was used to investigate caregiving as an independent predictor of use of FWAs after controlling for demographic and work-related variables. Results show that caregivers on average used more FWAs than non-caregivers, including flexible work hours, flexible schedules and time off. Differences in FWAs use between caregivers and non-caregivers cannot be explained by differences in socio demographic and work characteristics. The use of FWAs warrants attention in discussions about prolonged employment and reconciliation of care and work among older adults.

Assessment of legal solutions to facilitate work-life balance in the public services sector

The aim of this study is to present chosen aspects of assessing legal solutions facilitating reconciliation of work and private life for employees of the public services sector, based on empirical research conducted in five European countries. The research purpose was to indicate the role of labour law regulations in shaping the work-life balance and to determine the ways of their implementation, their usefulness and the needs that emerge in the changing socio-economic reality, as evidenced by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The need to isolate people quickly popularised remote (online) work and the possibility of staying at home, which possibly had a positive impact on private matters. However, the general situation is different. Hence, the hypothesis was adopted that despite the variety of solutions, they are insufficiently used in the public services sector. Although there are noticeable facilitations in combining professional and family duties, they still have too little impact on the attractiveness of work and are not of an innovative nature. The specificity of the public services sector makes it difficult to freely choose solutions that increase the flexibility of employment and thus the activity of working parents, especially women on the labour market.

Managing work and nonwork responsibilities when labour protection is weak: The role of family supportive supervisor behaviours

AbstractKnowledge concerning the reconciliation of work and life in developing countries with weak labour protection and little governmental support (e.g. statutory work–life support) is still very limited. In this mixed‐method study, we explore how employees manage their work and nonwork responsibilities in Lebanon—a developing country with poor national and organisational work–life support. Findings from a qualitative study of 10 blue‐ (BC),10 white‐collar (WC) workers and 10 HR professionals from companies in various industries identified contextual challenges and strategies to reconcile work and nonwork responsibilities. In a quantitative study based on a survey of 269 employees, we examined the effect of family supportive supervisor behaviour (FSSB) for different groups of workers and explored one potential mechanism of FSSB, namely, schedule fit. Results show that FSSB increases employees' perceptions of schedule fit, which, in turn, minimises their work–life conflict (WLC). We also found that BC workers seem to benefit more from FSSB than WC workers. We inform work–life research on less supportive contexts and offer practical recommendations for HR managers to operate successfully within these environments.

©Trans-faire: A Mechanism for Taking Collective Control of Mental Health Interventions in the Workplace

Accordingly, it was our assumption in the summer of 2020 that the C-19 pandemic and the public health measures accompanying it had disrupted the community support provided by social stewards in workplace settings, as well as created specific requirements in terms of training for them. On one hand, the public health crisis had exacerbated and altered the problems social stewards were already familiar with (e.g., porosity of working time and reconciliation of work and family life or life outside of work) that were driven by the widespread recourse to telework. On the other, the crisis had resulted in a fundamental transformation of the role and the conditions, in proximity with others, under which social stewards had operated since the founding of the Network.

Perceptions of Barriers to Motherhood: Female STEM PhD Students’ Changing Family Plans

Despite recent pronatalist policies in Hungary, the country has not boosted birth rates at the expected rate. Higher educated women still delay the transition to first birth, a smaller proportion of planned children are born than in Western European countries, and the level of childlessness has also been increasing. As a post‐socialist legacy, prevailing traditional family and gender norms strongly constrain the reconciliation of work and family roles, which can prevent women from realizing their childbearing intentions or drive them to live a childfree life. Qualitative studies about how the fertility decisions of women are formed are scarce, particularly in relation to male‐dominated high‐skilled professions, where the realization of family plans can be especially challenging. The present article explores the barriers to motherhood among female engineers. Results of 27 semi‐structured interviews with mainly childless female PhD students in 2014–2015 show that the women were subject to strong social expectations that negatively influenced their fertility plans. On the family side, these involve becoming a mother and being responsible for child care and household chores; on the work side, challenges include the knowledge‐intensiveness of jobs and a male career model that hardly tolerates the role of motherhood. As a result, the respondents had further delayed childbearing, forecast reconsidering family plans after first childbirth, and in one case, opted for voluntary childlessness. Women also reflected on how their fertility is at stake due to their postponed motherhood and the cumulative effects of hazardous laboratory work. Several intervention points are suggested to stakeholders.

Impact of the Pandemic on the Teaching and Research Staff at a Technological University in Spain: Deepening the Gender Gap.

The alteration of the educational model caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has not affected all university faculty equally. This work explores the academic, digital and gender inequalities caused by the pandemic on the teaching and research staff of a technological university for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines in Spain, the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya—BarcelonaTech (UPC). The study considers an anonymous survey with a non-probabilistic voluntary sample (n = 355). The results of the survey reveal that, over these months, the teaching and research staff of the university, regardless of gender, has significantly increased its academic activity due especially to the number of hours devoted to virtual teaching compared to its teaching dedication in a situation of normalcy. This study shows that the lockdown has strongly affected women who are more vulnerable to crisis. In particular, the negative impact on research has been higher in female faculty staff from the UPC, who already face disparities regarding promotion and, during lockdown, stated more difficulties with household work reconciliation. From the results of this study, it is possible to conclude that the COVID-19 pandemic has deepened the gender gap in the academic field.

Gendered Labor Market (dis)advantages in Nordic Welfare States. Introduction to the Theme of the Special Issue

Gender equality has been named as one of the normative foundations of Nordic wel- fare states. This is reflected in how, year after year, Nordic states rank among the most gender egalitarian countries in the world (see, e.g., World Economic Forum 2020). In Nordic countries, the state has been, and continues to be, a central actor in shaping women’s citizenship, labor market opportunities, and caring roles. Especially publicly funded welfare services and policies that facilitate the reconciliation of work and care have played a major part in advancing women’s labor market participation (see, e.g., Bergquist et al. 1999; Borchorst & Siim 2002; Ellingsæter & Leira 2006; Siim & Stoltz 2015). The institutional framework of Nordic welfare state policies has been central to what has been called the ‘social democratic public service route’ (Walby 2004).One of the important building blocks of gender equality has been the aim of making policies in Nordic countries ‘women-friendly’. More than 30 years ago, Helga Hernes (1987) identified the Nordic countries as ‘potentially women-friendly societies’. She char- acterized women-friendly societies as those that ‘would not force harder choices on women than on men’ (ibid., 15), particularly in relation to work and care. Hernes also envisaged that woman-friendliness should be achieved without increasing other forms of inequality, such as class or ethnicity-based inequalities among different groups of women.However, achieving gender equality in working life and the sort of womenfriendliness that Hernes envisaged at the societal level has in many ways also proved to be challenging, as the ties between the state and gender equality goals are more complex than what they might seem at first glance. Gender disparities have proven persistent also within the Nordic context. When we issued a call for this special issue, we were inter- ested in various forms of gendered labor market (dis)advantage in Nordic countries. Furthermore, we asked how gender segregation, welfare state policies, labor market policies, and various labor market actors interact to produce, maintain, challenge, or change gender equality in the labor market in the Nordic countries and beyond. The five articles presented in this special issue address the issue of gendered labor market (dis)advantages in Nordic countries from several vantage points, focusing on both on ‘traditional’ questions, such as corporate power and sustainable employment, and ‘emerging’ questions such as intersectionality, gender culture, and aesthetic work.

Organizational Support of Working from Home: Aftermath of COVID-19 from the Perspective of Workers and Leaders

(1) The objective of this study is to analyze working from home (WFH) arrangements implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are focusing on: 1. The main challenges and differences in WFH arrangements, compared to regular work before the pandemic. 2. The scope of WFH workload and its potential negative effects on workers’ well-being and reconciliation of work and family. 3. Organizational support to workers WFH, including communication with co-workers, IT specialists, and leaders, and required competence to perform WFH. 4. Organization support of work process, including data access, provision of IT, and work supervision. (2) The research is based on structured interviews with 102 employees and leaders of WFH in the second wave of COVID-19 in Slovenia. (3) Results strongly confirm previous research and emphasize that the pandemic has suddenly completely changed the WFH by placing a much greater accent on work–family reconciliation, communication among co-workers and leaders, work organization, workload, and organizational support. (4) Identified WFH practices developed during the pandemic will help individuals and businesses to optimize WFH and hybrid work, which is on the rise.