The Role of Organizational Size and Industry in Job Quality and Work-Family Relationships

In this study we update analyses of the 1977 QES (Zipp, 1991) using data from the 1997 National Study of the Changing Workforce. We use hierarchical linear modeling procedures to partition the variance in a wide variety of indicators of workers' experiences. Most variation was associated with the individual level of analysis, but significant and nontrivial variation also was associated with the organizational and industrial levels. Although workers in smaller organizations reported lower earnings, fewer benefits, and less education than their counterparts in larger organizations, they also reported experiencing less discrimination, better fit between their actual and desired work hours, more supportive work environments and loyalty to their employers, less burnout or interference between work and family, and shorter commute times.     

INTEGRATING PAID WORK AND FAMILY WORK

This qualitative study explores the nature and variation of parenting in the workplace (PIW) childcare practices in a purposive sample of 55 businesses that allowed employees to personally care for children at the workplace while simultaneously performing their job duties. Major findings indicate that although PIW occurred in a variety of industries and organizations of different sizes, the practice was limited to employees who held administrative type positions. Businesses supported PIW on an occasional basis for employees who experienced breakdowns in routine childcare arrangements or on a regular basis for employees who did not have continuing access to acceptable or affordable childcare. According to business representatives in this sample, the practice helped maintain worker productivity and decrease employee absenteeism but was supported only on the condition that employees accomplish work tasks and supervise well-behaved children. The author also considers what PIW might suggest about the relationship between paid work and family work in today's society. Because family and child well-being appeared to be secondary to business goals, theoretical and practice frameworks that align the needs of children and families with the needs of businesses should direct future research on parenting in the workplace. Insights about father involvement in PIW, implications of PIW for child development, and the potential of Border Theory and the Work-life Systems Framework to inform future PIW studies are addressed.

Este estudio cualitativo explora la naturaleza y la variación en el cuidado de los niños en el lugar del trabajo ‘parenting in the workplace’ (PIW) en una muestra planificada de 55 empresas que permitieron que los empleados cuiden personalmente a los niños en el lugar de trabajo mientras simultáneamente hacen sus deberes del trabajo. Los resultados principales indican que aunque PIW ocurrió en una variedad de industrias y organizaciones de tamaños diversos, la práctica era limitada a los empleados con papeles administrativos. Los negocios apoyaron PIW de vez en cuando para los empleados que experimentaron interrupciones en sus arreglos cotidianos para cuidar a sus niños o de manera habitual para los empleados que no tenían acceso a recursos aceptables o asequibles de cuidar a los niños. Según los representantes de negocios en esta muestra, la práctica fomentó el mantenimiento de la productividad del trabajador y disminuyó el ausentismo pero se apoyó solamente a condición de que los empleados lograran sus tareas de trabajo y que los niños se comportaran bien. El autor también considera qué PIW puede sugerir sobre la relación entre el trabajo pagado y el trabajo dentro de la familia en la sociedad de hoy. Ya que el bienestar de la familia y del niño pareció subordinado a las metas de negocio, es necesario que marcos de teoría y práctica que alinean las necesidades de niños y de familias con las necesidades de negocios deben dirigir la investigación futura sobre el cuidado de los niños en el lugar del trabajo. Se tratan también ideas sobre la participación de los padres en PIW, implicaciones de PIW para el desarrollo del niño, y la potencial de Border Theory (teoría de la frontera) y Work-life Systems Framework (marco de sistemas de trabajo-vida) para informar los estudios de PIW más adelante.     

欧洲四国家庭友好政策及效应分析

为帮助女性职工平衡工作和家庭间的冲突、促进劳动力市场和家庭生活领域中的性别平等．以北欧国家为代表的欧盟国家率先制定并实施了家庭友好政策。从政策安排看．丹麦侧重于提供儿童早期教育和公共照料服务,英国更加注重家庭津贴和税收减免政策对家庭的支持。德国侧重于为家庭提供生育假期政策安排,意大利则着重为3—6岁的儿童提供免费的学前教育。从政策效应看,儿童早期教育和公共照料服务比生育假期和家庭津贴更能促进女性就业．提高女性地位。虽然四国家庭友好政策的侧重点和政策效应均存在一定差异,但向女性的政策倾斜仍然是各国家庭友好政策最重要的共性。也是践行“社会性别主流化”理念的一次有益尝试。     

Social Policy and the Politics of Hispanic Aging

Abstract

This study examines the contributing factors to job satisfaction and commitment among lower-income, older (age 55 and over), part-time employees (N = 164). Job satisfaction index (JSI) scores were relatively high for all subjects and did not differ significantly for age, gender, or Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) status. While not particularly low, white employees were significantly less satisfied with their employment experiences than Hispanic or African American workers. The scarcity of fringe benefits was the least satisfying aspect of employment. Older Hispanics, whites, and men reported less interference between job, family, and home life than African Americans and women. Multiple regression analysis revealed that race/ethnicity, skill utilization opportunities, perceived views of elders held by younger workers and supervisors, availability of fringe benefits, and suitable work days explained the majority of variance in JSI scores. Opportunities to interact with others and stay active were more important than financial supplementation in these elders' assessment of the benefits of part-time employment. Findings provide further understanding of those elders likely to be placed successfully in part-time employment.     

Working Mothers' Choice between Parental Leave and Job Continuity A Paradox in South Korea

This study investigate whether the positive relationship between the use of parental leave and job continuity of mothers exists in Korea. using a secondary dataset composed of 1,000 mothers who have already utilized maternity leave, the article finds that the relationship between the use of parental leave and job continuity of mothers is negative. To enable working mothers to reconcile paid work and family responsibility in Korea, it is therefore necessary to construct a more comprehensive policy package, including expansion of the publicly supported childcare system, the reformation of childcare responsibility between genders, and public payments for childcare provided by families.     

Family-friendly benefits and full-time working mothers’ labor force persistence

Family-friendly benefits are intended to help mothers balance rather than juggle work and family. Prior research assumes that family-friendly benefits have a similar effect on mothers’ persistence in full-time work across parity. However, there is evidence that the transitions to first-time and second-time motherhood are qualitatively, as well as quantitatively, different experiences. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79), we investigate women’s labor force status (full-time, part-time, and not working) after both parity transitions among women who were working in the labor force full-time prior to the birth of their first child. We find that mothers often persist in the same labor force status after the birth of their second child that they held after the birth of their first child, but there is wide variability in labor force and parity pathways. In addition, a wider array of family-friendly benefits is associated with second-time mothers’ full-time work than first-time mothers.     

The Effects of Family-Friendly Workplace Environments on Work-Family Stress of Employed Parents

Abstract

This study utilized the spillover conceptual framework to examine the effects of structural (formal policies) and dynamic (informal supervisory support) aspects of the workplace on the financial stress, time-based problems, and role-strain of employed parents. Data was obtained by telephone interview from an availability sample of 374 employed parents in several different workplaces. Logistic regression analyses provided partial support for the hypotheses that each of four groups of different family-friendly policies would effect specific work-family outcomes. One structural component, leave time allowance policy, helped ease the time-based problems of employed parents. The other structural components such as child care assistance, alternative work arrangements or stress management programs did not effect the work-family stress variables. Several dynamic components of the work environment, particularly informal supervisory support, were associated with all three measures of work-family stress. This comprehensive model suggests that workplace support for working parents must extend beyond formal policies and practices to move workers and their families forward as the primary beneficiaries of family-friendly workplaces.     

Explaining organizational variation in flexible work arrangements: why the pattern and scale of availability matter

This study examines flexible work arrangement (FWA) availability in 2009 in a sample of 545 American employers. While most employers offer FWAs to some of their workforce, few offer these to the majority of their workers. Those employers that offer flexible work options tend to rely most heavily on flexibility in the scheduling and place of work. Seldom do organizations make options of reducing work and/or pausing work available to majority portions of their labor forces. Industry sector, labor market conditions, and organizational cultural support of flexibility are predictive of wide-scale FWA availability. This study reveals that FWAs remain out of reach for most workers, but that some conditions may foster greater availability.     

Perceptions of Family-Friendly Policies: University Versus Corporate Employees

This study adds to a growing literature examining the impact of family-friendly policies in a variety of industries by examining the differences between corporate and university employees in their subjective perceptions of work-family policies. Differences by gender and dependent care responsibility in these perceptions in the university sample are examined and compared to results that have been found in corporate settings. Data collected in a university setting was compared to similar data of thirty-seven Business Week 1000 companies. The results show that the university sample employees were significantly more negative toward their workplace's work-family climate than were the corporate sample employees. In addition, significant gender and dependent care responsibility differences exist within the university sample.     

Youth Master Plans as Potential Roadmaps to Creating Child- and Youth-friendly Cities

Communities across the globe are focusing on the needs of young people and their families in an effort to create child- and youth-friendly cities. In an attempt to become more child and youth friendly, over 40 communities in the United States have developed youth master plans (YMPs), as of 2009; however, our understanding of these plans is limited. To broaden this understanding, this research employed a multiple-methods approach, including an online questionnaire, plan analysis and semi-structured interviews with key community informants. Findings show that YMPs often focus on collaboration among community entities and youth participation, yet include only general normative statements regarding the physical environment. Furthermore, urban planners do not typically take the lead in development of YMPs, and, in some cases, are not involved at all. To inform and improve future YMPs, this paper recommends greater focus on the physical environment, particularly in relation to safety, access to nature and sustainable transportation.