Bernard FusulierUniversity of Louvain

Belgiumbernard.fusulier@uclouvain.be

Combining work & family: contemporary social changes, public policy and

organisational influences

“The labour market requires mobility, without considering personal situations. The couple and the family require

the opposite. (…) The subject of the market is the individual himself, without any relational, conjugal or

family ‘handicap’” (Ulrich Beck)

Work/family issues and organisational mediation

Belgium : family leave policies and use

Organisational attitudes (from first-hand data collection in 67medium and large private organisations and companies in Wallonia + case studies)

The work-family issueA key political concern in many advanced industrial countries

connected with significant changes in terms of family and workContemporary institutional focus on work-life balance is mainly

considered as an answer to a fast-changing economic climate where both companies and workers need flexibility in order to develop efficiency, productivity, competitiveness; health, well-being and motivation; gender equality and child well being.

Cultural transformation in the post-industrial society: individualization and the value of self fulfilment versus a duty towards society. The delegimation of the « exclusive » model (to have a working life OR a family life) . For a « cumulative » model (to have a working life AND a family life).

Beyond the ‘Male Breadwinner Model’ (Crompton 1999)

Male-breadwinner/female caregiverDual earner/female part-time caregiverDual earner/state caregiver or marketized

caregiverDual earner/dual caregiver

A step further

To shift from the work society to a multi-active (and care) society

To shift from an intensive work system to a sustainable work system (to use the ILO concept of decent work)

To combine decommodification measures and defamilialization measures, but carefully

To delegitimate the figure of the heroic and iron man - Kevin ‘24/7’ Rudd – in promoting a new symbolic figure: a multi-active ungendered individual

To be realisticFundamentally, at the national level several factors determine the opportunity an individual has to achieve work/life balance ‘capability’. These factors include, the quality of statutory entitlements and service provisions, economic conditions and the level of unemployment, societal attitudes towards women and men taking up family supportive initiatives, gendered expectations and egalitarian ideology.There is also a key role played by organisational mediations in the implementation of work-family balance policies. Legal provisions, by themselves, do not seem to be a sufficient condition for employees’ use. Companies /organisations/corporations /occupations/sectors mediate institutional framework and individual behaviours; they may support and enhance legal provisions as well as WLB.

Family diversity, in particular, the life stage and the type of family in which employees live, is an important context for understanding and developing sustainable work-family practices. Family circumstances and needs vary, in particular income and labour market power; these may affect the possibility of using public or private policies and, more generally, the possibility of WLB and gender equality.

Numerous variables, at macro, meso and micro-level, have an impact on the WLB capability and on the choice of mothers and fathers to take up a leave or not to.

EU and state level

Employee/household level

Enterpirse/organisation/occupational groups level

Influencing factors

Economic context & structural features (Sector (public – private), contingency factors (size, technology …), market position…)Private policies (Collective agreements, family-friendly policies (time-use policies in particular)…)Social organization (Work methods, managerial discretion, collective agents, employee autonomy …)Cultural models (Organisational culture & subcultures)

Economic situation (Security/insecurity, household income , possibility to externalise chores…)Invidual characteristics (Education, socio-economic status, sex, parental status, ethnicity…)Family organisation and processes (Single/couple, family stage, age and number of children, role of grandparents/siblings, division of household work…)Cultural models (Family socialisation, concepts of parenthood and childhood, ideology…)

Economic context (Unemployment rate, economic infrastructure …)Welfare State regimePolitical/institutional frame (Regulatory framework, working time and time-use policies, availability of related policies (ECEC and other care services in particular) …)Cultural models (Attitudes towards work, gender and caring roles…)

Structural and Cultural Changes in Contemporary Societies

WLB & gender equality

Belgium : introduction

Gender and Work: some characteristicsEmployment rate in Belgium (15-64 YO):

68.3% for men and 53.8% for womenPart-time work is more frequent for women

than for men: 42.6% ( 7.8% for men )The main reason given by men is not

having found a full-time job (31.3%) For women, the first reason given is linked

to child care (29.1%) and the second one to personal and family reasons (25.7%).

46% of Belgian couples with a child under 6, both spouses work full-time, and 19.4% the husband works full-time and the wife part-time …

The preference rate for the full-time dual earner model is higher than the effective rate: 54.8% of couples would prefer the full-time dual earner model and

28.8% would prefer the dual earner model where the man works full-time and the woman part-time

13.4% of couples adhere to the male breadwinner and housewife model.

Institutional supports to WLBIn Belgium WLB is a public matter, and

the State is the key actor. There is a quite generous family leave

system but complex.The offer of child care in day care

centres and other formal child minding is lower than the demand (estimated coverage rate 25% to 33% of children)

Family leave policies and the time-credit scheme : statutory entitlementsPaid maternity leave (15 weeks – 10 compulsary)Paid paternity leave (10 days) Paid adoption leave (4 or 6 weeks) Paid parental leave (3, 6 or 15 months)Paid leave for care and assistance to a seriously

ill relative (max 12 month/patient)Paid palliative care leave (1 month + 1)Paid reduction or suspension of work in the

private sector ('Life Course Time Credit' system– 1 to 5 Y max)

+ particular leaves (‘little leaves’)

Graph 1. Men and women time-credit use in the private sector

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

40000

2004 2005 2006 2007

Years

Beneficiaries

Complete interruption Men

Complete interruption Women

Working time reduction Men < 50yearsWorking time reduction Men > 50yearsWorking time reduction Women <50 yearsWorking time reduction Women >50 years

gg

Graph 2. Distribution of time-credit beneficiaries according to age and gender

0,2%7,0%

13,1%

79,7%

0,4%

37,2%

20,7%

41,8%

0,0%

10,0%

20,0%

30,0%

40,0%

50,0%

60,0%

70,0%

80,0%

90,0%

100,0%

> 25 YO 25-39 YO 40-49 YO 50 YO and more

Ages

Percentages

MenWomen

Graph 3. Men and women leaves use in the private sector

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5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Years

Beneficiaries Parental leave

Leave for medicalassistance

Palliative care leave

Graph 4. Men and women taking parental leave in the private sector

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Years

Beneficiaries

MenWomen

CommentsIn Belgium, the WLB is a public matter often

related to the increase in employment rates of mothers, the growth of one-parent families, ageing population and gender equality (less in terms of child well-being and precariousness)

Leave system is quite generous but women remain the main users of these measures (thematic leaves and time-credit)

Little attention is paid to the organisational level, companies and occupational groups. However specific policies and culture of workplaces can make a big difference. That the purpose now.

Three organisational attitudes in a same institutional context (Wallonia)

The surveyIn 2005, a questionnaire prepared to survey

organisations, covering entitlements, opinions about them, as well as details about the organisations.

Out of 350 medium and large organisations contacted in two private sectors (in manufacturing and transport and care and -health sector), 67 questionnaires completed by personnel managers could be used

We included only employers of more than 100 employees, which assumes the presence of union representatives and a sufficient number of employees for the questions to be relevant.

Two main objectivesTo assess the take-up of family related

leave and time-credit, the availability of company measures and the general opinion of managers about work/family entitlements (reference period: 2004)

To answer to the question: can inter-organisational differences be observed for both individual use of rights and the setting up of company family-friendly policies?

Snapshot of the use of measures in 2004

  N women N men N organizations

Maternity leave 412 (3 did’nt take the statutory 15

weeks)

  49

Paternity leave   608 (of which 553, the 10

statutory days)

61

Parental leave 217 44 46

Adoption leave 3 5 8

Palliative/Medical assistance

43 12 25

Prophylactic removal *

232   14

*Right to safe job or leave for pregnant health workers

Do companies have a replacement policy for absent workers?

In the 49 companies that had employees taking maternity leave in 2004, 45.5% of the mothers were replaced (21% by a person hired for that purpose).

Generaly, the employee taking leave was more often replaced (external hiring or internal replacement) for a maternity leave than for a parental or paternity leave (practically no replacement by external hiring).

maternity leave is planned long in advance (at least 6 months before) and lasts longer than paternity leave.

Correlation between the take up of paternity leave and parental leave by men and a systematic replacement policy

Extra-legal measures (company policies) and number of organisations concerned

Extra-legal measures favouring work and family life articulation N

Working time policies « Flexitime » 28  Teleworking 4

  Job-sharing 7

  Capitalisation of working hours per month 30

  Capitalisation of working hours per year 17

Child care Pre-school-age child minding 2  After school child minding 2

  Child minding during school holidays 2

  Specific activities for children during holidays 2

Facilitate commuting Mobility plan 10Information and Training Systematic information to workers on WLB measures 32

  Training on professional/family life balance themes 3

Present for birth of child Baby present 44Additional compensations For maternity leave 13  For breastfeeding leave 4

  For parental leave 4

Counsellimg Welcoming and support for parents with difficulties 22

Opinions of human ressources managers

It should be noted that many respondents have no opinion or simply did not answer the opinion questions. Beyond this fact, positive opinions on the impact of the measures mainly refer to staff satisfaction and decreased absenteeism. Truly negative views are rare.

The costs of the statutory measures were mainly seen as low or non-existent, especially at the economic level; costs in terms of administration or organisational management were more often mentioned.

In response to the deliberately very general question, ‘do the measures have advantages?’, there was a small majority of positive replies (36 ‘yes’ and 29 ‘no’).

Organisation’s attitude profils Our analysis grouped four variables concerning the use

of statutory leave by eligible members of each company: a) the number of men taking paternity leave in 2004 as

a proportion of men having a child; b) the number of workers taking parental leave; c) the number of workers taking palliative care; and d) the number of all workers taking a time credit.

We added a variable for the number of ‘extra-legal’ measures in the company.

The maternity leave variable was not included in our model because of the small observed variance in its use

Simply legalistThe analysis of the whole sample allows us to

identify a very large group of organisations that we could not further divide.

They respond quite uniformly to the socio-institutional pressures, employees use of particular entitlements is strongly legitimised. Thus, women who have had a child in 2004 took their maternity leave, fathers took their paternity leave and workers (more often women) could take parental leave.

However, in this majority group, the average is low for ‘extra-legal’ measures (company policies), provided by the organisation as supplements to legal entitlements.

ReluctantThese organisations are below average, for

example in the offer of ‘extra-legal’ supports and especially take up of statutory paternity leave, although this leave seems strongly institutionalised. There is a concentration of men who have not taken paternity leave in some organisations, suggesting an organisational effect.

It is possible that this category is under-represented in our sample, since the organisations that answered our questionnaire were more likely to have a certain sensitivity towards the issue.

ProactiveOpen to the take up of diverse leave (including in

particular a high rate of take up of palliative and medical assistance) and time-credit, ‘proactive’ organisations differ also from the others because they have set up a series of ‘extra-legal’ supports aimed at promoting WLB. For example, they choose to give extra financial compensation to workers taking statutory leave, to reduce loss of earnings. They have also set up child care services or created synergies with child care centres close to the working place. These are concrete, costly and rare measures in Wallonia. This is why we call them ‘proactive’.

It is in these organisations that respondents usually gave a positive opinion on the effects of pro-family measures, specifically linked to the satisfaction of the workers.

Comments

This was the first study of its kind in Wallonia, starting from the hypothesis that organisational attitudes vary towards parental leaves.

Although the great majority of organisations could be called ‘simply legalist’, showing the importance of institutional measures, the statistical analysis showed two other organisational attitudes: ‘reluctance’ and ‘proactivity’.

This typology is not very original and similar to other typologies reported in research in other countries: for instance, the distinction drawn between ‘passive opposition’, ‘conditional support’ and ‘active support’ in Sweden (Haas and Hwang, 1999); or between ‘wait-and-see’, ‘median’ and ‘innovative’ in the Oil Industry in Scotland (McKee, Mauthner and Maclean, 2000).

Appendix – the reality is more complex

We have made six in-deph case studies of companies in the same sample (2 proactives, 2 just legalists, and 2 reluctants - 1 in each sector), interviewing personnel managers, formal employee representatives, and workers/employees.

A proactive company is in fact reluctant for its managers to use statutory entitlements.

A reluctant in the private sector has a culture of efficiency and strong competitiveness, and it is really reluctant to statutory entitlements. However it tries to find, through individual negotiation, some arrangements with its employees (for instance, it accepts children at the workplace, proposes teleworking for a young office employee, organises working time for another to accommodate his family responsabilities…). And its company creates a family-friendly climate.

One ‘just legalist’ organisation in the private sector displays a strong solidarity between workers to co-operate in managing their working time in order to be fit better with their family needs and trade unions offer a lot of services to facilitate WLB.

A childcare provider tries to help its employees to conciliate their working life and family life, but at the same time opens its services early in the morning (6 AM) and late in the evening (11 PM) to help working families in its urban area and requires its own employees, often young mothers, to work this untypical time schedule generating strong dissatisfaction amongst them.

Two large hospitals are contrasted, one quite reluctant and the other clearly proactive with a childcare center, an ironing service, a real policy of family related leave but nurses, staff and trade unionists are less satisfied with work organisation in the second than in the first.

Two organisational cultures – ideal-types

Organisational Liberal cultureWLB is mainly a private/personal matter; for which it is necessary to seek private solutions (marital or

familial solidarity, public services and market…) ; and, in the event of needs or of wishes not met by these

solutions, it is important to find an arrangement with the work team by taking account of the company requirements;

if this does not work, it is necessary to refer it to management;

and management must devise a specific solution; if the solution cannot be found, employee can use statutory

measures; in such a way as to minimize the negative impact on

company productivity.

Organisational Civic cultureWLB is mainly a public matter; the right to use statutory measures is

immediately recognized; the organisation must adapt to it; and to accept arrangements within the

departments which take account of the family requirements;

and can put in place complimentary measures; in such a way as to minimize the negative

impact on company productivity.

ConclusionOrganisations are sensitive to institutional

pressures (entitlements as a symbolic message) but it’s a long term job to move corporations towards a supportive culture that promotes a working and family life conciliation for men and women.

Business case (rational choice) and organisational culture could also evolve with the increase of a new generation of women and men (employees and managers) who have grown up with the ideals of gender equality and equal parenthood.

it seems potentiality not actuality!

“The world was not made in one day”