The Cosequences arising for companies and workers from the fonciliation between working life and family fife

Abstract

In this project, we will analyze which are the measures related to the issue of Work-Life Balance (WLB) in the political and entrepreneurial spheres. In the case of the political sphere, we will determine what the existing regulations are and which of them are compulsory for society as a whole but in particular for the enterprises. In the second case, we will analyze what enterprises can do, beyond the legal regulations of the Policies of the Government, to help their employees combine their work life and their family life, by means of knowing the costs involved and the benefits provided. To do this project, we will carry out a study about what the evolution of the WLB issue has been by means of analyzing the issue-relevant triggers nowadays. We could say that a first approach to the definition of WLB, could be the one referred to the way different individuals try to make it possible to fit together different aspects of life. Therefore, an aspiration that anybody could have is to adjust his/her work life and his/her family life and the activities which do not belong to the spheres identified before and which we could call personal life. In the personal sphere, leisure activities, self-care activities, the training, the rest, and so on could be included (Prieto, 2004). The problem of conciliation started long ago and it was a subject of analysis in the area of sociology. Nevertheless, in the last few years it has been the subject of much interest on the part of the authorities of both the European Community and the Spanish State, achieving media notoriety due to the current Welfare societies. The truth is that as happens on other occasions, it is an old issue which has been renamed, and has provoked not only a large wave of specialized literature on the subject but a series of political actions (Torns, 2005). Moreover, the majority of studies share the idea that conciliation is a synonym of a female problem and that the designed policies are solely focused on women (Carrasco, 2001, Villa, 2002). Nevertheless, for López (2004), conciliation affects both genders equally, arguing that the issue must be treated under a non-discriminatory perspective. This problem has less impact upon one of the members of the family unit, in this case the father, due to the fact that an old family model is still present and which consists of attitudes presuppose it is the man´s responsibility to provide the family income while the woman has the responsibility for reproduction and childcare. This model is called male breadwinner model (Moreno, 2002). Due to this, nowadays working women have more difficulties conciliating work life and family life. Therefore, we can say that it is necessary to adapt ourselves to these changes in order to maintain our Welfare model. In Spain the shift in attitudes has been very fast, so this question has taken the centre stage in the issues on agenda which have to be addressed by governments, enterprises and social agents (Casado y Gómez 2006; y Chinchilla y León 2007). It is, due to this, that nowadays, it is possible to distinguish three different spheres that complement one another and on which the measures that can facilitate the conciliation between work life and family life operate. The first sphere is the one which rests squarely within the government and where we can find many different public policies as regards WLB. These policies can be maternity, paternity and parental leaves, career breaks and the reduction of working hours for childcare or care for dependents among others (López 2006). The second sphere is the one concerning the WLB policies implemented by the own companies and organizations. These policies can facilitate the conciliation through a wide range of measures, as working-time flexibility, flexible working hours, providing services which promote conciliation, etc. (Mañas y Garrido 2008). The third sphere, is very much the responsibility of the society as a whole and has to do with the gradual change towards a more rational timetable system which enables employees to have access to more hours for the their personal life without this affecting the effective time dedicated to working (Crompton 2006). As to the second sphere, the WLB policies within the company, the difficulty to combine work and family and the increasing demand for results have put pressure on the workers (Burke, 2009). As a consequence the lack of balance represents a stress generator which can have an impact on productivity and work performance, affecting Furthermore, there is evidence that companies have much to gain when they implement WLB policies which help employees (Lingard y Francis, 2006).