A call for greater attention to the role of employers in developing, transforming, and implementing family policies

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The authors contend that employer-initiated workplace policies should be considered as part of the patchwork that constitutes U.S. family policy. To provide a background, historical evidence of employer-initiated policies intentionally used as family policies is summarized. The view is then explicated that failure to take economic conditions and workplace policies into account may lead to faulty conclusions about the reasons for major changes in family life. The current status of selected employer-initiated workplace policies and recent trends is summarized. Next, some of the dilemmas inherent in considering connections between government-and employer-initiated policies are identified. Finally, suggestions for future directions are offered. The article should be considered with the following caveat in mind: the focus is exclusively on the influence of policies on families, but families are not merely reactive.

Practices of Dual Earner Couples Successfully Balancing Work and Family

“…In order to successfully balance work and family life, both employers and employees have significant tasks (see also Friedman & Greenhaus, 2000;MacDermid & Targ, 1995), and both employers and families benefit from family-friendly policies. This study shows that workplace and organizational support, supervisor support, job/professional autonomy, and workplace flexibility are the most important variables among workplace strategies.…”

Employment Leave and Fathers’ Involvement with Children

“…The long-term impact of parental leave on fathers and their families in the United States is still not clear (MacDermid and Targ 1995). Several studies in Sweden (Haas 1992;1996;Hwang and Lamb 1997;Lamb 1997;Lamb et al 1982;Oláh 2001) have found that fathers taking leave from work is associated with greater involvement with their children and fewer family breakups over time.…”

Work and Family in the 1990s

“…Findings from the work socialization tradition hold important implications for workplace innovations and policy. A complete approach to family‐supportive policy would go beyond enabling employees to take time away from work (e.g., leave time, flextime) or to increase their time at work (e.g., on‐site child care) to focus on changing the conditions of work that are related to individual and family functioning (Lambert, 1993, 1999; MacDermid & Targ, 1995). As Menaghan and Parcel (1995) have suggested, welfare reform policies that push parents into jobs with low wages, low complexity, and long hours may hold negative consequences for the children of the working poor.…”