Making use of work–family balance entitlements: how to support fathers with combining employment and caregiving

Moran, Jessica; Koslowski, Alison

doi:10.1080/13668803.2018.1470966

Cited by 28 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Gendered attitudes to parenting have shifted in recent times, with fathers still facing the societal expectation to be a provider, alongside being more involved in caregiving (Gatrell, Burnett, Cooper and Sparrow, 2015). The introduction of shared parental leave in some countries has been accompanied by a greater encouragement to fathers to make use of work-family entitlements such as flexible working arrangements (Moran and Koslowski, 2019). However, in the context of these unprecedented times, employees may be concerned about job security and so may not want to risk making extra demands on their employer (Gerson, 2011), given the potential anxiety about furloughing and the increasing likelihood of significant numbers of redundancies across many sectors.…”

Section: Remote Working and Work Family Conflictmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enforced remote working and the work-life interface during lockdown

2020

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Purpose This paper aims to consider enforced working from home in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and how it may differ from working from home through choice. In particular, the authors discuss how lockdown may be affecting work-family arrangements. Design/methodology/approach This is a thought piece. Findings The paper briefly examines the extant research on remote working. It is argued that as many of the (beneficial) outcomes found for both employees and employers are associated with feelings of greater autonomy and gratitude on the part of employees for being able to exercise choice over their working arrangements, these outcomes may not be found where working from home is required of employees. The authors contend that women, and mothers in particular, have had little choice in relation to when work has taken place, and how much work has been done. Practical implications The authors urge employers to consider the positive and negative outcomes of emerging evidence as they review their flexible working policies. They call for a widespread review of childcare provision in supporting women and men in the labour market. Originality/value The authors explore this unexpected context of the pandemic and highlight the need for research which examines these different circumstances.

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Section: Remote Working and Work Family Conflictmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enforced remote working and the work-life interface during lockdown

2020

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“…Less salient, but equally important for fathers' leave uptake, may be informal organizational characteristics, such as the workplace culture and supervisor support as has been shown in the UK (Moran and Koslowski 2019). Based on Acker (1990) theory of gendered organizations, the prevailing expectation that men ought to be breadwinners and women homemakers is not only engraved in the formal structure of work, prevailing organizational practices, and policies, but also in the informal practices, expectations, and norms (Acker 1990(Acker , 1992Britton 2003;Gorman and Mosseri 2019 for a recent overview).…”

Section: Organizations and Gender Inequality In Parental Leave Usementioning

confidence: 99%

What Helps and What Hinders? Exploring the Role of Workplace Characteristics for Parental Leave Use and Its Career Consequences

et al. 2019

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The division of parental leave among couples today is still unequal—even in countries with progressive leave schemes. Given the gendered nature of the workplace, we examine how organizational characteristics relate to fathers’ uptake and length of parental leave as well as to the perceived career consequences of leave uptake among those fathers who took leave. In our mixed methods study, we draw on unique quantitative and qualitative data on different-sex couples with young children in Germany (2015). We find that the fear of professional repercussions and the lack of a replacement at work inhibit fathers both from taking leave in general and, for those who take leave, from taking it for more than two months. Interestingly, however, the majority of fathers who took leave did not think that their leave negatively affected their professional advancement. This positive evaluation was independent of the length of leave. We compared fathers’ perceived leave consequences to those of mothers, who tended to have a more negative view of the impact of taking leave on their careers. Both fathers and mothers were more likely to report negative career consequences if they worked in organizations that promoted a strong ideal worker norm, that is, where employees thought that they were expected to prioritize paid work over their private life.

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“…Workplace practices, policies, and culture regarding leave and flexible work arrangements are an important influence on fathers' abilities to combine work and caring responsibilities, underscoring the importance of gender-neutral approaches to leave and flexible working. 16 Normalising men's sharing of caring and household responsibilities is also essential for the redistribution of unpaid care. Initiatives should include non-transferable parental leave entitlements with income replacement for both fathers and mothers, as is available in some northern European countries.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%