Family-friendly work practices in Britain: Availability and perceived accessibility

✍ Scribed by John W. Budd; Karen A. Mumford

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 178 KB
• Volume: 45
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0090-4848
• DOI: 10.1002/hrm.20091

✦ Synopsis

Using linked data for British workplaces and employees, we find a low base rate of workplace-level availability, and a substantially lower rate of individual-level perceived accessibility, for five family-friendly work practicesparental leave, paid leave, job sharing, subsidized child care, and working at home. Our results demonstrate that statistics on workplace availability drastically overstate the extent to which employees perceive that family-friendly policies are accessible to them personally. British workplaces appear to be responding slowly, and perhaps disingenuously, to pressures to enhance family-friendly work practices.