scholarly journals Does the Firm Make the Difference? The Influence of Organizational Family-Friendly Arrangements on the Duration of Employment Interruptions after Childbirth

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 798-813
Author(s):  
Ann-Christin Bächmann ◽  
Corinna Frodermann ◽  
Dana Müller
Keyword(s):  
Working Hours ◽  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Family Obligations ◽  
Piecewise Constant ◽  
Dual Earner ◽  
Family Friendly ◽  
Female Employees ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Time Specific ◽  
Employee Data

Abstract Despite the increase in dual-earner couples in Germany over recent decades, starting a family still often leads to a (re-)traditionalization of the division of labour in partnerships, with considerable gender differences in working hours and family obligations remaining. Consequently, after a child is born especially women face the challenge of reconciling career and family. Against this backdrop, a growing proportion of firms has started to create family-friendly working conditions to relieve the burden on their (female) employees. In the course of doing so, firms have also increasingly invested in organizational family-friendly arrangements in recent years. In this article, we analyse the effects of these arrangements on employees’ behaviour by using German-linked employer–employee data. We ask how specific organizational family-friendly measures affect a crucial point in women’s careers: the employment interruption after childbirth. Based on time-specific piecewise constant models, our results reveal that organizational family-friendly measures positively influence women’s return to the labour market after childbirth and thus result in benefits for both firms and employees. Furthermore, we find that the effects of the measures are determined by the structural context and are not time constant but vary according to the age of the child.

scholarly journals Observed decreases in on-road CO<sub>2</sub> concentrations in Beijing during COVID-19 restrictions

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 4599-4614
Author(s):  
Di Liu ◽  
Wanqi Sun ◽  
Ning Zeng ◽  
Pengfei Han ◽  
Bo Yao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Co2 Concentration ◽  
Mobile Platforms ◽  
Local Standard ◽  
Transportation Emissions ◽  
Enhancement Method ◽  
The Difference

Abstract. To prevent the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic, restrictions such as “lockdowns” were conducted globally, which led to a significant reduction in fossil fuel emissions, especially in urban areas. However, CO2 concentrations in urban areas are affected by many factors, such as weather, biological sinks and background CO2 fluctuations. Thus, it is difficult to directly observe the CO2 reductions from sparse ground observations. Here, we focus on urban ground transportation emissions, which were dramatically affected by the restrictions, to determine the reduction signals. We conducted six series of on-road CO2 observations in Beijing using mobile platforms before (BC), during (DC) and after (AC) the implementation of COVID-19 restrictions. To reduce the impacts of weather conditions and background fluctuations, we analyze vehicle trips with the most similar weather conditions possible and calculated the enhancement metric, which is the difference between the on-road CO2 concentration and the “urban background” CO2 concentration measured at the tower of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP), Chinese Academy of Sciences. The results showed that the DC CO2 enhancement was decreased by 41 (±1.3) parts per million (ppm) and 26 (±6.2) ppm compared to those for the BC and AC trips, respectively. Detailed analysis showed that, during COVID-19 restrictions, there was no difference between weekdays and weekends during working hours (09:00–17:00 local standard time; LST). The enhancements during rush hours (07:00–09:00 and 17:00–20:00 LST) were almost twice those during working hours, indicating that emissions during rush hours were much higher. For DC and BC, the enhancement reductions during rush hours were much larger than those during working hours. Our findings showed a clear CO2 concentration decrease during COVID-19 restrictions, which is consistent with the CO2 emissions reductions due to the pandemic. The enhancement method used in this study is an effective method to reduce the impacts of weather and background fluctuations. Low-cost sensors, which are inexpensive and convenient, could play an important role in further on-road and other urban observations.

scholarly journals Policies and Practices of Family Friendliness. Time and Employment Relations in Knowledge Work

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tove Håpnes ◽  
Bente Rasmussen
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Knowledge Work ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Accounting System ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
Scientific Publications ◽  
Social Contracts ◽  
Family Friendly ◽  
Relational Concept

In Norway an ideology of gender equality and the universal welfare state has created generous leave arrangements for parents, both mothers and fathers, to make the combination of work and family possible.To recruit competent women and men, knowledge work organisations have to accommodate to working hours that are compatible with the responsibility for a family. In the knowledge economy in Norway we therefore find women and men with higher education trying to act out the ideals of gen- der equality at work and at home. In this paper we explore how family-friendly policies in knowledge work organisations result in family-friendly practices.We do this by analysing two R&D departments belonging to large Norwegian companies in the international market. Both had policies of gender equality and family friendly working time arrangements and career opportunities for women with reduced hours.We show how different employment relations and forms of organisation influenced the work and time practices of the research scientists. Using the concept of social contracts in em- ployment and a relational concept of time, we found that it was more difficult to realise the reduced hours in the organisation that took responsibility for the career and welfare of their employees in a long-term perspective because of the mutual trust and obligations in this relationship.The women in the organisation with more transactional relations where their employment was dependent upon the market and their short-term economic performance, were able to use their accounting system to reduce their hours.The young fathers in the same organisation who were not yet established as experts, could not use the accounting system to limit their hours like the senior women.They needed to work long hours on scientific publications to qualify as researchers to secure their employment. In Norway an ideology of gender equality and the universal welfare state has created generous leave arrangements for parents, both mothers and fathers, to make the combination of work and family possible.To recruit competent women and men, knowledge work organisations have to accommodate to working hours that are compatible with the responsibility for a family. In the knowledge economy in Norway we therefore find women and men with higher education trying to act out the ideals of gen- der equality at work and at home. In this paper we explore how family-friendly policies in knowledge work organisations result in family-friendly practices. We do this by analysing two R&D departments belonging to large Norwegian companies in the international market. Both had policies of gender equality and family friendly working time arrangements and career opportunities for women with reduced hours.We show how different employment relations and forms of organisation influenced the work and time practices of the research scientists. Using the concept of social contracts in em- ployment and a relational concept of time, we found that it was more difficult to realise the reduced hours in the organisation that took responsibility for the career and welfare of their employees in a long-term perspective because of the mutual trust and obligations in this relationship.The women in the organisation with more transactional relations where their employment was dependent upon the market and their short-term economic performance, were able to use their accounting system to reduce their hours.The young fathers in the same organisation who were not yet established as experts, could not use the accounting system to limit their hours like the senior women.They needed to work long hours on scientific publications to qualify as researchers to secure their employment.

Role of Employee Empowerment and Organizational Trust

2021 ◽  
pp. 145-156
Author(s):  
Vandana Singh
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Trust ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Employee Empowerment ◽  
Organizational Level ◽  
It Industry ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
Female Employees ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter presents the relationship and impact of employee empowerment on organizational trust. The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between employee empowerment and organizational trust in the IT industry. This study examines the difference between the empowerment level and organizational level of male and female employees. The questionnaire employed in this study consisted of empowerment by A. K. Mishra and G. M. Spreitzer and organizational trust variables by P. Mishra. The sample for the study consisted of 475 IT professionals from five IT organizations. Simple random sampling was used as a sampling technique, and this study was an ex-post in nature. Data were analyzed using t-test, correlation, and multiple regression. The result revealed that employee empowerment had a positive and significant impact on organizational trust. There is no significant difference in the empowerment of IT industry employees. It means that both male and female employees were equally empowered in their jobs. Male employees are more trust in their jobs as compared to female employees.

Gender Inequalities in Japan

2020 ◽  
pp. 39-52
Author(s):  
Kaori Honjo
Keyword(s):  
Japanese Society ◽  
Health Behaviours ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
Positive Health ◽  
Role Identities ◽  
Male Breadwinner ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
Post War

Striking gender inequalities in Japanese society are rooted in beliefs about gender division of labour. Gender-based social norms have driven employment and working practices such as long working hours. The male breadwinner model has only recently started to give way to more diverse role identities. Despite persistent gender inequalities, Japanese women have the longest life expectancy in the world. This paradoxical relationship can be explained by 1) overall women’s positive health behaviours, 2) Japan’s post-war social security programmes, protecting the vast majority of full-time homemakers, and 3) women’s roles in the household and the relation with their psychological wellbeing. The rigidity in current social programmes has failed to meet the needs of increasingly diverse Japanese society, which has contributed to rising female poverty and associated health problems.

Family-friendly practices, high-performance work practices and work–family balance

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorena Ronda ◽  
Andrea Ollo-López ◽  
Salomé Goñi-Legaz
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Work Practices ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Family Balance ◽  
Family Friendly ◽  
High Performance Work Practices ◽  
Work Family Balance ◽  
Work Family

Purpose This paper aims to establish to what extent family-friendly practices and high-performance work practices are positively related to work–family balance and to identify the role played by job satisfaction and working hours as mediators of this relationship Design/methodology/approach We use data for a representative sample of almost 17,000 employees of dual-earner couples from European countries. To test the mediation mechanism implied by our hypotheses, we follow the procedure outlined in Baron and Kenny (1986). Given the nature of the dependent variables, ordered probit and regression models were estimated in the analysis. Findings The results show that, in general, family-friendly practices and high-performance work practices increase work–family balance and that these positive relationships are partially mediated by job satisfaction and working hours. While both family-friendly practices and high-performance work practices increase job satisfaction, only the first increase working hours. Moreover, job satisfaction increases work–family balance, while working hours reduces it. The net effect of these opposing forces on work–family balance is positive. Research limitations/implications The use of secondary data posits some constraints, such as the type of measures and the failure to control for a higher number of family-friendly practices and high-performance work practices. Additionally, the non-longitudinal nature of the data set implies that some relationships cannot be considered causal in the intended direction. Practical implications Managers should implement family-friendly practices and high-performance work practices, as, in general, they increase work–family balance. A significant portion of this positive effect is channeled through job satisfaction and working hours. Originality/value The paper contributes to understanding the relationship between different subsets of human-resources management practices and work–family balance, proposing a model that aims to disentangle the mediating mechanisms through which this relationship occurs.

Family friendly policies and the Omani Labour Law

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 315-348
Author(s):  
Shweta Belwal ◽  
Rakesh Belwal ◽  
Suhaila Ebrahim Al-Hashemi
Keyword(s):  
Women Workers ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Substantial Part ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Gcc Countries ◽  
Family Friendly ◽  
Workplace Policies ◽  
The Government

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to take cognisance of the work–life balance (WLB) challenges facing working women in Oman, make a review of the family-friendly policies (FFPs), related provisions in labour laws of various nations, and identify and suggest some FFP-based solutions for attracting women to private sector jobs. Design/methodology/approach Initially, desk research was used to review the labour laws of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and some pioneering countries known for their workplace policies using the major electronic databases and official websites. An exploratory approach was used to understand the lived experience of participants using 46 in-depth interviews. The data were analysed and the findings were explained and contextualised in terms of the Arab culture, wider social processes and consequences related to WLB. Findings The interviews revealed that the majority of women in the private sector are not fully aware of the labour laws and FFPs, and are not satisfied with the existing policies, as they do not provide the right WLB. Women in the private sector demand flexible working hours, privacy at work, reduced work hours and certain other benefits akin to the government sector. Omani Labour Law needs a review of FFPs in line with the best global practices and Oman’s diversification initiatives. The provision, awareness and implementation of FFPs in the workplace are necessary to attract Omani women to private sector jobs. Research limitations/implications This research focusses on Oman in particular and GCC countries in general in its coverage of Omani women workers. The outcomes would be important for the specific segment but would have limited potential to generalise. Practical implications The study of WLB and FFPs is of interest for both academia and industry globally. In its strategic vision 2040, Oman aims to encourage, support and develop the private sector to drive the national economy. To retain and boost the socio-economic development in the post-oil economy, the success of the private sector will depend on the participation of the Omani workforce. The role of working Omani women will be pivotal, for they form a substantial part of the skilled human resources inventory. Social implications Women working in Oman are influenced by labour laws, organisational culture, traditional attitudes and societal values and influences. The voices of women working in the private sector indicate a great need to create awareness of existing policies, ensure their compliance and devise additional workplace policies to enable women to contribute to the labour market. Originality/value There is a dearth of studies examining work policies and employment of women in the context of Oman in particular and the GCC Countries in general. Even in the extant literature, the sectoral imbalance between the government and private sector has not been explored from the perspective of WLB and FFPs. This study presents a unique approach and findings in this regard.

Wearing Out the Work Ethic: Population Ageing, Fertility and Work–Life Balance

2006 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 671-688 ◽  
Author(s):  
IAN DEY
Keyword(s):  
Work Ethic ◽  
Labour Supply ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Population Ageing ◽  
Female Employment ◽  
Family Responsibilities ◽  
Long Working Hours ◽  
The Uk

In response to population ageing, the UK intends to increase female labour supply. To this end, the Chancellor has announced a ten-year strategy designed to allow parents to combine work with family responsibilities more easily. The policies proposed centre on extending parental leave and childcare provision, while promoting greater flexibility in employment. While these policies may improve labour supply in the short term, this article looks at their implications for fertility, which if negative may reduce the labour supply in the longer term. Recent demographic studies suggest that measures which allow women more readily to combine childbearing with paid employment may also stabilise or improve fertility rates, so mitigating the trend to population ageing. However, the evidence is not conclusive, for relationships between female employment and fertility are complex and context dependent. The article suggests several factors that might therefore merit further consideration. These include gender inequities in the domestic division of labour, long working hours and a re-evaluation of unpaid work in the home. Enthusiasm for the work ethic may have to be balanced by a more explicit acknowledgement of a care ethic.

A Layer-Wise Laminate Theory Rationally Deduced From the Three-Dimenstonal Elasticity

1997 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 538-545 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Bisegna ◽  
E. Sacco
Keyword(s):  
Lagrange Multipliers ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Laminated Plates ◽  
Stress Fields ◽  
Simultaneous Presence ◽  
Numerical Application ◽  
Piecewise Constant ◽  
Laminate Theory ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Three Dimensional Elasticity

A layer-wise theory of laminated plates, which accounts for piecewise constant shear strain in the thickness, is derived from the three-dimensional elasticity theory by imposing suitable constraints on the strain and stress fields. At this aim, the functional of the three-dimensional elasticity is modified according to the Lagrange multipliers theory. In fact, a nonstandard application of the Lagrange theory is presented, because of the simultaneous presence of constraints on dual spaces. The imposed constraints make reactive strain and stress fields arise. Thus, it is necessary to distinguish between elastic and total strain and stress fields. The difference between them is emphasized in a numerical application.

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