Employers Alone Can't Solve Child Care Challenges
By Ana Ferrer and Lynda Gagne
Globe and Mail Update

[Ana Ferrer is professor of economics at the University of Calgary. Lynda Gagne is professor of public administration at the University of Victoria. Their study, The Use of Family Friendly Workplace Practices in Canada, published by the Institute for Research on Public Policy, can be downloaded here.]

EXCERPT

Increasing numbers of two-earner households, longer work hours and complaints about more stress have generated a considerable amount of talk about the balance between work and life.

In an attempt to do something about this issue and to attract and retain skilled workers, many firms have started to introduce a variety of "family friendly" work practices. Some examples of these measures include workplace child care and/or elder care, flexible hours, and alternative work arrangements.

The attempt by firms to help their employees is laudable. However, we need to ask whether these benefits are being used to resolve the work-family conflict, and whether they are available to those who need it the most. These questions are critical.

In a study for the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP), we investigated the factors that influence the use of work-family practices. Central questions were whether or not these benefits were being used to resolve the work-family conflict and whether they were offered to those who need them.

The message that emerged from the data is that firms alone cannot resolve the work-family conflict.

Why is that?

First, the provision of family benefits seems biased toward workers who do not need them. While skilled workers may be the workers who are most likely to be offered the benefits, they are not always necessarily those who would benefit most. Either because of technological constraints (the firm is too small), or because the employees cannot afford to pay for such care, high-quality workplace child care is often not available to low-skill workers with young children.

Second, as currently offered, firm-provided benefits are of scarce interest to workers in the solution of work-life conflict. For instance, full-time workers with family responsibilities do not tend to use flexible hours to deal with the problems stemming from too few hours in a day.

In terms of what types of people make use of family-friendly work practices, the research is less controversial: As a general rule, individuals with families place a higher premium on family-friendly working conditions in the workplace.

Women tend to take advantage of certain benefits disproportionately....

How might we go about fixing the mismatch that currently exits between what is offered by firms and what is needed by workers?

Governments should have a role to play in helping solve this problem. Since some benefits are difficult to implement for many firms because of technical and size constraints, governments remain a player in the provision of solutions to the work-family conflict. Public policy can assist through a variety of programs, including funding extended parental leave and affordable care arrangements...