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‘Family Friendly’ Employment Policies: A Route to Changing Organizational Culture or Playing About at the Margins?
Author(s) -
Lewis Suzan
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
gender, work and organization
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.159
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1468-0432
pISSN - 0968-6673
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0432.00020
Subject(s) - family friendly , entitlement (fair division) , organizational culture , organizational commitment , work (physics) , business , value (mathematics) , balance (ability) , productivity , public relations , organizational change , organizational performance , marketing , psychology , political science , economics , economic growth , microeconomics , computer science , engineering , mechanical engineering , machine learning , neuroscience
Formal ‘family friendly’ policies, including flexible or reduced hours of work and periods of leave, designed to help employees to balance work and family demands have the potential to challenge traditional models of work and organizational values. However, while these policies can reduce stress for individual employees, it is argued that there is less evidence of widespread organizational culture change. This paper draws on case studies of organizations at various stages of developing ‘family friendly’ policies to identify two barriers to fundamental shifts in organizational culture; low sense of entitlement to consideration of family needs, and organizational discourses of time as representing productivity, commitment and value. Some conditions under which broader culture change may be achieved are explored.