Combining a Career and Childcare: The Use and Usefulness of Work-Family Policies in European Organizations

Abstract

To help people combine a career and childcare, European governments and organizations are increasingly making work-family policies available, such as family leave policies (maternity, paternity and parental leave) or the option to work part-time. This dissertation investigates the use and usefulness of such policies by adopting an organizational and a gender perspective. In the first half of this dissertation it is examined whether the organizational context relates to men and women’s use of work-family policies. In the second half the usefulness of work-family policies is examined, by investigating to what extent work-family policies relate to two intended outcomes: lower work-life conflict and higher extra-role performance. Results show that organizations play a role in people’s decision-making to use work-family policies, and that work-family policies, to a certain extent, relate to their intended outcomes. However, while there are gender differences in the use of work-family policies, no gender differences in outcomes are found. This suggests that while gender norms constrict the choices people make, they do not impact the outcomes of work-family policies. In other words, work-family policies can be equally beneficial to men and women.