European Company Survey on Reconciliation of Work and Family Life

[Excerpt] Demographic change requires an increase in labour force participation. This applies partic- ularly to those groups which have had relatively low participation rates in the past and those with family obligations such as child rearing or care for the elderly. With many companies already reporting difficulties in recruiting or retaining qualified staff, policies which aim to reconcile work and family life more effectively have become more attractive. Implementing work-life balance policies may therefore be considered a significant factor in the enhance- ment of corporate competitiveness and national prosperity. Governments together with the social partners at the national, sectoral and company levels must tackle the challenge of ensuring the competitiveness of companies while granting women and men equal partici- pation in work and family life. The European Company Survey on the Reconciliation of Work and Family Life 2010 provides a detailed description and analysis of family-friendly policies implemented by the firms in six European countries – Germany (DE), the United Kingdom (UK), France (FR), Italy (IT), Sweden (SE) and Poland (PL). These six countries account for approximately 63% of the popu- lation and 68% of the GDP in the EU-27. In autumn 2009, senior executives and the heads of human resources departments in over 5,000 companies were interviewed about how important they consider the issue of family-friendliness and the policies they have offered in their firms. In addition, they reported on their main motives for, and the most significant obstacles to, the implementation of work-life balance measures. The European Company Survey also allows an assessment of the institutional basis, such as statutory provisions, collective and works agreements, on which the policies adopted are ultimately based. It should be borne in mind, however, that the results do not allow a thorough evaluation of specific governmental programmes. Finally, the survey focuses on the impact of the economic crisis on the willingness of companies in the six countries to implement or maintain family-friendly policies

Psychosocial work load and stress in the geriatric care

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Due to the decrease in informal care by family members and the demographic development, the importance of professional geriatric care will rise considerably. Aim of this study was to investigate the psychosocial workplace situation for employees in this profession.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The German version of the COPSOQ (Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire) was used for the assessment of psychosocial factors at work. The instrument includes 22 scales and 3 single items concerning demands, control, stress, support, and strain.</p> <p>Results between two study groups of geriatric care were compared to each other as well as to employees in general hospital care and a general population mean (COPSOQ database).</p> <p>Statistical analysis included t-tests, ANOVA and multiple comparisons of means. Statistical significance (p < 0.01, two-tailed) and a difference of at least 5 points in mean values were defined as the relevant threshold.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In total 889 respondents from 36 institutions took part in the study. 412 worked in Home Care (HC), 313 in Geriatric Nursing Homes (GNH), 164 in other professions (e.g. administration).</p> <p>Comparison between HC and GNH showed more favourable values for the first group for the most scales, e.g. lower quantitative and emotional demands and less work-privacy conflict, better possibilities for development etc. Compared to external values from the German COPSOQ database for general hospital care (N = 1.195) and the total mean across all professions, COPSOQ-total (N = 11.168), the results are again positive for HC workers on most of the scales concerning demands and social support. The only negative finding is the very low amount of social relations at work due to the obligation to work alone most of the time. Employees in GNH rate predictability, quality of leadership and feedback higher when compared to general hospital care and show some further favourable mean values compared to the COPSOQ mean value for all professions. A disadvantage for GNH is the high rating for job insecurity.</p> <p>A supplementary subgroup analysis showed that the degree of negative evaluation of psychosocial factors concerning demands was related to the amount of working hours per week and the number of on-call duties.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Compared to employees in general hospital care and the COPSOQ overall mean value across all professions, geriatric care employees and especially home care workers evaluate their psychosocial working situation more positive for most aspects. However, this seems partly due to the very high proportion of part-time workers. Critical results for the two study groups are the relatively high job insecurity in nursing homes and the lack of social relations for the HCrs.</p