Working time flexibility improves work–life balance of working parents
Published: 28 October 2007
Feelings of neglecting home matters because of work commitments are quite common among Finnish working parents, especially those with small children. According to the Finnish Quality of Work Life Survey (FQWLS) in 2003, in general, about one fifth of employees – 19% of women and 20% of men – without children under 18 years of age feel this way. However, the respective proportion is higher for mothers at 33% than for fathers at 28%. The younger children are, the more common the feelings of guilt among parents for taking on work commitments: almost half, at 47%, of working mothers with children aged under three years and about a third of working fathers, at 36%, cannot help feeling that they are neglecting home matters because of their work. In any case, the situation eases as children get older. Among parents with the youngest child aged 12 years or over, the respective shares of those with such feelings of guilt drop to 24% for women and 23% for men.
According to the Finnish Quality of Work Life Survey 2003, the possibility to use working time flexibility sufficiently for one’s own needs significantly contributes to the work–life balance of Finnish working parents. However, compared with employees with no children, working parents do not seem to have access to greater possibilities for this kind of positive flexibility of working time. Moreover, men can typically influence their working hours more than women can.
Work impinging on home responsibilities
Feelings of neglecting home matters because of work commitments are quite common among Finnish working parents, especially those with small children. According to the Finnish Quality of Work Life Survey (FQWLS) in 2003, in general, about one fifth of employees – 19% of women and 20% of men – without children under 18 years of age feel this way. However, the respective proportion is higher for mothers at 33% than for fathers at 28%. The younger children are, the more common the feelings of guilt among parents for taking on work commitments: almost half, at 47%, of working mothers with children aged under three years and about a third of working fathers, at 36%, cannot help feeling that they are neglecting home matters because of their work. In any case, the situation eases as children get older. Among parents with the youngest child aged 12 years or over, the respective shares of those with such feelings of guilt drop to 24% for women and 23% for men.
The possibility to use flexible working hours sufficiently for one’s own needs reduces feelings of neglect in all employee groups, but especially among employees with children aged under 12 years (Figure 1). The opposite is true if workers are required to be flexible in relation to working hours as dictated by work tasks or workers’ superiors. In this case, among employees who rarely or never need to work flexible hours, 16% feel that they are neglecting home matters because of work. In terms of employees of whom such flexibility is expected at least on a weekly basis, 37% feel that they neglect home responsibilities as a result.
Figure 1: Feelings of neglecting home matters because of work, by sufficient possibility to use flexible working hours for one’s own needs (% of employees)
Source: Finnish Quality of Work Life Survey 2003
Higher flexibility of working hours among men
Considering the impact of positive flexibility of working hours on the work-life balance of working parents, it is worrying that parents of young children do not actually seem to have greater positive flexibility of working hours than employees without children. This is one finding of the FQWLS 2003. Moreover, men generally tend to have more influence on their working hours compared with women, for example, in relation to starting and finishing times of work or the possibility to take brief absences from work during the working day to run personal errands. The gender differences associated with the flexibility of working hours cannot be explained by the fact that women and men tend to work in different sectors and jobs, since these differences prevail even when taking into account respondents’ ages, occupational groups, sectors and superior positions. On the other hand, the requirement to work flexible hours according to tasks or at the request of superiors seems to affect both sexes almost equally.
Commentary
According to various studies on work–life balance, the main concern of Finnish working parents is not accessibility or quality of day-care services, but flexibility of working hours. In Finland, where full-time employment is the norm for both sexes, parents of young children commonly express a wish to reduce their working hours (see Hulkko, 2007; Salmi and Lammi-Taskula, 2004).
According to the findings of the FQWLS 2003, it is interesting to note that the impact of positive flexibility of working hours on work–life balance is even more pronounced among parents with school-age children between the ages of seven and 11 years than among those with younger children aged under seven years. However, the situation becomes understandable in light of the Finnish day-care and school system. The public day-care system for children younger than the school age is comprehensive, well-functioning and affordable. On the other hand, the school day of young children is relatively short at four to five hours and there are clear shortcomings in various municipalities in terms of the availability and organisation of after-school care activities. This issue has been the subject of much debate in the past few years even at policy level. Indeed, legislation in this field was reviewed in 2003 and 2004, but municipalities are still not obliged to offer such activities. In connection with the legislative review, the right to partial childcare leave was also extended to cover a child’s first two school years: in this case, parents can shorten their weekly working time to 30 hours, and if they choose to do so they will receive a monthly allowance of €70. However, many Finnish parents do not consider it economically possible to shorten their working hours or find it difficult to do so in their current job.
Sources
Hulkko, L., ‘Lasten vanhemmat ja työ’ [Parents and work, in Finnish only], in Suomalainen lapsi [Children in Finland], Population statistics, Statistics Finland, 2007.
Salmi, M. and Lammi-Taskula, J. (eds.), Puhelin mummo vai joustava työaika? [Telephone, granny or flexible working hours?, in Finnish only], Stakes, 2004.
Sutela, H. and Lehto, A.-M.: Tasa-arvo työn takana [Work and gender equality, in Finnish only], Statistics Finland, 2007.
Hanna Sutela, Statistics Finland
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2007), Working time flexibility improves work–life balance of working parents, article.
