Work, career – home. Do these concepts have to be contradictory? So the choice between professional development, earning money and raising children must be an impossible choice? Are there companies in Poland that support parents in reconciling work and family responsibilities? The “Parent in the City” Foundation publishes a catalog of the most interesting practices of employers who invest in employees – parents.
Poles want to start a family. A 2017 survey conducted by Maisons and Partners on a representative group of Poles shows that 49% of women indicated combining professional work with having a family as an ideal scenario for life. However, reconciling work and family responsibilities is a huge challenge for every parent. Finding childcare, miles spent in the car picking up and dropping off children, sick leave and holidays, including holidays – these are just some of the everyday problems of every parent. Unnoticeable problems, and so important that they can irreversibly affect the professional situation – especially of women. The number of unemployed mothers in the 24-29 age group is 3.6 times greater than that of childless women, and 5.5 times greater in the 30-34 age group²! Long-term interruption of work causes people to drop out of the market, lack financial stability and pension security, but it is also a loss for the employer. It is women who constitute the majority – 64% – of people with higher education in Poland.
Tired and stressed
Parents working full-time are exhausted, overworked and are not satisfied with how they manage to combine work with being a parent. Recent UK research shows that nearly half of parents work interferes with family responsibilities, 37% of them cannot put their children to bed, and 42% cannot help their children with their homework². When Poles think of an ideal employer, they name the one that allows for flexible, i.e. convenient for the employee, working time (49% of women and 65% of men), and allows working from home to a certain extent (47% of women and 46 % of men), financially supports employees who are parents (41% of women and 39% of men) and builds nurseries in the company (47% of women and 26% of men) ¹.
Your employer can make a decisive contribution to changing this situation. You can read about the most interesting practices of companies implemented in Poland in the catalog “Parent at work – good employers’ practices” prepared by us.
Download the catalog HERE
About the directory:
The catalog “Parent at work – good employers’ practices” is part of the project of the “Parent at work” Foundation. The project supports the implementation of the Global Development Goals (SDG’s), in particular Goal 5 – Gender Equality and Goal 8 – Economic growth and decent work. The catalog presents selected the most interesting practices of employers implemented in Poland, which support parents in the workplace.
If you are interested in support and cooperation in the field of analysis, preparation and implementation of work & family balance solutions, please contact us!
Sources:
The research was cited in the press release:
- “Contemporary Polish women and Poles: new roles, new challenges” was carried out in the second half of 2017 by the research institute Maison & Partners on behalf of Henkel Polska.
2. “Assessment of the potential effects of the legal regulation regarding the extension of the ban on dismissal of women from work after childbirth” -Irena Wóycicka and Anna Matysiak – IBNGR, prof. dr hab. Urszula Sztanderska – WNE UW - “Modern Family Index 2018” – Working Families
and data from the Labor Office in Warsaw.