With about 80 percent of married couples in the U.S. belonging to dual-earner households, an unfortunate aftereffect of the Great Recession has been that both men and women have had to work harder and longer at jobs that pay less, leaving little time for familial responsibilities outside of the office. Amit Kramer, a professor of labor and employment relations at the University of Illinois who studies work and family relations, discusses family-friendly work policies in an interview with News Bureau reporter Phil Ciciora.
In the tug-of-war between work and life responsibilities, what can dual-earner families who feel they've reached a breaking point do to restore balance?
There are not any easy remedies for work and family imbalance. Many families will continue to face work and family conflict that will ultimately lead to greater stress levels. There are things that employers can do to help, but this is a great challenge in our society.
How have gender roles in dual-earner families changed over the years?
Although men and women's roles in the household are still far from egalitarian, the allocation of time to work and household tasks has become more similar over time.
Men's time at paid-work decreased steadily from the 1960s while women's time increased. In addition, men increased their time in both housework (cooking, cleaning, etc.) and child care. Women, on the other hand, decreased their time doing housework but have not changed the time they spend with children over the last 40 years.
Still, women perform the vast majority of unpaid work in the household - about 60 percent more than men - while men spend more time at work - about 25 percent more than women. Combining the time spent doing paid and unpaid work shows that women, overall, invest a little more time in total.
Workplaces are seemingly not as receptive to men taking time from work to care for children or an aging parent. Do men face subtle bias in the workplace when they take time off?
When employees behave in ways that don't fit social expectations, some employers will respond negatively. Men who violate expected norms and use family-friendly policies are more likely to be penalized than females. Women who don't take advantage of family-friendly benefits face a higher burden of proof than men when it comes to advancing their careers. For example, a woman will need to show greater commitment to work than a comparable man in order to gain the same career rewards.
But research has consistently shown that when family demands become overwhelming, women are far more likely to reduce time at work than men, even in cases where they are the primary earners. While men have increased the time they spend in doing household chores and care giving for children and aging parents, women still perform most of the household work.
Employers' perceptions of employees' commitment outside work affect how they view employees' use of family-friendly policies. This is one of the challenges faced by women in the labor force - employers assume women have more non-work commitments than men so women enter the conversation with their employers from a different place then men.
Several studies have shown that men are now struggling just as much as women do to fulfill their responsibilities at home and in the office. What can employers and colleagues do to help?
When employers show their strong commitment to balancing work and family, employees are more likely to show support for their colleagues. Research shows that supervisor support in particular is critical in supporting work and family policies among employees.
Employers can do many things to help employees that won't come at the expense of business performance. Organizations today can experiment with different flexible work arrangements, such as providing telecommuting options for employees. Employers can also provide or subsidize child care, and extend paid parental leave for employees and other family-related policies.
Research shows that a full commitment by the employer to balancing work and family will be the most beneficial for workers. Employers who bundle multiple family-related policies are also more likely to show they are committed to balancing work and family of their employees.
