Reconciliation of work and family life Abstract This thesis deals with the reconciliation of work and family life in the Czech Republic from a legal perspective. Finding a suitable balance between work and family life enables an individual to return to work sooner from maternity and parental leave. This balance also has a positive effect on the productivity of employees, birth rates, elimination of gender stereotypes and causes a reduction of the unemployment rate among women. The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of the number of articles of employment law and social security law that are relevant to the issues of reconciliation of work and family life, to analyze the relevant legislation, and to draw attention to some practical problems. Also, the paper will evaluate the impact of this legislative framework and legal institutes on work and family life and recommend alterations "de lege ferenda". The thesis of this paper is that reconciliation of work and family life is an endless process and that there are several problem areas related to it that need improvement within the Czech Republic. The work is divided into three chapters. The first chapter identifies the main issues related to the reconciliation of work and family life. It gives the overview of the international,...

The thesis explores the factors affecting the availability and utilization of work-life balance programs in Canadian workplaces and how employee involvement and participation programs can help employees balance their work and life. The introductory chapter provides background information on the importance of balancing work and life. It outlines chapters two, three, and four and reveals the overarching theme that unites them. Chapter Two explores how business strategy affects the availability of work-life balance programs. This chapter uses the 2003 and 2004 Canadian Workplace and Employee Survey to demonstrate that product leadership business strategy is positively related to the likelihood of adopting work-life balance programs (i.e. employee assistance programs, fitness and recreation centers). Cost leadership strategy is shown to be negatively correlated to the adoption of these programs. This study also finds that high performance work systems mediate the relationship between business strategy and employer responsiveness to work-life balance issues. Chapter Three investigates how a company’s family-friendly culture affects the likelihood of an employee’s use of parental leave. Using a national representative and linked employer and employee survey, this study finds that a long-hour organizational culture, which is revealed through managers’ work hours, discourages new parents from taking parental leave. This study also finds that when managers work long hours, it has a greater negative effect on the probability of male employees taking parental leave than female employees. Chapter Four discusses how participation in decision making (PDM) can help employees balance the demands from work and life. Using Karasek’s (1979) job demand-job control model, this study finds that PDM can reduce work-life conflict, but the reduction only works for employees who work long hours. For those employees who work short hours, PDM increases their work-life conflict. Chapter Five summarizes the empirical results. Implications for employers, labour unions, and policy makers are discussed.

The thesis explores the factors affecting the availability and utilization of work-life balance programs in Canadian workplaces and how employee involvement and participation programs can help employees balance their work and life. The introductory chapter provides background information on the importance of balancing work and life. It outlines chapters two, three, and four and reveals the overarching theme that unites them. Chapter Two explores how business strategy affects the availability of work-life balance programs. This chapter uses the 2003 and 2004 Canadian Workplace and Employee Survey to demonstrate that product leadership business strategy is positively related to the likelihood of adopting work-life balance programs (i.e. employee assistance programs, fitness and recreation centers). Cost leadership strategy is shown to be negatively correlated to the adoption of these programs. This study also finds that high performance work systems mediate the relationship between business strategy and employer responsiveness to work-life balance issues. Chapter Three investigates how a company’s family-friendly culture affects the likelihood of an employee’s use of parental leave. Using a national representative and linked employer and employee survey, this study finds that a long-hour organizational culture, which is revealed through managers’ work hours, discourages new parents from taking parental leave. This study also finds that when managers work long hours, it has a greater negative effect on the probability of male employees taking parental leave than female employees. Chapter Four discusses how participation in decision making (PDM) can help employees balance the demands from work and life. Using Karasek’s (1979) job demand-job control model, this study finds that PDM can reduce work-life conflict, but the reduction only works for employees who work long hours. For those employees who work short hours, PDM increases their work-life conflict. Chapter Five summarizes the empirical results. Implications for employers, labour unions, and policy makers are discussed.

La politique de l'Union européenne a suscité des débats académiques sur son impact potentiel et l'effet qu'elle exercerait sur les processus politiques au niveau national. les récentes réformes des politiques familiales allemandes et anglaises peuvent être attribuées à l'influence de l'Union européenne au travers de la participation dans les processus d'apprentissage initiés par cet organisme. Cette étude examine les éventuels glissements dans les objectifs des politiques familiales vers la politique de l'Union européenne. / The policy of the European Union has packed academic debate on its potential impact on the political process at national level. Recent reforms of german and english family policies can be attributed to the European Union influence through its participation in the learning process initiated by this organisation. This examines the potential shifts in the objectives of national families to European Union objectives.

This thesis discusses two family policy models in the two selected Central European countries; the Czech Republic and Austria. The aim is to carry out a comparative analysis of these measures of family policy, which relates to aid reconciliation of family and professional life for families with children. Within this study of individual level measures of family policies in the selected countries, first the measures involving the formation of family and work roles in family life will be explored, followed by the possibility of interaction of the two family policies. The integral parts of the analysis will asses these measures from a gender perspective. The result of this work is a detailed comparison of the components of family policy, which affect the reconciliation of family and professional lives of families with child/children, including evaluation of the effectiveness of individual measures in the two selected countries. Key words: balancing work and family, family policy, comparative analysis, gender, family, maternity / parental leave, the labor market, institutional care for children

The thesis deals with the role of media in the life of "young" parents. The theoretical part presents the current trends in the attitude to printed and online media for a selected target group, specifically women and men on maternity and parental leave. The principal question of the thesis is the attitude of a selected group of people to the media content. Has the relation to the media subjectively changed in this new life role? The research method is a qualitative interview with ten respondents (seven women and three men). The analysis is based on methods of grounded theory - first at the level of open coding, then the axial coding. The conclusion summarizes the researched findings, and among other things, whether the interviewees see changes in their relation to the media due to parenthood and if they do, which changes they realize.

Balance between career and the family life from the point of view of an employer in the public sector: A case study of one public sector organisation Abstract Adéla Babková The diploma thesis is focused on the topic of the attitude of the employers to the parenthood of the employees. Different scientific researches prove that in the Czech Republic, there is a strong opinion that the best strategy for the development of a little child is an all-day mother's care at home till reaching the age of three years. Other researches show that there exists a discrepancy in the declared interest in using different forms of work-family balance tools and the real situation in this field. The aim of this diploma thesis is to understand and to explain the attitude of an employer to the parenthood of the employees and to the different situations that the parenthood of the employees can bring. In the first two opening chapters of the diploma thesis, there is an introduction to the topic and its context, the definition of the research problem and the research inquiries. The following part consists of the theoretical concepts linked up with the chosen topic or concepts influencing this field. In the next part, there is the qualitative case study of the chosen employer subject including the sampling methods, the methods of...

Adéla Babková SLAĎOVÁNÍ RODINNÉHO ŽIVOTA A PRACOVNÍ KARIÉRY Z POHLEDU ZAMĚSTNAVATELŮ Abstract of the diploma thesis The diploma thesis is focused on the topic of the attitude of the employers to the parenthood of their employees. Different scientific researches prove that in the Czech society, there is a strong opinion that the best strategy for the development of a little child is an all-day mother's care at home till reaching the age of three years. Other researches show that there exists a discrepancy in the declared interest in using different forms of work-family balance tools and the real situation in this field. The aim of this diploma thesis is to understand and to explain the attitude of the employers to the parenthood of their employees and to the different situations that the parenthood of the employees can bring. In the first two opening chapters of the diploma thesis, there is an introduction to the topic and its context, the definition of the research problem and the research inquiries. The following part consists of the theoretical concepts linked up with the chosen topic or concepts influencing this field. In the next part, there is the qualitative case study of the chosen employer subject including the sampling methods, the methods of collecting data and also the methods of the data...

The subject of this thesis is the comparison of family policy in the Czech Republic and Federal Republic of Germany in terms of measures adjustment enabling the reconciliation of work and care about the preschool children. The issue of work-life balance is further presented in the context of traditional sociological concepts and welfare state model theories, followed by a description of trends and current order of women's employment on the labor market of both countries and accompanied by the description of demographic trends. Thesis is specifically focused on the description of the governmental family policy of both countries in the perspective of parental leave entitlement settings, facilities of children day care facilities like nursery schools and creche, and formal involvement of fathers in the childcare. The methodological part of thesis is focused on the description of the family policy measures of the respective country. Comparison of both countries in terms of enabling the reconciliation of work and childcare is made on the basis of analyse and comparison of both the secondary quantitative data and the qualitative data drawn from the discussions placed on the free available web sites. The conclusion of thesis tackles the question of possible applicability of the family policy measures in...

Mit Elternzeit wird in Deutschland eine familienpolitische Maßnahme bezeichnet, die eine unentgeltliche, befristete und rechtlich gesicherte Freistellung aus einem Arbeitsverhältnis zur Betreuung eines Kindes ermöglicht. Ziel der Maßnahme ist die Parallelisierung von Sorge- und Erwerbsarbeit. Die familienpolitische Rahmung von Elternzeit geht zumeist einher mit der (Re-)Produktion hetero- bzw. paarnormativer Konzepte von Elternschaft. Aus sozialwissenschaftlicher und soziologischer Perspektive rücken vor allem ungleichheits- und geschlechterwissenschaftliche Fragestellungen, beispielsweise Retraditionalisierungseffekte in Phasen der Familiengründung oder die geschlechtsspezifische Arbeitsteilung, in den Fokus.