Les études menées depuis quelques décennies sur les pratiques de conciliation travail-famille mettent en relief les difficultés que vivent les employés à concilier leurs exigences professionnelles avec leurs responsabilités familiales. Les organisations avant-gardistes en matière de gestion des ressources humaines aussi appelées «employeurs de choix» accordent une importance primordiale à la nécessité de remédier au problème de conciliation travail-famille. C’est dans ce cadre que se situe notre étude. En effet, la conciliation travail-famille est un concept qui a peu à peu pris une grande place dans la gestion des ressources humaines des organisations canadiennes. La recension des lectures contemporaines concernant la conciliation travail-famille nous révèle qu’il existe une forte demande d’explication approfondie sur le sujet et sous l’angle des causes et des conséquences de l’adoption de pratiques de conciliation travail-famille. Dans un contexte où le recrutement et la rétention du personnel sont des enjeux importants, les grandes organisations commencent à porter une attention singulière aux besoins des employés afin d’éviter certains problèmes organisationnels tels que l’absentéisme, un rendement médiocre et une démotivation des travailleurs. Cependant, malgré les efforts normatifs et les stratégies opérationnelles, la conciliation travail-famille demeure un problème majeur au sein de la société canadienne. Les solutions se trouveraient-elles dans les pratiques des employeurs de choix? Notre étude propose, d’une part, une description des pratiques de conciliation travail-famille adoptées par les employeurs de choix et, d’autre part, une analyse des facteurs explicatifs et des conséquences de l’adoption des pratiques de conciliation travail-famille chez les employeurs de choix. Cette étude a été réalisée en analysant les données secondaires provenant du concours sur les 100 meilleures entreprises canadiennes des années 2013 et 2014. Les résultats de cette analyse indiquent que les pratiques les plus adoptées par les employeurs de choix sont celles sur les congés et sur l’aménagement du temps de travail. D’après nos résultats, nous pouvons confirmer que ce sont les organisations les plus anciennes et les employeurs de choix du secteur public qui ont le plus adopté des pratiques de conciliation travail-famille. De plus, on constate que celles-ci ont un pourcentage élevé d’employés à temps partiel et une moyenne d’âge du personnel relativement élevée. De surcroit, l’adoption de pratiques de conciliation travail-famille au sein de ces organisations permettrait d’être reconnus comme étant les meilleurs en matière de conciliation travail-famille. Cette recherche aura permis en fin de compte de décrire la situation des employeurs de choix au Canada. Les résultats de cette recherche pourront aider les gestionnaires d’entreprise à mieux comprendre les pratiques de conciliation travail-famille de ces « meilleurs » employeurs et saisir les facteurs de contingence de même que les avantages qui en résultent. Mots-clés : Conciliation travail-famille, pratiques de conciliation travail-famille, employeurs de choix. / For decades, studies on the work-family practices have been highlighted the difficulties experienced by employees to balance their professional duties with their family life. Progressive organizations with regards to their human resources management also known as "employers of choice" attach a great importance to the need of addressing the work-life balance. Our study falls under this framework. Indeed, work-family balance is a challenge of increasing importance in the human resource management strategies of Canadian companies. A review of contemporary research on work-family balance is revealing of the need to address the factors associated with the adoption and the consequences of work-family practices. In a context in which recruitment and retention are prominent, many organizations are now developing new ways to address the needs of employees to avoid problems such as absteeism, poor performance and low employee motivation. However, despite noticeable efforts and operational strategies, balancing work and family remains a major problem in Canadian companies. Might some solutions be found in the policies and practices of employers of choice? Our study aims to describe the work-life balance practices adopted by employers of choice and propose an analysis of the antecedents and consequences of the implementation of the adoption of work-life balance practices among employers of choice. This study was conducted by analyzing secondary data from the competition among the top 100 Canadian employers in 2013 and 2014. The findings of this analysis show that the most adopted practices by the employers of choice are those relative to leave and work time arrangements. According to our results, the oldest employers of choice and those in the public sector are those that have adopted more work-life balance practices. Moreover, these organizations have a high percentage of part-time employees and relatively high average staff age. In addition, the introduction of work-life balance practices within these organizations allows them to be recognized as the best as far as work-family balance is concerned. This research further describes the work-family practices of employers of choice in Canada. The findings may help business managers better understand work-family practices of those “best” employers as well as their contingency factors and outcomes. Keywords: work-family balance, work-family practices, employers of choice.

Det talas idag om hur det livslånga lärandet och det informella lärandet påverkar människors kompetens och anställningsbarhet. Föräldraskapet kan ses som en del i det livslånga lärandet och fungerar som ett vardagslärande. I dagens globala samhälle efterfrågar arbetsmarknaden kompetenta arbetstagare och kraven på den arbetande befolkningens anställningsbarhet ökar. På grund av den föräldrapolitik och strävan efter jämställdhet som råder i Sverige får fäder i större utsträckning möjlighet till att vara föräldralediga. Även om föräldraskapet för med sig flera fördelar så finns detutmaningar med att kombinera föräldraskap och arbete. Konflikter mellan arbetsgivarens krav och familjens behov bidrar till att det är svårt att uppnå och upprätthålla balans mellan arbete och familj. Studiens syfte är att gestalta variationer i fäders uppfattning om föräldraskap som kompetens i arbetslivet. Studien belyser även hur föräldraskapet påverkas av kombinationen mellan familj och arbetsliv samt fädernas anställningsbarhet. Detta är en kvalitativ studie som tagit inspiration från fenomenografisk vetenskapsteori. Deltagarna i studien valdes ut genom ett målinriktat urval med inslag av bekvämlighetsurval men med eftertanke för att deltagarna ska vara fäder i olika ålder, i olika arbetsroller och med olika bakgrund. Datamaterialet har samlats in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer som spelats in och transkriberats. Analysen av datamaterialet har skett genom tematisk analys där den stora mängden data systematiskt behandlades och delades in i olika teman. Resultatet visar att föräldraskap som fenomen är ett relativt oreflekterat område för fäderna och desto mer dess påverkan på lärandet. Även om reflektionerna som förekommer i resultatet varierar mellan fäderna, framkommer det i studien att samtliga av fäderna är av uppfattningen att föräldraskapet innebär flera fördelar för dem i arbetslivet och att de lärt sig olika saker av att vara far. Resultatet har i diskussionen förklarats genom Biestas (2006) modell där det visas att föräldraskap genom ett tydligt samband mellan modellens tre väsentliga funktioner, bidrar till informellt lärande och på så vis ävenfädernas anställningsbarhet. / <p>Godkännande datum: 2017-06-02</p>

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Magister Commercii - MCom / Research indicates that approximately fifteen years ago there were over three (3) million dualcareer couples representing 20% of dual-worker couples. It is expected that the amount of dual-career couples will continue to increase, as most college students, both men and women, anticipate participating in a career as well as in a family (Spiker- Miller & Kees, 1995).Individuals and organizations are confronted with a hyper turbulent environment and individuals are also faced with a myriad of challenges and adversity in their work and personal lives. Due to the economy and the changing needs of individuals, today very few families reflect the configuration of a typical family (a husband who worked outside the home, a wife who fulfilled the duties of homemaker and child-carer), as both partners are normally employed. The dual-career couple phenomenon has added to the pressure of managing multiple demands and has a considerable impact on the nature of people's careers(Greenberg & Baron, 2003). Dual-career couples‘ career advancement is largely affected by the career barriers they perceive to encounter. The perceptions of career barriers encountered differ from one couple to another based on factors such as: age, race and parental demand(children). Differences may also exist between partners in a dual-career relationship based on their gender.Most studies that have been conducted have looked at work-life balance of dual-career couples or have focused on the problems dual-career couples face solely from the woman‘s perspective. The aim of this study is to look at dual-career couples not only from female‘s perspective and to tap into their perceptions regarding career barriers encountered in the workplace. The findings could help organisations realize the importance of assisting dualcareer couples and how they could improve their career development. Dual-career couples therefore warrant attention as a special group seeing as the career salience, strategies and transitions of one partner inevitably affects those of the other, which could also have repercussions for their employers (Smith, 1997).A self-developed Demographic Questionnaire and the Career Barriers Inventory (Revised) was used to gather the data. The research was conducted within a large retail organisation. The sample comprised of men and women, permanent and contract employees within the following departments: Human Resources, Marketing, Logistics, Finance, Group Merchandise Procurement (GMP), Buying, Sourcing, Audit, Planning and Group Services.The sampling procedure that was utilised was non-probability sampling. Statistical analyses involved descriptive statistics (Frequencies, Means and Standard deviations) and inferential statistics (T-Test and Analysis of variance). The study revealed that the most highly rated career barriers which respondents perceived to experience or which affected their career advancement were multiple-role conflict, decisionmaking difficulties, sex discrimination and racial discrimination. Whilst, the career barriers which were rated the lowest by respondents included disapproval by significant others, disability/health concerns and discouraged from choosing non-traditional careers.Furthermore, the findings indicated that the perceptions of dual-career couples based on gender regarding career barriers in the workplace is partially accepted because there are statistically significant differences regarding the perceptions amongst females and males in terms of lack of confidence as a career barrier. The hypothesis proposing that there are significant differences in the perceptions of dual-career couples who have and those who do not have children, is partially accepted, as there was a statistically significant difference regarding disapproval by significant others. The findings for the perceptions of dual-career couples based on race regarding career barriers in the workplace is partially supported because significant differences were found for the following career barriers: difficulties with network/socialisation, lack of confidence and race discrimination based on employees‘ race.Lastly, significant differences in the perceptions of dual-career couples based on age regarding career barriers in the workplace was rejected, as no significant differences regarding career barriers based on employees‘ age were found.Amongst others, a limitation of this study is evident. The study may lack generisability as the sampling procedure used was non-probability sampling and only included those employees who were easily accessible. Additionally, a quantitative study was used by making use of questionnaires, but no observation or interviews were used. The present study also only focuses on the differences in perceptions of dual-career couples, based on biographical factors such as; gender, age, number of children (parental demands), race and age. Ideally all research should have a broad speck of people or participants, to ensure higher generalizability.In an effort to deal with the limitations of the current study, the following are recommended, future research should use a large proportionate stratified random sample as this would allow the findings to be reliably generalised to the population. A combination of both quantitative and qualitative methodology would help to develop detailed understanding of dual-career couple‘s and their differences in perceptions of career barriers.It is important for organisations to have continuous negotiations with employees in order to integrate the demands of the organisation and the career needs of its employees. Furthermore,they should respond to the shifting demographics by adopting voluntary policies such as alternative work schedules and child and elder care assistance to help workers meet family needs, which in turn will be beneficial to the organisation by attracting and retaining the best talent.