Do Family Friendly Policies Hurt Men?
Chapter Three
DO FAMILY FRIENDLY POLICIES HURT MEN? As more women have entered the workforce, companies wanting the best talent have moved toward add-ing more benefits that help mothers in particular juggle the responsibilities of job and family. Part- time work schedules and flexible hours help parents find time to tend to children and— with the aging of the nation’s population— help adult children tend to elderly parents. Traditionally, these family responsibilities have been taken up primarily by women. But as companies add these benefits, some male employees ( and some childless women as well) have complained that the company is spending money on benefits that flow to some workers at the expense ( at least theoretically) of others. Some men have even complained that fathers don’t get assistance with child care or an opportunity to bring their babies to work. In fact, in the United States, companies do have to extend the same benefits to fathers as to mothers (except, of course, that if a mother is disabled after childbirth, she is the one who gets the disability benefit). But men note that it is women who are more likely to use these benefits, even though studies show that men are experiencing more work– life conflict than male workers did a few decades ago. And as more pregnant women stay on the job, the disparity is as obvious as the bulging bellies. SOURCES: Sue Shellenbarger, “ Do Work- Family Policies Discriminate against Men?” Wall Street Journal, February 4, 2010, http:// blogs. wsj. com ; and Sue Shellenbarger, “ Handling the Office Baby Boom,” Wall Street Journal, January 13, 2010, http:// online. wsj. com .
Questions
1. Who, if anyone, suffers when some workers get flexible hours? What would be a fair way to dis-tribute the costs and benefits of flexibility in work schedules?
I would say not only do the workers who are not offered flexible hours suffer but the business as a whole suffers as well. The reason for this is the fact that the
DO FAMILY FRIENDLY POLICIES HURT MEN? As more women have entered the workforce, companies wanting the best talent have moved toward add-ing more benefits that help mothers in particular juggle the responsibilities of job and family. Part- time work schedules and flexible hours help parents find time to tend to children and— with the aging of the nation’s population— help adult children tend to elderly parents. Traditionally, these family responsibilities have been taken up primarily by women. But as companies add these benefits, some male employees ( and some childless women as well) have complained that the company is spending money on benefits that flow to some workers at the expense ( at least theoretically) of others. Some men have even complained that fathers don’t get assistance with child care or an opportunity to bring their babies to work. In fact, in the United States, companies do have to extend the same benefits to fathers as to mothers (except, of course, that if a mother is disabled after childbirth, she is the one who gets the disability benefit). But men note that it is women who are more likely to use these benefits, even though studies show that men are experiencing more work– life conflict than male workers did a few decades ago. And as more pregnant women stay on the job, the disparity is as obvious as the bulging bellies. SOURCES: Sue Shellenbarger, “ Do Work- Family Policies Discriminate against Men?” Wall Street Journal, February 4, 2010, http:// blogs. wsj. com ; and Sue Shellenbarger, “ Handling the Office Baby Boom,” Wall Street Journal, January 13, 2010, http:// online. wsj. com .
Questions
1. Who, if anyone, suffers when some workers get flexible hours? What would be a fair way to dis-tribute the costs and benefits of flexibility in work schedules?
I would say not only do the workers who are not offered flexible hours suffer but the business as a whole suffers as well. The reason for this is the fact that the