Swedish Daddies: Case Study

Case Study 9.5: Swedish Daddies

Brandi Collins

Professor Lezlie Banks

BUS 309

March 2, 2015

In our everyday lives we all have to find our own ways to balance our career and our family lives. Being that I am a single mother of a 4 year son and work a full-time job, I know the importance of finding a solid balance between the two. One way that I balance between my job in contrast to my family life is I try to leave work problems at work and home problems at home. I have found in the past that interfering one with the other can cause you to lose focus on the task at hand, whether it be a task at the job and a home problem that you are having is the only consuming your mind or vice versa. Another way I balance my family life is
to ensure that I spend some quality time with my son each day when we get home regardless how long of day I have had at work. This allows me to devote some time to helping him complete his homework or just simply reading a book to him after being away from him for more than 8 hours out the day. Making this time gives me a chance to clear my head from work and focus on my family life for the afternoon. When it comes to the mindset of corporate America being conducive to my family arrangement, I believe that most companies now days have some type of arrangement set up or that could be set up that would work for me and my family life.
One of my reasons for feeling this way is that every job I have worked has been able to accommodate the schedule I needed for my family arrangement. I have seen a few of my family members and friends take on jobs in corporate America that have been able to maintain a concrete balance between their family and their careers because of arrangements that were able to me made for them. Another reason I believe corporate America is conducive to the type of work I plan to be in and my family arrangement is that my field of work has flexible hours and an enormous selection of job opportunities. I plan to work in the healthcare administration field which opens my doors for job placement and the opportunity for me to find a job that works with my family life at the time. I believe that corporate America has to at some point be willing to take into account the importance of one’s family compared to their
career. Paid maternity leave can be a very hot topic when it comes to the question of companies being required by the U.S.
government to pay the cost. I believe that the U.S. government should be required to pay for the cost of maternity leave. One of my reasons for feeling this way is the simple scientific fact that women are the only creatures whose body is designed to for bearing children. We were not given a choice in this matter and I feel that the U.S. government should mandate companies to have plan of paid action for women who need to go out of work for maternity leave. I think the companies should be able to determine up to how much time they will cover for the woman being out of work for maternity leave but should at least be required to cover the general 6 weeks suggested by most physicians for child birth recovery. I do not think that the U.S. government should have to assist companies in paying for this coverage; it should be included in the offer to hire for all women. I think that it is the company’s responsibility to pay for the maternity leave for women because it should be viewed as right for being that we are the only ones with the ability to bear children as I stated
earlier. My view point on the U.S. government requiring companies to offer paternity leave for men is somewhat the same as how I feel about maternity leave being covered for women but for different reasons. In my opinion I do think that companies should be required to offer paternity leave to men but should not be required to cover the full six weeks as they would be required to cover for women. My main reason for believing that the U.S. government should require companies to cover paternity leave for men is that their role as father is very an important part of child birth as well. Although their role may not being as physically demanding as the woman it is still relevant enough for them to have the option of having paternal leave paid for by the company they work for. I believe that the U.S. government would be showing America that family is an important factor and asset to our corporate world because requiring companies to pay for maternal and paternal leave for women and men allows quality time to be spent with bringing a new life into the world. I believe that specialized organizational arrangements should be made for workers who wish to combine their career and raising a child. One reason why I think workers should have this option is because it gives the worker a chance to further their career as well as raise their children themselves. On average I know I spend almost over half of my day away from my son, but if my job offered some type of specialized organizational arrangement I would be able to spend more time with him. There are some workers who place just as much importance on their careers as they do their families and that’s another reason why these specialized organizational arrangements should be made for workers. I think it’s also a fair way for someone to be a very valuable contribution to the company they work for while still taking on the role of raising their children. Specialize organizational arrangements can be a way for workers to fulfill the duties of their career without having the worries of someone else raising their children. There are a few steps companies can take in making these specialized organizational arrangements for their workers. One step that can be taken by a company is to offer a work from home arrangement. Allowing a worker the chance to work from home gives them the freedom to their work done at their own pace while still being at home with their children. Another step that can be taken by companies to accommodate a specialized organizational arrangement is to allow the worker to have an adjusted work schedule. What I mean by that is the worker may work longer hours on some days to account for more days off during a work week period. One last step I would suggest a company to do is offer an arrangement for a worker that would require them to work through their lunch time in exchange for getting off earlier than your scheduled time. Making this type of an arrangement would allow at a single parent like myself time to leave work an hour early so that I can pick my son up from school because I have no one else to do so. This arrangement would also help financially in raising my child because I would not have to pay someone to pick him for me. In my opinion I do not feel firms are generally obligated to give employees flexibility to work out the balance of career and family that works for them. I do feel that if a company does hire an employee that morally that right thing to do is offer some type of flexibility for that employee who may need more balance between their family life and their career. The reason I feel that firms are not obligated to offer this type of flexibility is because they can always find employees who fit the criteria for the job being offered. I think that a lot of firms, when hiring, seek to fill their employment vacancies with people who are willing to work the scheduled time being offered with vacancy. I believe once an employee accepts the job the firm assumes the employee will be able to handle the responsibility of balancing their career and their family life. As I stated earlier, from an ethical point of view I feel that a company should be willing to give an employee some flexibility if needed to show their concern for the employee as a worker and concern for their family. I think this can build stronger relationships between the firms and their employees. My view for believing this way is that I do not feel allowing some flexibility to employees is going beyond the social responsibility of a company. It would clearly show that the company is acting for the benefit of a larger society which would be their employees. The social responsibility of a company entails developing positive relationships with the employees that operate under them. Allowing this type of flexibility for an employee to balance their family life and their career will build these positive relationships because the employee will see that the company they work for has a general concern for their family life as well as their career.

REFERENCES

Shawn, W. (2014). Business Ethics (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Baxter Clark.