Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales

Big Company Policies for Balancing Family and Working Lives

Financiado por

EQUAL Project “Madrid, Companies and Balancing Family and Work Lives”, coordinated by the Municipality of Madrid

Código

A.D. nº 292

Duración

2005-2006

Responsables

Gerardo Meil

Description

This research aims to map and analyze the developments that are taking place in human resources policies for promoting balance in working and family lives. Targets of the study are big companies (more than 250 employees) settled in Spain, irrespective of their property status (public and private, multinationals as well as national companies). The research is based on in-depth interviews with 45 representatives of human resources departments as well as available survey data on the subject.
 

Objetivos

1. To identify how companies understand as promoting a balance between the working and private lives of their employees.
2. To know the cost-benefit analysis made by the director of the human resource department before introducing specific measures to promote a better balance between working and private lives.
3. To find out their opinions of the Spanish-specific organization of working hours as well as their positions related to the debate about split versus continuous working hours.
4. To identify and classify the company improvements, if any, related to the different kinds of parental leave established by the law, the reasons for introducing these improvements, the advantages and disadvantages of these improvements, as well as male employees’ use of parental leave. Further, to identify the measures that are considered to promote the balance between working and private life.
5. To map the attitudes about expected government plans to lengthen paternity leave from two days to two weeks and the anticipated use of this benefit by their male employees.
    

Investigadores

Dr. Gerardo Meil, Dr. Cristina García Sainz (UAM), Dr. Mª Angeles Luque (UAM) and Dr. Luis Ayuso (UAM)
 

Publications

In Spanish:

Meil, G.; García Sanz, C.; Luque, M.A. and Ayuso, L. (2007): (Balancing family and professional lives policies of Spanish big enterprises), “El desafío de la conciliación de la vida personal y laboral en las grandes empresas”, Fundación Gral. De la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, 146 pp., ISBN 978-84-608-0564-9, Available in http://www.uam.es/gerardo.meil

Meil, G.; García Sanz, C.; Luque, Mª Angeles y Ayuso, L. (2008), (The Work-Life Balance Policies of Big Enterprises in Spain) “Las grandes empresas y la conciliación de la vida laboral y personal en España” in Revista del Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales, 71, pp. 15-33