WORK LIFE BALANCE

Emerging Psychological Risks related to OSH.

European Agency for Safety and Health at Work
8 9 April, 2008 Brussels

Prof. Dr. Nuria Chinchilla, IESE Business School

New Context
Women
Women in
in business
business
International
International careers
careers
Never-ending
Never-ending
workdays
workdays

Ooohh now, of course: What are you doing Gonzalez?!! What are
4
you doing Gonzalez?!! But every time Gonzalez took work to do at
home, no one came to ask me: What are you doing Gonzalez?!!

Women in the labour

market

(Eurostat)

1994

2005

%increase

Spain

31

51

67%

Ireland

40

58

45%

Italy

35

45

28%

Netherlands

53

66

25%

Greece

37

46

24%

Luxembourg

44

54

21%

Belgium

45

54

21%

Portugal

54

62

13%

Finland

59

66

13%

France

52

58

12%

Germany

55

60

8%

UK

61

66

8%

Denmark

67

72

7%

Austria

59

62

5%

Sweden

68

70

3%

UnitedStates

65

65

1%

EU(15countries)

49

57

16%

Causes of the work & family

conflict
Participants

Experts

Timetable incompatibility (school / work)

Lack of company policies to help work and family

balance

Working pressures

Family responsibilities

Few kindergarten

My own way of balancing work and family

Housework

Lack of support from my boss and colleagues

Time I lose because of the traffic jam

Lack of punctuality and/or not enough public

transport

10

Variety and quantity of social roles

11

Which are your priorities in life?

What criteria are important to you when making a

decision regarding your professional career?

How much do you agree with the

following statements?

Feeling of
double
workday

Bearing
alone the
family
burden

Husband/boss
lack of
understanding

Husband as a burden

Professional Reorientation

As a freelance

Create my own
business

In another company

How much support do you receive on your

dual professional and family responsibility?

Emotional support

Professional support

Educational
support

Home support

Two different approaches:

1)To adapt the whole life to ones
career
2)To adapt the career to ones life

1) To adapt the whole life

to ones career

It has been a subtlenot

explicitly chosen process, not
a deliberate decision

What is happening?
Low birthrate (below 2,1)
Mean age when first child is born (32
years)
Childrens education in the hands of
others
Divorce (one every 3 minutes)
Health problems (stress, depression)
High expenditure on tranquilizers

BIRTH RATE
TheEuropeanBirthrateisverylow(1,5)
toofarfromtheGenerationalReplacementLevel:2,1
children/woman
andbelowtheexpectationsofEuropeans:2,3
Thebest:
Ireland:1,99
France:1,90
Finland:1,80
Denmark:1,78
UK:1,74
Theworst:
Greece:1,29
Germany:1,3
Spain:1,32
Italy:1,34

Fuente:Eurostat.ElaboracinIPF

Times Vicious Cycle

SPILL-OVER
FAMILY-TOWORK
CONFLICT

CONFLICTS
WORKSTRESS

SPILL-OVER
WORK-TOFAMILY
CONFLICT

80%

20%
Lessquantityand
qualityoftime
PERSONALANDFAMILYLIFE
CONFLICTSANDSTRESS

Reduction of
family support

NEW REALITY

WHAT WOMEN SAY:

Go to the market , clean the sofa
and wash the dishes, look for milk,
hung the clothes, clean the dust
from the TV, buy some soap and take
out the dog for a while

WHAT MEN UNDERSTAND.

Go to the market , clean the sofa and
wash the dishes, look for milk, hung
the clothes, clean the dust from the
TV, buy some soap and take out the
dog for a while

VALUES

FAMILY
Companionship,
harmony,
respect,
confidence
HAPPINESS/ QUALITY
OF LIFE

WORK/ PLACE
The same
values

RESULTS
Benefits
Commitment
Productivity

FAMILY: is a SCHOOL of
COMPETENCIES

JOINT
CAPITAL
CONTRIBUTION
MONITORING
SUCCESS AND
MISTAKES

CUSTOMER
SERVICE

CONVERGENCE
OF IDEAS

FAMILY
= SME
Opening
MARKETS
Executing
PLANS

The real skills of leadership

mirror the skills of effective
parenting
ThefifthDisciplineP.Senge

Most valued
management skills
1Customer-orientation
2Leadership
3Integrity
4Initiative
5Teamwork
6Communication
7Businessvision
8Personalimprovement
9Decisionmaking
10Interfunctionalorientation
Fuente: Cardona, P.; Chinchilla, N., Garca, P.:
Las competencias directivas ms valoradas, IESE, WP 01/4

2) To adapt ones career

to ones life
Thereareinitiativesinthefirmsand
governmentsthatfacilitatesuch
adaptation:familypolicies,flexiblework
arrangements,...
However,itisstillverymuchapersonal
effort,eveninthecaseofbeingeligible
forthosearrangements.

What do we mean by
success ?

Subjetivesuccess +

xitoobjetivo
Objetivesuccess
-

Modelo
Model
Reference

Realizada
Selfrealized

Famosa
Famous

Fracasada
Unsuccessful

Whatcanwelearnfrompeoplewho
areVERYsatisfiedbothintheircareers
andtheirlives?
1.- They align ones work demands, ones
spouses demands, and ones family
situation.
2.- They re-asses their notion of career
success, focusing on the net gains: career,
family, personal life.
3.- They purposefully set boundaries that
facilitate to meet expectations in each lifes
domain.

To align ones work demands, ones spouses

demands, and ones family situation means:

Tohaveadynamicflexibilityandre-assessment
(notonlyinthecompanybutespeciallyat
home).
a)Withonesspouse:Whoisdoingwhatand
when.
b)Withonescompany:Whatarethe
options,andhowcanIaccessthem.Howto
redefinethejob.Whatisfeasible.Dynamic
adaptation.

Companies destructive
capacity

Pollution in nature (ecology)

Pollution in society (human ecology)
Double effect:
Social (external)
Business (internal)

4 Levels of development
in Companies

Systematic

Discretional

Contaminante
Contaminating

Enriquecedora
Enriching

No FR Policies

Few policies
or

dont really
use

them

Have policies
and
put them into

Elements of a
Family Responsible Enterprise

2.
2. Facilitadores
Facilitators

Job
flexibility

Professional
support

Liderazgo
Leadership

Comunicacin
Communication

Family
services

Non-salary
benefits

Responsabilidad
Responsibility

Estrategia
Strategy

3. Culture: Hindrances / Promoters

4. Results

1. Policies

Anthropological

PsychoMecha
sociological -nistic

W Emphasis

W-F Focus

Reasons
for W-F
Policies

Employee is
Company is not Legislation/
evaluated of the time responsible for
Marketing
he or she works
w-f balance
(eficacy)
Employee is
Company sees
Employees
evaluated in function that w-f balance
retention
of the tasks
is a real problem (atractivness)
completed and the
that should be
learning obtained
taken care of
(Reactive)
Employee is
Company is a
Real
evaluated in function
real FRE
employees
of his or her unique
needs (unity
(Proactive)
contribution in the
in values)
fulfillment of he
companies project

10 Steps to become a FR company

1- Senior management commitment (budget included).
2- Work & Family coordinating committee.
3- Company diagnosis: self-diagnosis IFREI:
http://www.iesedti.com/ifrei2006/ifrei.htm

4- Family employees needs information.

5- Integral Balance Plan development.
6- Manual for Policies application.
7- Leadership of top managers.
8- Family values explicitly included in the corporate mission
( as new stakeholders).
9- Development of policies and processes.
10- Measure the use of policies to adjust and Benchmark.

IFREI in the World

European
countries
Spain
Portugal

Philippin
es

Mexico
Guatemala

Venezuela

El
Ecuador
Salvador
Colombi
Brazil
a
Peru
Uruguay
Chile
Argentin
a

Nigeria

Ireland
Finland
Denmark
Belgium
Italy
Czech
Republic
France

Singapo
re
Kenya
New
Zealan
d

THANKYOUVERYMUCH!

www.iese.edu/icwf