Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at
http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=vjeb20
Journal of Education for Business
ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
Family Issues in the Workplace: Are Students on
Track?
Karen K. Waner , Janet K. Winter & Ronald G. Breshears
To cite this article: Karen K. Waner , Janet K. Winter & Ronald G. Breshears (2005) Family Issues in the Workplace: Are Students on Track?, Journal of Education for Business, 80:3, 145-148, DOI: 10.3200/JOEB.80.3.145-148
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.3200/JOEB.80.3.145-148
Published online: 07 Aug 2010.
Submit your article to this journal
Article views: 14
View related articles
hanges in society and in the work-place have affected employees greatly and have produced new varieties of problems and stressors. One of the areas affecting businesses is employees’ family situations. Although employees rank family issues as a vitally important issue for the future (Poe, 1999), top management ranks this issue lowest on the list of priorities. In a 1996 survey by Incentivemagazine (Challenger, 1996), only 9% of managers ranked family issues highest in priority.
In a Newsweekarticle, Quinn, Ehren-feld, Reno, Downey, and Roberts (2000) reported that the following workplace trends were contributing to the problems facing employees and employers: increases in young men’s wages, rising fertility rates among young women, increasing numbers of mothers between 36 and 40 years of age who are choosing part-time over full-time jobs, increasing probability of higher-salaried women accepting part-time employment, and a greater share of women going into “women’s work” (e.g., nursing and education). Given the effect of retiring baby boomers, those women who are leaving fast-track careers will probably be welcomed back by employers.
Although the number of hours that an executive works appears to have increased (Gutek, 1995), some research
indicates that people actually are working less hours because they spend more time taking care of personal business at work than previously (Crispell, 1996). Thus, performance appraisals and work hours are shifting from time-based to task-based evaluation (Crispell). Because women with young children often work part time, this trend may be favorable for them. In a study by the Radcliffe Public Policy Cen-ter, however, 82% of men and 85% of women between 20 and 39 years of age (Miller, 2000) reported family time as top priority. If men and women are, in fact, spending more time at work, finding time
to raise a family will become increasing-ly difficult no matter what quantity of hours a parent works. Although technol-ogy has the potential to ease the burden for parents who are willing and able to telecommute, family interruptions make working from home less productive (Jurisic, 1999).
As employees search for self-fulfill-ment—many through raising families— the issue of salary becomes less impor-tant, especially after a certain point in life (Herman, 2001). For most workers, family issues are an important consider-ation in selecting the right job, and employers must either adjust according-ly (Lasch, 1999) or risk losing talented workers. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993 mandates that a firm with 50 or more employees must provide 12 weeks of unpaid, job-pro-tected leave per year to eligible employ-ees who need leave to care for a new-born, a newly adopted child, or a newly placed foster child; to care for a child, spouse, or parent who has a serious health condition; or to treat one’s own serious health condition after meeting a minimum of hours worked (Waldfogel, 2001). Firms with people-centered cul-tures, however, are going beyond these steps to help employees. Despite accommodations, many employees still are finding career roadblocks when they take needed family leave. Because the
Family Issues in the Workplace:
Are Students on Track?
KAREN K. WANER JANET K. WINTER RONALD G. BRESHEARS
Central Missouri State University Warrensburg, Missouri
C
ABSTRACT. Employees attempting to balance careers and families have made family issues a major concern in the workplace. Equity issues arise, however, for employees who do not have family responsibilities. In this study, the authors sought to determine whether students’ and employees’ per-ceptions of family issues differed in their responses to nine statements. Two-tailed ttests revealed significant differ-ences between students and employees on the following issues: raising a fami-ly while having a career, staying home with children (with respect to women), special considerations, and additional leave. The authors’ results suggest that organizations should implement prac-tices in an equitable manner. Students, however, should be encouraged to research prospective employers to determine whether their family-issue needs will be met.
leave is often unpaid, employees also may opt not to take the unpaid leave, especially if such leave would result in financial difficulties.
Workers who are concerned about family issues can be divided into four groups: mothers, fathers, elder-care-givers, and employees who have few or no family responsibilities. Mothers, fathers, and elder-caregivers have to deal with supervision needs and other scheduling problems such as doctor’s appointments and Little League games. However, the employees who are rela-tively unencumbered by family mem-bers receive fewer benefits than those with family responsibilities. Human resource managers must understand the situation and work toward equity in pro-grams and accommodation of worker needs (Gunsauley, 2001) to promote company recruitment, productivity, morale, and retention (“The Family-Friendly Place,” 2002; Fletcher, 2000), while at the same time effectively bal-ancing the organization’s need for tal-ent. Students also must understand the nuances of the current dilemma when they enter the workforce.
Purpose
Our purpose in this study was to determine how students perceive family issues in the workplace and to deter-mine whether the students’ perceptions coincide with current employees’ per-ceptions. A review of the literature reveals that most colleges and universi-ties teach students how to conduct a job search and to interview effectively. However, there appears to be a void in teaching students to look beyond the basic salary issue to explore how firms with more people-centered cultures and better benefits packages can help their employees balance family issues and career demands.
College students encounter this void in their education if they are seeking com-panies that promote people-centered policies and practices. Does a significant difference exist between students and employees in their perceptions of family issues in the workplace? To survey our sample of students and employees, we prepared the following list of survey statements:
• A woman can raise a family and have a career without compromising either.
• A man can raise a family and have a career without compromising either.
• Women would rather stay home with their children if they have the financial resources to do so.
• Men would rather stay home with their children if they have the financial resources to do so.
• Organizations should offer special considerations, such as flextime and job sharing, to women with family respon-sibilities.
• Organizations should offer special considerations, such as flextime and job sharing, to men with family respon-sibilities.
• Organizations should offer paid maternity/adoptive leave.
• Organizations should offer paid paternity/adoptive leave.
• If an organization offers family leave, employees who do not use family leave should have the option of taking additional leave beyond vacation.
Method
Our sample consisted of 362 students and 100 employees, with approximately an equal number of men and women in each group. The full-time students were enrolled in management classes in a business college accredited by the Asso-ciation to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) at a midwestern uni-versity. The full-time employees worked in a manufacturing firm or an advertising firm in the Midwest and were not man-agers or supervisors. People-centered practices were part of the culture of the surveyed firms, and employees were offered benefits packages that supported family issues. Because we used a conve-nience sample, the findings and conclu-sions can be generalized only to the stu-dents and employees in this study.
We used the statements from “Family Issues in the Workplace” in Muto’s Instructor’s Resource Manual (2001, pp. 71–73) to create our survey instru-ment. We modified the original state-ments and conducted a face-validity check on the nine statements in the revised survey. Students and employees
responded to the nine statements on a 7-point, Likert-type scale with the follow-ing anchor points: 1 (strongly disagree), 2 (disagree), 3 (somewhat disagree), 4 (no preference), 5 (somewhat agree), 6 (agree), and 7 (strongly agree). We con-ducted two-tailed t tests to determine whether significant differences existed between students and employees on each of the nine statements.
Findings
In Table 1, we present the statements and the analyses of the students’ and employees’ responses to family issues in the workplace. Our results show that the perceptions of students and employ-ees differed significantly with regard to issues involving (a) raising a family while having a career, (b) women stay-ing home with the children, (c) employ-ers’ offering of special considerations, and (d) employees’ taking of additional leave beyond vacation.
Raising a Family While Having a Career
The first family-issue item stated that a woman can raise a family and have a career without compromising either. An analysis revealed that significant differ-ences existed between the students and employees (t= 3.44,p = .0006) in their perceptions regarding this item. Students generally (M= 4.87,SD= 1.90) felt that women could balance both family and career; on the other hand, employees had no strong convictions regarding women’s ability to balance family and career (M= 4.13,SD= 1.87).
The next statement addressed the same issue but with regard to men. As before, the analysis of the responses revealed that students and employees differed sig-nificantly in their perceptions of this family–work issue (t= 5.73, p= .000). Students felt that a man can have both a family and a career without compromis-ing either (M= 5.10,SD= 1.75), where-as employees had no strong convictions on the issue (M= 3.96,SD= 1.81).
Staying Home With Children
When asked whether women would rather stay home with their children if
they had the financial resources to do so, students showed no preference in either direction on this issue (see Table 1). Employees were more definite in their responses: They generally believed that if women could afford it, they would prefer to stay home to care for young families. Thus, we found a significant difference on this issue (t = 2.08, p = .0386). When asked whether men would rather stay home with their children if they had the financial resources to do so, students and employees revealed similar perceptions: Both groups generally believed that men would prefer to not stay home to take care of their children.
Employers’ Offer of Special Considerations
Next, we analyzed the responses to the statement that organizations should offer special considerations, such as flextime and job sharing, to women with family responsibilities. Our results showed that students somewhat agreed that women should be offered special considerations for family responsibili-ties (see Table 1). On the other hand, employees had no strong opinions;
therefore, employees and students did differ significantly (t= 4.43,p= .0001). When the same statement was posed with regard to men, students and employees again revealed significant differences (t= 3.38,p= .001). As with previous issues, employees tended not to have a distinct opinion; however, stu-dents felt that men should be offered special considerations for family responsibilities.
Paid Maternity/Paternity/ Adoptive Leave
When asked whether organizations should offer paid maternity/adoptive leave, students and employees were in agreement. When the focus was on paid paternity/adoptive leave, as with the issue of paid maternity/adoptive leave, students and employees agreed that paid paternity/adoptive leave should be a benefit that organizations offer.
Additional Leave Beyond Vacation
Although our first eight statements were formulated according to a man’s or a woman’s perspective, our last
state-ment was not gender based. Instead, it asked respondents for their feelings on whether employers at an organization that offers family leave should provide those employees who do not use family leave with the option of taking addition-al leave beyond vacation. We found a significant difference in perceptions between students and employees (t = 4.81,p= .0001) on this issue. Employ-ees were more supportive of this prac-tice (M= 5.57,SD= 1.38) than students were (M= 4.76,SD= 1.80).
Conclusions and Discussion
Dual-career families and single par-ents face family and career issues that have a major impact on their profession-al development and affect their home life. Family issues continue to be a major con-cern in the workplace, especially when individuals must choose between career and family. The results of this compari-son suggest that students and employees differ in their perceptions about the demands of family responsibilities.
Historically, men have spent most of their lives working in their careers with-out having to care for young children
TABLE 1. Means and Standard Deviations of Students’ and Employees’ Perceptions Regarding Family Issues in the Workplace
Students Employees
Family issues M SD n M SD n t p
A woman can raise a family and have a career without compromising
either. 4.87 1.90 362 4.13 1.87 100 3.44 .0006* A man can raise a family and have a career without compromising
either. 5.10 1.75 362 3.96 1.81 100 5.73 .0000** Women would rather stay home with their children if they have the
financial resources to do so. 4.50 1.67 362 4.81 1.22 100 2.08 .0386*** Men would rather stay home with their children if they have the
financial resources to do so. 3.44 1.67 362 3.74 1.66 100 1.58 .1143 Organizations should offer special considerations, such as flextime and
job sharing, to women with family responsibilities. 5.31 1.51 362 4.42 1.84 100 4.43 .0001** Organizations should offer special considerations, such as flextime and
job sharing, to men with family responsibilities. 5.16 1.56 361 4.39 2.11 100 3.38 .0010* Organizations should offer paid maternity/adoptive leave. 5.90 1.37 362 5.94 0.78 100 0.42 .6714 Organizations should offer paid paternity/adoptive leave. 5.38 1.57 362 5.08 1.53 100 1.72 .0860 If an organization offers family leave, employees who do not use family
leave should have the option of taking additional leave beyond
vacation. 4.76 1.80 350 5.57 1.38 100 4.81 .0001**
Note. Respondents answered on a scale with the following anchors: 1 (strongly disagree), 2 (disagree), 3 (somewhat disagree), 4 (no preference), 5 (some-what agree), 6 (agree), and 7 (strongly agree).
*p < .001. **p< .0001. ***p< .05.
because wives, nannies, and significant others traditionally have attended to chil-dren in these situations. However, work-ing mothers have been responsible for both their careers and young children.
A surprising finding of this study is that both students and employees tended to hold traditional views of men’s role in the care of children. Both groups tended to believe that childcare is the primary responsibility of the mother. In further support of this finding, the employees felt that women preferred the childcare role. On the other hand, students did not feel as strongly as employees did with regard to the statement that women would prefer being full-time caretakers of children. This result may reflect the fact that college students are focused on career preparation and probably have not experienced the difficulties associated with dual-role responsibilities.
It is interesting to note that the stu-dents felt that women and men could balance a career and a family success-fully. Furthermore, the students felt that organizations should offer special con-siderations to employees with young families. In fact, the employees in our study worked for companies whose policies support family raising through sick leave, job sharing, and flextime.
Of course, both the students and employees were in favor of paid mater-nity, patermater-nity, and adoptive leaves. This result highlights the apparent belief that organizations should recognize the importance of rearing families and have supportive policies.
Implications and Recommendations
These findings may be important to both employers and prospective em-ployees. Organizations should consid-er implementing people-centconsid-ered prac-tices in a fair and equitable manner for all employees by, for example, offer-ing a variety of leave packages. Above all, however, organizations need to establish a culture supportive of poli-cies that allow employees to balance work and home life, regardless of fam-ily status.
Although students may tend to compromise family issues in initial job searches, they may perceive those issues as more important as they progress through the ranks at their workplaces. Family issues may force an employee to find another workplace or career that is better suited to his or her family needs. Although a new graduate may be lured to join a company solely on the basis of salary, the company may lose valuable resources if the employee changes jobs a few years later after he or she begins a family.
Therefore, students should be aware of family issues in the workplace and learn to research potential employers’ benefits packages to determine whether these are compatible with their expecta-tions. When graduates enter the work-force, they should look for employers with people-centered practices and ben-efit plans appropriate for their individ-ual needs.
REFERENCES
Challenger, G. (1996). Top workplace concerns for 1996. Incentive, 170(2), 83. Retrieved April 10, 2002, from EBSCO host database. Crispell, D. (1996). How to manage a chaotic
workplace. American Demographics, 18(6), 50–52. Retrieved April 10, 2002, from EBSCO host database.
The family-friendly place. (2002). MacLean’s, 115(43), 30–31. Retrieved March 31, 2003, from EBSCO host database.
Fletcher, L. (2000). Women in the workforce bring positive changes for all workers. Business Insurance, 34(40), 38–39. Retrieved March 31, 2003, from EBSCO host database.
Gunsauley, C. (2001). Work-life benefits take hold as focus shifts to retention. Employee Benefit News, 15(7), 51–52. Retrieved March 31, 2003, from EBSCO host database.
Gutek, B. A. (1995). Comment: The biological clock confronts complex organizations— Women’s ambivalence about work and implica-tions for feminist management research. Jour-nal of Management Inquiry, 4(1), 66–68 [electronic version].
Herman, R. (2001). Show me more than the money. American Drycleaner, 68(2), 106–107. Retrieved April 10, 2002, from EBSCO host database.
Jurisic, V. (1999). Promising future. Office Pro, 59(2), 6–9. Retrieved April 10, 2002, from EBSCO host database.
Lasch, E. (1999). Achieving a balance. Ohio CPA Journal, 58(1), 21–22. Retrieved March 31, 2003, from EBSCO host database.
Miller, L. (2000). Upper-level workers say time is better than money. HR Magazine, 45(10), 12–14. Retrieved March 31, 2003, from EBSCO host database.
Muto, M. (2001). Instructor’s resource manual (8th ed.). New York: Houghton Mifflin. Poe, A. C. (1999). The daddy track. HR Magazine,
44(7). Retrieved February 9, 2003, from EBSCO host database.
Quinn, J. B., Ehrenfeld, T., Reno, J., Downey, S., & Roberts, E. (2000). Revisiting the mommy track. Newsweek, 136(3), 44.
Waldfogel, J. (2001). Family and medical leave: Evidence from the 2000 surveys. Monthly Labor Review, 124(9), 17–23. Retrieved March 31, 2003, from EBSCO host database.
