Family And Work Why Is It Important To Manage Both?

Family And Work, The mentality advocates the proportion that says the more hours in the office, and the more work is done. If it is not correct in itself, it is less and less so. The data reveals that countries with shorter working hours are more productive. 

Breaking with the concept of “warming up the chair,” rigid hours and face-to-face attendance should be the objective of every company, with a common goal: to achieve greater employee performance by generating greater well-being. Work-family reconciliation policies can help break these rigid dynamics.

However, the fact that we currently find ourselves with these barriers does not imply that there has been no progress throughout history. The concept of reconciling family and work gained more presence in the public debate after the incorporation of women into the labor market. 

Traditionally, the distribution of tasks did not require any reconciliation principle—the differentiation between both genres already marked the space where each one developed in a very clear way. Responsibility in the family and home sphere fell to women, and work outside the home corresponded to men.

Fortunately, advances towards gender equality have been changing these ways of life so that today many workers —both men and women— claim time to be able to work, manage their family life and take care of their family relationships and also enjoy their personal life. And that’s where reconciliation comes into play.

Companies that reconcile

Establishing a work-family balance plan is not an easy task, but it is important for companies to tackle. In the first instance, it can be an added difficulty for the employer in terms of resources and managing people and situations.

However, it is also beneficial for the company in the long term. The capacities to attract and retain talent are increasing since, as was said at the beginning, more and more people are looking for places where they can distribute and make time more flexible for the benefit of their family, commitments, and interests. In addition, the results at the level of commitment, motivation, and work environment are much more positive, directly impacting productivity.

But not only in the business sphere, conciliation must also have weight. Companies are increasingly aware of the social sphere, through CSR, sustainability, and equality, among other aspects. And in this sense, conciliation not only looks for long-term results but also for truly believing in offering good treatment to employees on a day-to-day basis.

Incorporation of services in companies to reconcile

For this reason, many companies aware of conciliation also focus on offering the best comforts for their employees and their families. Among the most common practices is the setting up of a nursery area and the management of the so-called Days without School, in which the company offers the possibility of organizing an activity with the sons and daughters of the employees on non-school days but working hours, or the flexibility of entry and exit times, to achieve a fit between work schedules and the schedules required by a family.

With these proposals, employees see their stress reduced, focusing at all times on the required objective: caring for and attending to the family and carrying out their day-to-day tasks in working life. Establishing this type of program also provides, as has been mentioned before, an improvement in the company’s employer brand, being able to communicate with objective reasons that it is a modern company, adapted to conditions and change and that it takes into account the employee needs.

Before concluding, it is also necessary to focus on work permits and parentheses, whether due to rest periods, maternity or paternity leave, or sick leave and leave of absence. Communication with employees is key for the result to be satisfactory. Solving it empathetically and understanding what the employees need undoubtedly strengthens a relationship of trust and tranquility during this period.

Reconciliation is, therefore, a very important milestone in managing people and companies. Being able to attract and retain the best talent through these policies, which are still competitive advantages, has a direct impact on the productivity and results of the teamwork, and on the most social part, of true conciliation, in which everyone and all of us, to a greater or lesser extent, want to enjoy more time with family, friends or with oneself. 

And is that the conciliation must be treated from a global perspective, applicable to any condition of the employee, whether or not he has children or older adults in his care. Time for oneself is also the ultimate goal of work-life balance, but breaking away from the extreme centrality of work is everyone’s mission.

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