The effects of family-friendly measures in the public service

Abstract

Some years ago, little thought was given to, or written about, Family-Friendly Measures. The reason behind that was because little need was felt for both parents to balance their time: men were usually the bread-winners while the women were the homemakers taking care of both the house and the family. Time has moved on and people's lifestyle changed too. The latter was caused by the need for people to maintain a standard of living or, in other cases, to improve it. The necessity for the couple to enter the work-force brought about many other requirements. The study attempts to determine the effectiveness of family-friendly measures in the Public Service. Out of fourteen family-friendly measures outlined in the handbook, my research focused on four of these family-friendly measures which are Reduced Working Hours, Parental Leave, Flexible Hours and Teleworking. In the questionnaire which I sent to a cross-section of Public Service employees in general service grades as well as carried out semi-structured interviews I examined what the negative and positive results of family-friendly measures are. The study throws light on what is preventing people from maximizing the use of these measures. Some pertinent recommendations were put forward in order to enhance family-friendly measures to what they are today.