How Do Employers Respond to a Policy Reform of Parental Leave? A Focus on Fathers and Companies From Economy Sectors With Traditionally Lower Take-Up Rates

The paper explores the perceptions and management practices regarding parental leave among a specific group of employers: those likely to have low parental leave take-up among staff. We conducted qualitative interviews with employers in 18 Luxembourg-based companies of sizes and economy sectors wher...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of family issues 2023-12, Vol.44 (12), p.3089-3116
Main Authors: Amjahad, Anissa, Valentova, Marie, Maas, Roland
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Companies
Fathers
Parents & parenting
Reforms
Work life balance
Work organization
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The paper explores the perceptions and management practices regarding parental leave among a specific group of employers: those likely to have low parental leave take-up among staff. We conducted qualitative interviews with employers in 18 Luxembourg-based companies of sizes and economy sectors where low take-up is most prevalent. We explored how leave requests, employees’ absences and their return after parental leave are managed and how employers deal with the recent reform of parental leave policy. The results show that employers try to minimize the cost of fathers’ absence from work by negotiating over the timing of take-up and the form of leave to be taken. Parental leave is preferred over other work–life balance measures because it is perceived as a short-term and timely arrangement during a career. In this particular group of employers, parental leave is also viewed as more compatible with work and organization processes than other measures.
ISSN:0192-513X
1552-5481
DOI:10.1177/0192513X221126751