An EU funded study has highlighted the conflict between globalisation and the intensification of work loads on the one hand, and the need for parents to take time to care for their children on the other.

In recent years, both governments and companies have, to varying degrees, started to put in place policies to help employees maintain a 'work-life balance'. These policies can include rights to parental leave, childcare arrangements, flexible working hours and the opportunity to work part time.

The Transition project, which was funded under the Fifth Framework Programme's Key Action 'Improving the Socio-Economic Knowledge Base', looked at how young parents in seven European countries managed their work-family boundaries. The parents analysed were working in both public and private sector organisations.

The study found that despite the presence of official policies at both national and company level which are designed to help parents, in practice these are all too often undermined by conflicting workplace cultures and practices associated with intensification. Workplace restructuring and reorganisation, including downsizing and other initiatives aimed at increasing competitiveness and efficiency, tended to result in an intensification of workloads. This was experienced by parents across Europe and in both the public and private sectors.

The phenomenon of intensification conflicts with family friendly policies in a number of ways. For example, while flexible working hours can help parents integrate paid work and family life, in the context of intensification it can lead to blurred work-family boundaries and longer working hours which intrude into family time. Furthermore, heavy workloads resulting from intensification makes flexible working nigh on impossible for some. For example, parents are often reluctant to take family-related leave because their work is unlikely to be covered fully while they are away. Large work loads also make it difficult for managers to deal with family-related leave; if parents do decide to take leave, work is either passed on to other, already overburdened colleagues, or simply builds up while the parent is away.

A perceived absence of job security also puts many parents off claiming the parental leave that they are entitled to. In particular, many parents who had opted for part time work felt their commitment to work is questioned. The study found that, in practice, one of the most important factors in encouraging parents to take advantage of benefits is having a supportive line manager and colleagues.

Becoming a parent remains a critical 'tipping point' on the road to gender equality. Even in Norway and Sweden, the most egalitarian countries studied, experiences of motherhood and fatherhood are very gendered. Across Europe, most fathers still work full time, a trend which is reinforced by the fact that many managers believe pro-family policies are designed mainly, or only, for women. In the rare cases where, for practical reasons, the father is the primary carer while the mother goes out to work, both parents invariably experience gender identity tensions.

The study also identified certain groups of people who are currently effectively barred from benefiting from pro-family policies. For example, employees in direct client contact are less likely to have flexible working conditions than others. Many large companies and organisations now out-source work, particularly for unskilled jobs such as cleaning. As they are not directly employed by the organisation, these people have no access to entitlements and benefits the company offers its own staff.

In their recommendations, the authors highlight the need for governments, employers, unions and others to confront the contradiction between intensification of workloads and the needs of parents and children. Such a debate would necessarily have to ask bigger questions about European goals and values. For their part, employers need to put in place clearer practices and processes to help parents, including fathers, negotiate the work-family boundary successfully.

A book featuring some of the case studies from the project will be published later this year. Some of the partners from the project will continue to work together on another EU project, which will look at quality of life in organisations and family life across Europe.