The issue of work–life balance is becoming is attracting wider public interest in the Czech Republic, not only among human resources professionals and the social partners but also with respect to research activities. Research in the field confirms that the prevalence of traditional role division is still quite common in households in the Czech Republic, although several legislative steps have been taken in recent times to balance gender differences.
The Research Institute of Labour and Social Affairs (Výzkumný ústav práce a sociálních vecí, VÚPSV) has carried out research on parents’ abilities to balance childcare with their professional career, focusing on the limitations or discrimination, if any, facing parents with young children. The research also examines mothers’ views on this issue and employers’ efforts to provide options for work–life balance. The conclusions of the research, summarised below, come from three different projects undertaken in the second half of 2005 and at the beginning of 2006.
Gender role division in family
The research confirmed that the traditional division of gender roles still applies in most households. It seems that the woman is more involved in family life and will choose family over a career, as opposed to the man who tends to focus more on pursuing a career. Women primarily tend to look after the household and care for the children. In most households, both partners spend an equal amount of time with the children in their spare time (63% of families) and also make joint decisions on family financial matters (71% of families).
Some young couples rely on their own parents to help out in their attempt to harmonise family and professional duties; this is the case of approximately 75% of the families surveyed. Other families make use of institutional services such as day-care centres in order to combine work with family life. The availability of day-care centres and the ability to avail of such services play a significant role for women starting a job or returning to work following a period of maternity leave.
Working time arrangements
Traditional approaches and role stereotypes among men and women also define their professional relationships and the approach taken by employers towards employees who are parents of young children. In the Czech Republic, employers’ support for employees in their attempt to reconcile work and family life is not as positive as in the vast majority of western European countries. First of all, a large proportion of mothers with young children are compelled to return to full-time employment soon or immediately following their maternity leave. The range of flexible working time arrangements available in the Czech Republic is still limited; for example, in terms of options relating to reduced working hours, part-time hours and flexitime (for a European comparison, see the Foundation report on Parental leave in European companies – Establishment survey on working time and work–life balance 2004–2005).
Only a small number of jobs offer the possibility to work reduced hours. According to the research findings, however, this is not only due to a low level of interest from the employer side, but also because of a lack of interest from employees. This low level of interest in working reduced hours is frequently related to perceptions among parents of the disadvantages associated with such a working time arrangement, for example in relation to family perspectives and equal opportunities available to men and women in the labour market.
Benefits offered by employers
Three main forms of employee benefits offered by employers still predominate in the Czech labour market : time off for urgent family matters; financial contributions to cultural events and holidays (however, parents of young children do not have an advantage over other employees); and support to pursue further studies, of which women cannot avail before returning to work following maternity leave. The level of support offered by employers for day-care centres, as was the case prior to 1990, is almost entirely ignored by employers. Today, employers are not under any pressure to support such centres, and no new forms of childcare support have been developed so far.
Traditional role division among men and women is evident in the take-up of parental and/or maternity leave, despite the fact that several legislative steps have been taken to balance gender differences in this area. In this regard, the most significant step taken has been the introduction of parental leave also for fathers effective since 2001. This new possibility for fathers was meant to ease the situation for mothers of young children returning to work. In this way, it should be easier for mothers to reconcile work and family life by reducing their absence at work or business activities as a result of their partner taking over the daily childcare responsibilities. However, it is still not particularly common for fathers in the Czech Republic to take parental leave. Furthermore, fathers represent only about 1% of the total number of recipients of parental allowances.
Jaroslav Hála, Research Institute for Labour and Social Affairs