Balancing Work and Family

Balancing work and family responsibilities has become increasingly difficult to achieve for the majority of working families today. Few employers have family-friendly programs and policies in place to help employees. More than ever, union leaders must help their members balance work and family responsibilities.

The Importance of Work/Family Programs

Women who, in the past, held families together by working at home are now in the paid labor force.

• Women represent 47 percent of the total U.S labor force and are projected to comprise 55 percent of the increase in total labor force growth from 2002-2012. 
• Today's families are more likely to be headed by dual-earner married couples or by a single parent who works. 
• Nearly 75 percent of mothers with children under the age of 18 work for pay. 
• Almost 54 percent of women with children younger than a year old are in the labor force. 
• With both women and men in the paid labor force, most families have no adult at home to care for children or elderly relatives. Working families need more control over their work hours in order to meet the demands of caring for their families. 
• Families are relying on child care that is often unaffordable; mediocre or low quality; or they face difficulties in finding child care to match their hours of work. 
• For parents with school-age children, there are not enough reliable and/or affordable after-school care programs for the hours when parents are at work and children are out of school. It is during this time that children engage in the most risky behaviors, such as sexual activity, alcohol and drug use, and juvenile crime. 
• One-third of the American workforce is now providing informal care to a relative or friend age 50 or older, or has provided such care at some point. Workers need flexibility to handle their work and family responsibilities. Without it, working caregivers may be late, leave early or not come to work at all. 
• Seventy-two percent of unpaid caregivers are women who make accommodations in their daily schedule to provide eldercare. Nearly two-thirds of these women work full or part-time. 
• Studies have shown that employers who offer flexible work schedules and family- friendly personnel policies for their workers, save in terms of productivity and turnover.
  
  

Steps to Achieving Work/Family Programs

A more detailed discussion of the following steps is contained in the AFSCME publication, AFSCME Guide to Winning Work/Family Programs.

• Discuss the issue at union meetings and in your newsletters. Membership education is an important way to build support for work/family programs. 
• Form a work/family committee within the union. 
• Use a survey to identify the problems members have in balancing work and family responsibilities. 
• Identify problems for management, such as low productivity, absenteeism or tardiness. 
• Review disciplinary actions to determine if employees have been disciplined for problems related to child care or eldercare problems. Identify top management officials who may have child care or eldercare responsibilities because they may be supportive of work/family flexibility programs. 
• Review the contract and employer policies to determine what, if any, programs currently hinder or help parents and caregivers. 
• Determine the best options to meet the needs of your workplace. 
• Analyze the information and prepare a report of your findings and discuss the strategies you will use to win benefits.

Publications:

AFSCME Guide to Winning Work/Family Programs

The Family and Medical Leave Act: AFSCME's Comprehensive Guide for You, Your Family and Your Union

Choosing Quality Child Care: An AFSCME Guide (While supplies last.)

Eldercare: An AFSCME Guide for Families and Unions

AFSCME Education & Leadership Training Department

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Washington, DC 20036
(202) 429-1250
Fax (202) 429-5088
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Last updated 7/20/07