Flexible working
arrangements:
a tool only for women?
Charles de Vries
Directorate
LGBT and Gender Equality
20 October 2011, Cracow
NL in EU top working women...
2
... and EU champion part-time work.
3
Women in NL work standard part-time...
4
... at an average of 24 hours per week.
5
Steadily growing female
labour market participation...
6
... after birthrate dropped
(and remained constant).
7
Less young mothers
retreating from the labour market...
8
... and the single earner making place
for the one-and-a-half earner.
9
Women increased their working time between
1975 and 2005; but what about the men?
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21
zondag
maandag
1975 man
10
1975 vrouw
dinsdag
1985 man
woensdag
1985 vrouw
donderdag
1995 man
1995 vrouw
vrijdag
2005 man
zaterdag
2005 vrouw
Although the number of part-time working men
has slightly increased…
11
… their working time per week
hasn’t diminished.
12
Preferences arrangements on
work life balance (INTOMART 2010)
13
Legislation for greater flexibility
of working hours
• Labour legislation
review of Health and safety act on obstacles for working from
home
• Working time adjustment act
changing contractual hours according to need of
employee (within possibilities of employer)
• Work and care act
flexible use of parental leave (within possibilities
of employer)
14
Employers
• Corporate Governance: ‘Modern employership’
• To encourage ‘family-friendly’ HRM policies:
- flexible working hours
- working from home
• More chances for women to work
• More chances for men to care
15
How to encourage employers?
• Legislation can be supportive, but can be dependent on
national industrial relations.
• To encourage by showing the business case...
- to keep present employees
- to be attractive for new employees
- more chances to recruit women and men
- contented employees perform better
- working from home gives higher labourproductivity per hour
- allows for flexible use of workforce
16
Thank you!
17