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	In US, firms offer: 78% childcare services 60% flexible scheduling 20% eldercare 9% on site daycare Types of alternative work schedules: FLEXIBLE WORKING HOURS In 1991, less than a third of all employed Americans age 18 and over worked 'traditional hours'. Less educated women are more likely to be employed in jobs (mostly service jobs) with non-traditional working hours TYPES OF FLEXIBLE WORKING HOURS (FLEXTIME) Part-time work with pro-rated benefits -voluntary reduced work or more unpaid vacation Compressed work-weeks Job sharing Work at home arrangements (flex place) Phased retirements FLEXIBLE WORKING HOURS Flextime is a system in which employees choose their starting and finishing times from a range of available hours. Flexibility is growing--the trend is found in nearly all countries Flexibility, for firms, can be the use of part-time or temporary workers Flexible working hours are offered by 40% of US businesses Alternative schedules compressed work week- same number of hours, fewer days job sharing voluntary reduced work hours (work days or vacation days) phased retirements Part-time work with pro-rated benefits 1 in 7 in Europe work part-time (most are female) highest in Northern Europe lowest in Southern Reasons for part-time work Personal family responsibility Undergoing education/training Pros additional opportunities to work Can enable family incomes to be supplemented Can allow work to be fitted in with family responsibilities Cons Often lower paid Often must pay for own skills training and updating More difficult to get promotions Affects the ability to purchase on credit Difficult to develop pensions LEAVE PROVISIONS Special family related leave Personal sick leave for family Extended maternity leave Adoption leave Pre-maternity leave Paternity leave Other parental leave MATERNITY LEAVE There are particular physiological demands associated with pregnancy and confinement. It is widely acknowledged that there needs to be measures that recognize the biological role of women in conceiving and giving birth to children to prevent the role from becoming a source of discrimination against women matters of employment. International Labor Organization promotes the right to maternity leave, the right to medical benefits and the right to income replacement during leave. Leaveshould be provided up to six weeks before confinement and for the six weeks following confinement (total of 12 weeks). Countries have differing laws regarding maternity leave (see charts). In many cases, collective bargaining enables men and women to receive better maternity and paternity benefits. There is a real concern about the overprotection of women. Long absences for maternity leave pose serious problems for organizations--particularly smaller organizations. Maternity leave should not be used to compensate for poor child care problems. Lengthening maternity leave beyond reasonable limits might jeopardize a women' chance s of resuming an active life and coming an effective part in an enterprise or in the economy in general. PATERNITY LEAVE Several countries grant new fathers a short period of leave at the time of birth to enable them to take care of other children, attend to the registration of thechild, assist the mother and become familiar with the infant, It is either provided as a separate measure or included in a compassionate leave. SUPPORT SERVICES 1. On site daycare 2. Elder care provisions CHILDCARE ASSISTANCE Concerns about children and childcare are a constant backdrop to workers' business days Studies have shown that in 84% of families with 2 parents, both work; for single parent homes, the statistics are higher. Moreover, 45% of children under the age of one year are in childcare while the numbers rise to 62% of all children 6 years old and younger. In dual career families, fathers are as stressed as mothers about childcare men are reluctant to speak of family entered concerns at work. The availability, affordability and accessibility of good child-care has a bottom-line impact. Lack of quality child-care leads to employees': Absenteeism Tardiness Distraction Stress related health problems Positive results are employees': Reliability Good morale Motivation Family Leave throughout the world Forms of child care assistance Per employee dollar benefit Pretax income for payment for childcare Subsidized at pre-approved places On-site programs Referral list of local day care facilities that meet with certain standards Consortiums of daycare Eldercare Aging is a world-wide trend In the US, in 1900 there was only a 7 % chance that a 60 year old would have a living parent, not it is 44%. There are dramatic increases in people over 80 who are likely to suffer from one or more chronic disabilities Older people (sometimes retired) are often caregivers. In US and Canada elderly care givers are typically daughters and daughters in law. In Europe, both sons and daughters tend to be caregivers. The changing status of women as the traditional role of caregivers of older family members has reduced the number of caregivers available to look after the elderly. A growing proportion of care givers are currently working and will continue to work. In many families, there are more parents than children. Countries vary on how the consider eldercare. In some cases, governments take responsibility for the elderly, in others it is left to the individual. In both cases the aging population has led to concern about how both governments and individuals will be able to take care of their elderly. Already millions of working adults are juggling the competing demands of caring for a chronically ill or disabled parent, raising a family and managing a career. In the US, it is estimated that at least 7 million Americans are caring for a parent at any one time and between 1/3 to 1/2 of these caregivers are employed outside the home. This figure, however, is not reflective of the number of lost days and hours due to children taking time-off to care for their elderly parents (arranging for care, taking parents to doctors, taking care of sick parents, etc.). Indeed, it is estimated that, eventually, 12 percent quit their jobs to provide care full-time. Types of assistance for eldercare: Leave policies Fiscal advantages - tax relief similar to childcare Housing policies to allow elderly to stay in their own homes (government help with maintaining or modifying houses) Social security policies (cash payments) Community based support programs (Older Americans Act does meals on wheels, homemaker services, transportation and adult day care and home health programs) Private Sector approach has typically been to offer flexible personnel and leave policies.