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Employer work -family programs: Essays on policy implementation, employee preferences, and parental childcare choices

Sally Jane Kiser, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Abstract

This dissertation examines a number of issues regarding employer-provided work-family programs. Chapter 1 provides a brief overview of the rise of employer-provided work-family programs and research in this field. Chapter 2 is a case study of the implementation of a model work-family program in a major U.S. corporation. It examines the degree to which this corporation succeeded in providing adequate information and equitable access to the various benefits and policies that comprised its work-family program. In analyzing the successes and failures of this organization, by extension I call into question the success of other large corporations in providing programs that are equitable in terms of employee wage level, race/ethnicity, and location within the organization. Chapter 3 models the decisions by dual-earner couples regarding the allocation of their own time toward childcare activities versus the time they purchase paid childcare services, using individual and joint parental time budgets as choice variables. First, I demonstrate a relationship between working non-traditional full-time day schedules that approximate those available through flextime programs and the staggering of time at home by working couples. Then, regression analysis establishes a relationship between the time budgets thus established and the allocation of childcare time among mother, father, and paid service providers. Data from the 1992 National Study of the Changing Workforce (NSCW) is used for this research. Chapter 4 examines the preferences of women who are members of labor unions for various work-family benefits and policies. Drawing again on the 1992 NSCW data, I explore possible explanations for similarities and differences between the preferences held by union women and men and union vs. non-union working women.

Subject Area

Families & family life|Personal relationships|Sociology|Labor relations|Labor economics

Recommended Citation

Kiser, Sally Jane, "Employer work -family programs: Essays on policy implementation, employee preferences, and parental childcare choices" (2001). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI3027219.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI3027219

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