Emerging Psychological Risks related to OSH.European Agency for Safety and Health at Work

8 – 9 April, 2008 Brussels

Prof. Dr. Nuria Chinchilla, IESE Business School 

WORK – LIFE BALANCEWORK – LIFE BALANCE

W

F S

• Women in business

• International careers

• “Never-ending”

workdays

• Women in business

• International careers

• “Never-ending”

workdays

New ContextNew Context

4

Ooohh now, of course: What are you doing Gonzalez?!! What are you doing Gonzalez?!! But every time Gonzalez took work to do at home, no one came to ask me: What are you doing Gonzalez?!!

WomenWomen in the labour in the labour marketmarket

  1994 2005 % increase

Spain 31 51 67%

Ireland 40 58 45%

Italy 35 45 28%

Netherlands 53 66 25%

Greece 37 46 24%

Luxembourg 44 54 21%

Belgium 45 54 21%

Portugal 54 62 13%

Finland 59 66 13%

France 52 58 12%

Germany 55 60 8%

UK 61 66 8%

Denmark 67 72 7%

Austria 59 62 5%

Sweden 68 70 3%

United States 65 65 1%

EU (15 countries) 49 57 16%

(Eurostat)

Causes of the work & family Causes of the work & family

conflictconflictParticipant

sExperts

Timetable incompatibility (school / work) 1º 5º

Lack of company policies to help work and family balance

2º 3º

Working pressures 3º 4º

Family responsibilities 4º

Few kindergarten 5º

My own way of balancing work and family 6º 1º

Housework 7º

Lack of support from my boss and colleagues 8º 2º

Time I lose because of the traffic jam 9º

Lack of punctuality and/or not enough public transport

10º

Variety and quantity of social roles 11º

Which are your priorities in life?

17,517,3

14,5

11,7

10,9

10,2

9,3

7,2

5,4

3,7

0,0

2,0

4,0

6,0

8,0

10,0

12,0

14,0

16,0

18,0

relationship with children

relationship with husband

relationship with parents

professional project

commitment with company

relationship with f riends

personal world

relationship with colleagues

relationship with boss

commitment with community

What criteria are important to you when making a

decision regarding your professional career?

7%

17%

18%

41%

68%

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Income increase

Opinion and career of spouse

Professional achievements/promotion possibilities

Level of interest/ challenge ofnew job

Balance betweenpersonal/familly and

professional life

How much do you agree with the following statements?

67%

31% 30%

22%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Sensación de doblejornada

Sacar familia sola Incomprensiónjefe/compañeros

Marido como pesoHusband as a burdenHusband/boss lack of understanding

Bearing alone the family burden

Feeling of “double workday”

Professional Reorientation

12%

27%

59%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Como autónoma Crear mi propia empresa En otra empresaAs a freelance Create my own business

In another company

How much support do you receive on your dual professional and family responsibility?

87%

36%

2%5%

12%15%

33%

6%

45%

16%

0%0%

5%

10%

27%

4%

66,50%

42%42%

22%

4%

29%

35%

58%

17%

30%

39%41%

49%

54%

74%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Apoyo emocional Apoyo profesional Apoyo educativo Apoyo doméstico

Husband Friends Parents Children Other family members Colleagues Boss Baby-sitters Maid

Emotional support Professional support Educational support

Home support

Two different approaches:

1)To adapt the whole life to one’s career 2)To adapt the career to one’s life

1) To adapt the whole life to one’s career

It has been a subtle—not explicitly chosen process, not

a deliberate decision

Low birthrate (below 2,1)

Mean age when first child is born (32

years)

Children’s education in the hands of

others

Divorce (one every 3 minutes)

Health problems (stress, depression)

High expenditure on tranquilizers

(more time off due to stress than to

maternity leave)

What is happening?What is happening?

BIRTH RATEBIRTH RATEThe European Birth rate is very low (1,5)

too far from the Generational Replacement Level:2,1 children/woman

and below the expectations of Europeans: 2,3

The best:Ireland: 1,99France: 1,90Finland: 1,80

Denmark:1,78UK:1,74

The worst:Greece: 1,29Germany: 1,3Spain: 1,32Italy: 1,34

Fuente: Eurostat. Elaboración IPF

Time´s Vicious CycleTime´s Vicious Cycle

CONFLICTS WORK STRESS

Less quantity and quality of time

Reduction offamily support

PERSONAL AND FAMILY LIFE CONFLICTS AND STRESS

20% 80%

SPILL-OVERFAMILY-TO-

WORK CONFLICT

SPILL-OVERWORK-TO-

FAMILY CONFLICT

NEW REALITYNEW REALITY

Go to the market , clean the sofa and wash the dishes, look for milk, hung the clothes, clean the dust from the TV, buy some soap and take out the dog for a while

WHAT WOMEN SAY:

WHAT MEN UNDERSTAND….

Go to the market , clean the sofa and wash the dishes, look for milk, hung the clothes, clean the dust from the TV, buy some soap and take out the dog for a while

VALUESVALUES

RESULTS

FAMILY Companionship,

harmony, respect,

confidence

WORK/ PLACEThe same

values

HAPPINESS/ QUALITY OF LIFE •Benefits

•Commitment•Productivity

FAMILY: is a SCHOOL of FAMILY: is a SCHOOL of COMPETENCIESCOMPETENCIES

CONVERGENCE OF IDEAS

Executing PLANS

Opening MARKETSCUSTOMER

SERVICE

MONITORING SUCCESS AND

MISTAKES FAMILY = SME

JOINT CAPITAL

CONTRIBUTION

“The real skills of leadership mirror the skills of effective

parenting”

“The fifth Discipline” P. Senge

1 Customer- orientation

2 Leadership

3 Integrity

4 Initiative

5 Teamwork

6 Communication

7 Business vision

8 Personal improvement

9 Decision making

10 Interfunctional orientation

Fuente: Cardona, P.; Chinchilla, N., García, P.: “Las competencias directivas más valoradas”, IESE, WP 01/4

Most valued Most valued management skillsmanagement skills

2) To adapt one’s career to one’s life

There are initiatives—in the firms and governments—that facilitate such

adaptation: family policies, flexible work arrangements,...

However, it is still very much a personal effort, even in the case of being eligible

for those arrangements.

What do we mean by What do we mean by ““success” ?success” ?

FracasadaFamosa

RealizadaModelo

+ Éxito objetivo -

UnsuccessfulFamous

Self- realizedModel Reference

+ Objetive success -

-S

ub

jeti

ve s

uc

ces

s+

What can we learn from people who are VERY satisfied both in their careers

and their lives?

1.- They align one’s work demands, one’s spouse’s demands, and one’s family situation.

2.- They re-asses their notion of career success, focusing on the “net gains”: career, family, personal life.

3.- They purposefully set boundaries that facilitate to meet expectations in each life’s domain.

To align one’s work demands, one’s spouse’s demands, and one’s family situation means:

To have a dynamic flexibility and re-assessment (not only in the company but especially at

home).

a) With one’s spouse: Who is doing what and when.

b) With one’s company: What are the options, and how can I access them. How to redefine the job. What is feasible. Dynamic

adaptation.

Companies’ destructive Companies’ destructive capacitycapacity

• Pollution in nature (ecology)• Pollution in society (human ecology) Double effect:

– Social (external)– Business (internal)

4 Levels of 4 Levels of development in development in

CompaniesCompanies

EnriquecedoraContaminante

BC

AD

EnrichingContaminating

BC

AD

Dis

cret

iona

lS

yste

mat

ic

EnriquecedoraContaminante

BC

AD

EnrichingContaminating

BC

AD

Dis

cret

iona

lS

yste

mat

icD No FR Policies

C Few policies

or

don’t really

use

them

B Have policies

and

put them into

practice

A Have a FR

culture

Elements of a Elements of a Family Responsible EnterpriseFamily Responsible Enterprise

Non-salary benefits

Family services

Professional support

Job flexibility

1. Policies

EstrategiaResponsabilidad

ComunicaciónLiderazgo

2. Facilitadores

StrategyResponsibility

CommunicationLeadership

2. Facilitators

3. Culture: Hindrances / Promoters

4. R

esults

W Emphasis W-F FocusReasons for W-F Policies

Employee is evaluated of the time

he or she works

Company is not responsible for

w-f balance

Legislation/ Marketing (eficacy)

Employee is evaluated in function

of the tasks completed and the learning obtained

Company sees that w-f balance is a real problem that should be taken care of

(Reactive)

Employee’s retention

(atractivness)

Employee is evaluated in function of his or her unique contribution in the

fulfillment of he companies’ project

Company is a real FRE

(Proactive)

Real employees’ needs (unity

in values)

An

thro

-p

olo

gic

al

Psych

o-

socio

log

ical

Mech

a-n

isti

c

1- Senior management commitment (budget included).

2- Work & Family coordinating committee.

3- Company diagnosis: self-diagnosis IFREI:

4- Family employees needs information.

5- Integral Balance Plan development.

6- Manual for Policies application.

7- Leadership of top managers.

8- Family values explicitly included in the corporate mission

( as new stakeholders).

9- Development of policies and processes.

10- Measure the use of policies to adjust and Benchmark.

http://www.iesedti.com/ifrei2006/ifrei.htm

10 Steps to become a FR company10 Steps to become a FR company

Argentina

Uruguay

Brazil

SpainPortugal

Colombia

Ecuador

Peru

Guatemala

Mexico

Philippines

Nigeria

European countries

IrelandFinlandDenmarkBelgiumItalyCzech RepublicFrance

Chile

KenyaEl Salvador

Venezuela

New Zealand

Singapore

IFREI in the WorldIFREI in the World

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

www.iese.edu/icwf