Transition to fatherhood and adjustments in working hours: The importance of organizational policy feedback
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20377/jfr-946Keywords:
fatherhood, working hours, policy feedback, organizational change, work organizations, working time normsAbstract
Objective: This study investigates whether the normalization of the use of the family-friendly workplace policy flexiplace in the organization affects men’s adjustments in working hours following their transition to fatherhood.
Background: Men’s stable full-time employment after childbirth remains to be a barrier to the equal distribution of care and paid work. Recent research suggests that state family policies promoting dual-earner/dual-carer family models can involve new norm setting of active fatherhood, albeit so far with only modest consequences for fathers’ working hours. Unclear is, however, whether family-friendly workplace policies, such as flexiplace, and involved organizational policy feedback are of complementary importance.
Method: We estimated fixed-effects regression analyses on men's adjustments in actual and contracted hours after a transition to fatherhood. Analyses are based on linked employer-employee panel data (2012/13; 2014/15; 2018/19) from large German work organizations, considering a random sample of 1,687 men in 131 work organizations.
Results: Findings revealed that the normalization of using flexiplace in the work organization was associated with a reduction in men’s overall working hours as well as marginal adjustments in their contracted hours after transitioning to fatherhood.
Conclusion: Although a normalization of flexiplace is more likely in demanding workplace contexts, men experience at least some leeway in adjusting extensive temporal investments to cater to private demands.
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