Unit A- Blog 4

A good family life consists of having time with your family, being healthy, having opportunities to teach children and develop them to become successful and good human beings. When I think about what I want out of life when I have my own family, I think about a good environment near my siblings with a good neighborhood and school around. A good family life also means to be able to have a healthy family. It is also important to be able to support a family financially for both necessities and luxuries. With all that being said, it sounds a lot easier than it really is. To be able to afford healthcare, a nice neighborhood near a good school, healthy food, and luxuries you have to have a job and income. This is where it gets tricky.

The way our society has been structured is for the man to work and the women to stay at home and do “women work.” As we can clearly see, women are a strong part of the workforce now. In fact, almost 65 million women are part of the American workforce. On top of that, men are still a strong part of the work force too. Many women aren’t content to be “stay-at-home moms” anymore, and I think a lot of men don’t expect that as much as they use to. In order to fulfill a “good family life,” you have to have a balance between home and work. To balance home and work means to allow time for your family, but to also be an effective employee. This balance sways heavily on each side. Some individuals bring their work home and are stressed out or don’t give their family the full attention they need. Others go to work and are stuck on the phone to aide their children, they come in late, or have to leave work for an “emergency.” To have a true balance means to leave work at work and have a family life at home, to be able to spend enough time with the family to ensure health, safety, happiness and comfort. It also means to enjoy your career and be a successful and productive employee.

Some of the things that can make it difficult are the type of job someone has, the hours that are expected of the employee to work, their children’s schedule, their spouses schedule, if they even have a spouse, etc. Some of these examples have more weight than others. One woman talks about guilt playing a factor as well. If a parent has a strong work life, then they tend to feel guilty about not being able to fulfill the family side. This is very common with parents who are single as well.

Gender roles have also made work and family issues a little more difficult. Because our society had such a structured role for men and women, it has made it seem challenging to balance the two as these socializations have evolved. Since the women have become such an intricate part of the workforce, it has thrown things off. They previously were expected to send the children off to school and have dinner ready at a certain time. Men were expected to work all day and provide the money that puts the food on the table. One woman talked about how she wasn’t able to attend a certain event for her child that occurred at 9am on a week day. This type of scheduling has been socialized and assumed that a parent, the “stay-at-home mom,” would be able to attend, although she was not available because of her career. Jobs have also increased the hours of work that employees complete. With men and women both working these excruciating hours, it makes it hard for them to be there for their family. Back to the guilt thing too, women feel guilt for not being able to see their kids off to school and go to their events during the day because it has been such a social norm. Men don’t feel that because they haven’t had social expectations to fulfill these duties.

Employers can be sensitive to their employees’ family needs by reaching out to them. Employers need to understand what it means to have a family and to find out what will make it so their employees can have a true balance. In the video, Juggling Family & Work, they suggest many ways for employers to impact these issues. The companies can restructure. The number of hours that are worked need to be considered by the company. They suggest that unions, government, companies and the public find ways for our society to have shorter work weeks and better health benefits. Some companies even offer flexible work schedules. I thought the idea that Hewitt Packard had of shared job duties. They allowed two of their employees to share job duties equally, including with their supervisors and subordinates. This allowed for the mothers to attend to their families, but also allowed them to complete their work, without having too much of a work load. Some companies have a flexible schedule where they can work Monday through Thursday, allowing more time for their family. Others have experimented with telecommuting. I think flexible work schedules are a great idea, but I also think companies have to be cautious. It is great for moral, but does it hurt productivity? Some companies offer day care at work, which allows parents to see their little ones when they have breaks and immediately when they get off. There are certainly benefits and negative things that can come from these.

Having a supporting cast such as family, coworkers and friends always makes life easier. Many families and friends rotate who watches each family’s kids, which allows some free time and relax time. Having the support of companies shows value and keeps the employees moral up. That should ultimately lead to better results and production. When you have these types of support it makes home life better as far as happiness, but it also assists financially as well. It truly helps maintain an even balance.

That’s the ultimate goal right?