E-quality
E-quality,
kenniscentrum
voor emancipatie,
gezin en diversiteit
E-Quality via web conference guest speaker at conference on Work Life Balance
Catherine Bij de Vaate, policy advisor of E-Quality, the Dutch knowledge center for gender diversity and family issues, spoke live via web conference at the Conference 'Work Life Balance' in Malaysia, organized by eHomemakers and Gorgeous Geeks on July, 15th 2010.
Panel discussion
Catherine was invited to speak during the panel discussion on 'Policies to encourage work-life balance in the corporate sector'. She shared 10 minutes on the current situation and policies to encourage work life balance in The Netherlands. A speaker from Switzerland shared information about her country. Both speakers then answered questions from the audience.
Change in mentality
'Work life balance' should not be reduced to a feminine issue only. Catherine emphasizes the role of men especially fathers who want to have more time for their children. And the need for a change in mentality:
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at home (tackle the issue of unequal repartition of household tasks)
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within corporate organizations (challenge management culture emphasizing presence at workplace more than results for example)
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in society (still organized as if someone stays at home, see opening time of institutions or schools)
Work life balance
The Dutch system of leaves needs to be optimized, says Catherine. For instance the Dutch father leave (2 days) is shorter in comparison to the average length of father leaves in other European countries.
It seems that Dutch people mostly balance their lives using part time working - the so called 1,5 breadwinnermodel (one partner working fulltime - the other partner (mostly female) working parttime. To cope with the future ageing society, the resulting scarcity of labor and the demands of the new young generation, 'work life balance' needs to be redefined beyond the Dutch part-time model.
It seems that Dutch people mostly balance their lives using part time working - the so called 1,5 breadwinnermodel (one partner working fulltime - the other partner (mostly female) working parttime. To cope with the future ageing society, the resulting scarcity of labor and the demands of the new young generation, 'work life balance' needs to be redefined beyond the Dutch part-time model.
New ways of working
Initiatives in the Netherlands have emerged from the corporate sector, such as flexible working, mobile working, teleworking etc. Such 'new ways of working' ('Het Nieuwe Werken') have in common that they conceive work independently from time and location and are a big opportunity for the future. Such new ways still need to take into account the diversity in households (couples with / without children, single parents and singles) in education level and in different sectors.
In a knowledge economy, dealing with 'work life balance' has become a strategic issue for the corporate sector in term of competitiveness and productivity. For policy makers in The Netherlands, the challenge is to translate 'work life balance' into adequate policies.
July 15th 2010
