Integrating paid work and family work

Abstract

This qualitative study explores the nature and variation of parenting in the workplace (PIW) childcare practices in a purposive sample of 55 businesses that allowed employees to personally care for children at the workplace while simultaneously performing their job duties. Major findings indicate that although PIW occurred in a variety of industries and organizations of different sizes, the practice was limited to employees who held administrative type positions. Businesses supported PIW on an occasional basis for employees who experienced breakdowns in routine childcare arrangements or on a regular basis for employees who did not have continuing access to acceptable or affordable childcare. According to business representatives in this sample, the practice helped maintain worker productivity and decrease employee absenteeism but was supported only on the condition that employees accomplish work tasks and supervise well-behaved children. The author also considers what PIW might suggest about the relationship between paid work and family work in today's society. Because family and child well-being appeared to be secondary to business goals, theoretical and practice frameworks that align the needs of children and families with the needs of businesses should direct future research on parenting in the workplace. Insights about father involvement in PIW, implications of PIW for child development, and the potential of Border Theory and the Work-life Systems Framework to inform future PIW studies are addressed. © 2006 Taylor & Francis.