Tools for Reconciling Professional and Personal Roles in Poland. Challenges and Barriers

Abstract

One of the key challenges faced by today’s workers is to live at an ever-increasing pace, which creates a conflict between professional and private life. This results from the extension and intensification of working time, the need for constant improvement of competences and, as a result, lack of free time for family life or rest. More and more companies are opting for specialised programmes to prevent imbalances between professional and private life (Work-Life Balance – WLB). However, the scope of solutions applied by Polish employers is not systematically examined. Therefore, the article reviews and analyses the applied solutions in the field of reconciliation of professional and personal life (including family life) in enterprises operating in Poland, as well as barriers and challenges of their implementation. Identified challenges of financial, legislative, organisational and cultural character limit the practical use of such mechanisms.