This paper provides novel evidence on the effect of family-friendly firm policies on satisfaction and working behavior of parents. The focus of this study is on two specific firm policies: Childcare support and flexible working hours. We exploit the fact that since the mid 2000s an increasing share of employers react to their employees’ needs by offering a family-friendly work environment. These changes over time allow us to identify causal effects of the two family-friendly policies. Our estimation is based on difference-in-differences and lagged-dependent-variable strategies in a panel dataset on families with young children in Germany (FiD). The panel models are combined with matching to decrease potential bias arising from observable factors correlated with the offer of family-friendly policies and the change in the considered outcomes. We find that for mothers childcare support strongly increases satisfaction related to childcare and additionally raises life and job satisfaction. Particularly middle and lower educated mothers increase their working hours when childcare support is offered. These effects are partly driven by the usage of childcare, but also seem to be a result of accompanying changes in the work environment. Flexible working hours only affect mothers’ work satisfaction, but do not seem to change behavior and family related satisfaction. Fathers show nearly no reactions to either childcare support or flexible working hours. Childcare support seems to be a truly family-friendly practice and valued by mothers, while this is not so clear for flexible working hours.
Presented by:
Verena Lauber (University of Heidelberg)
Date & time:
March 18, 2015 1:00 pm - March 18, 2015 2:00 pm
Venue:
Large Seminar Room (2N2.4.16)
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