The Responsive Workplace

Book excerpt: As the American workforce has changed in recent years to accommodate an increasing number of working parents, the workplace itself must also adapt. Sheila Kamerman and Alfred Kahn, two of the most respected authorities on work and the American family, explore in this study the ways in which the workplace has responded to social change. They examine innovations in the workplace as well as enduring concerns--fringe benefits, day care and other services, and employers' policies at the workplace. And, they assess employers' adequacy in assisting parents of young children to manage simultaneously their work and family roles. In doing so, Kamerman and Kahn separate over-optimistic "wish lists" from reality, and mere claims of certain effects from observed results. They also look at some critical benefits and services in detail, delineating which are useful and practical. The authors consider whether a workplace-based pattern of provision will meet everyone's needs and, if not, what alternatives are possible. While endorsing a serious role for employers, they stress that government must also take a role in respect to families of working parents.