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Work from home has become as regular as the traditional commuting system after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous studies have discussed the influence of working at home on the work–family interface. However, there is limited understanding of how diverse workforces manage their work–family issues with various family-friendly policies. This study aims to bridge this research gap by examining the collective influence of work conditions and family-friendly policies on work–family balance.

A survey experiment featuring two working conditions (work from home or commuting) × four family-friendly policies (household subsidy, family-friendly supervisor, financial profit, paid leave vs no policy) was approached based on 703 valid responses in China.

The results indicate that family-friendly policies are more effective under the work-from-home condition than the commuting condition, household subsidies and financial profits are considered more helpful for work–family balance under the work-from-home condition and employees’ policy preferences depend on personal identity and work conditions, which help them maintain work and family issues concurrently.

This study explores the joint impact of work conditions and family-friendly policies from a situational perspective. This study indicated that professional organizations need to perform delicacy management considering policy preferences. Moreover, changing working arrangements help employees facilitate their work–family balance.

At the end of this chapter, learners should be able to:

• Discuss the origin of family-friendly policies.

• Explain the different types of family-friendly policies.

• Explain the importance of family-friendly policies.

• Explore the financial implications of family-friendly policies.

• Understand how to calculate leave payment.

• Explain possible limitations of family-friendly policies.

Discuss the origin of family-friendly policies.

Explain the different types of family-friendly policies.

Explain the importance of family-friendly policies.

Explore the financial implications of family-friendly policies.

Understand how to calculate leave payment.

Explain possible limitations of family-friendly policies.

The purpose of this paper is to take cognisance of the work–life balance (WLB) challenges facing working women in Oman, make a review of the family-friendly policies (FFPs), related provisions in labour laws of various nations, and identify and suggest some FFP-based solutions for attracting women to private sector jobs.

Initially, desk research was used to review the labour laws of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and some pioneering countries known for their workplace policies using the major electronic databases and official websites. An exploratory approach was used to understand the lived experience of participants using 46 in-depth interviews. The data were analysed and the findings were explained and contextualised in terms of the Arab culture, wider social processes and consequences related to WLB.

The interviews revealed that the majority of women in the private sector are not fully aware of the labour laws and FFPs, and are not satisfied with the existing policies, as they do not provide the right WLB. Women in the private sector demand flexible working hours, privacy at work, reduced work hours and certain other benefits akin to the government sector. Omani Labour Law needs a review of FFPs in line with the best global practices and Oman’s diversification initiatives. The provision, awareness and implementation of FFPs in the workplace are necessary to attract Omani women to private sector jobs.

This research focusses on Oman in particular and GCC countries in general in its coverage of Omani women workers. The outcomes would be important for the specific segment but would have limited potential to generalise.

The study of WLB and FFPs is of interest for both academia and industry globally. In its strategic vision 2040, Oman aims to encourage, support and develop the private sector to drive the national economy. To retain and boost the socio-economic development in the post-oil economy, the success of the private sector will depend on the participation of the Omani workforce. The role of working Omani women will be pivotal, for they form a substantial part of the skilled human resources inventory.

Women working in Oman are influenced by labour laws, organisational culture, traditional attitudes and societal values and influences. The voices of women working in the private sector indicate a great need to create awareness of existing policies, ensure their compliance and devise additional workplace policies to enable women to contribute to the labour market.

There is a dearth of studies examining work policies and employment of women in the context of Oman in particular and the GCC Countries in general. Even in the extant literature, the sectoral imbalance between the government and private sector has not been explored from the perspective of WLB and FFPs. This study presents a unique approach and findings in this regard.

The objective of the study is to identify the themes of “family friendly practices” and to perform a literature review. The research aims to identify the emerging trends in the area of “family friendly practices” by carrying out an exhaustive literature review.

The study synthesizes the literature between the years 2010 and 2019. First of all, 150 research articles were identified by keyword search, bibliography and citation search, out of which 57 research articles were selected on the basis of the most sound theoretical background and maximum literature contribution. The citation analysis method was performed on these studies in order to study the journals, authors by using Google Scholar, ResearchGate, the international database Science Citation Index and SCImago Journal Ranking.

The author citation count shows that the research topic is still getting recognition and the research in this area is increasing. The finding of the research is that the current research in family-friendly practices has focused mainly on seven topics: availability and usability of family-friendly policy, job satisfaction, organizational performance, supervisor or manager support, work–life conflict, employee turnover employee retention and women’s employment.

The study may provide valuable inputs to the HRD practitioners, managers, research scholars, to understand the recent trends in the field of family-friendly policy. As per the best knowledge of the author, this is the first study on family-friendly practices using citation analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to address the factors influencing the performance and productivity of Qatari citizens in organizational settings, with specific aims to maintain a high-quality performance standard in Qatar's labor market.

The author applies job performance theory to explain the dynamics within organizational settings. Primary sources were utilized, and data was collected from a 2017 Qatari national survey using simple random sampling.

The results indicated associations between sociodemographic characteristics and work-related factors and job performance. As compared to their male counterparts, female employees reported lower job performance. Working in a private organization was associated with lower job performance as compared to working in the government sector. An older age (>50 years) and working in a family friendly organization was associated with higher job performance.

The approach used in this study contributed to a richer understanding of employees' positions in the Qatar workforce; yet, there are several methodological limitations in cross-sectional survey design. Further contributions to this research gap could include a wider scope of geographical locations within the Arab Gulf states with diverse industries; employing a robust experimental investigation, thus creating causation between the intervention and research outcomes.

The originality of this article lies in the micro-level model that recommends state-directed interventions to create family-friendly organizational cultures to assist in the retention of high-performing employees.

This study seeks systematically to investigate the extent to which the documented aims of formal work‐family policies are being achieved at the level of individual employees.

Consistency between policy and practice in the case study organization was explored via an analysis of organizational documents which described work‐family policies and 20 interviews with employed women with dependent children.

Results show that the use of flexible work arrangements was consistent with aims related to balance and productivity. However, women’s experiences and perceptions of part‐time employment conflicted with policies aiming to support the same career opportunities as full‐time employees.

The nature of the organization and its policies as well as certain characteristics of the sample may limit the generalizability of findings to other sectors and groups of employees.

The research highlights the need to assess whether work‐family policies are experienced as intended, a process which may contribute to future policy development and assist human resource specialists to promote genuine balance between work and non‐work responsibilities.

The results inform the current understanding of how organizational policy translates into practice.

The purpose of this article is to explore the impact of life cycle stage, specifically parenting stage, on work‐family conflict among working parents to determine whether discernible differences are evident among those individuals at the early stage of their parenting cycle compared with those with older children.

An explorative study was undertaken among parents employed within the Irish hotel sector. The questionnaire was distributed to 22 hotels and 76 individuals who reported having children responded. A number of measures were used to assess the impact which a number of factors, namely job stress, job involvement, managerial support and colleague support, may have on working parents' work‐life conflict. Correlation and regression analysis are performed to test the hypotheses proposed.

The research findings provide initial support for the possibility that the factors influencing work‐family conflict differ for each of the parenting groups analysed. For all parents with dependent children it was found that job involvement, job stress and colleague support all have predictive powers in terms of explaining the antecedents of work‐family conflict.

The findings provide a compelling case for the need to begin to address work‐family conflict in a more holistic manner, examining both the immediate and long‐term consequences for employees with childcare responsibilities.

The ability to design and implement specific, targeted responses to employees' work‐life needs is an area where HRD can make a real and significant contribution. Strategic HRD has the potential to reduce the misappropriation of organisational resources by ensuring a focused and targeted response, thereby minimising the fruitless pursuit of “one size fits all” approaches to this complex issue.

The paper seeks to lay the first key foundation‐stones in framing the debate in relation to work‐life balance in terms of the entire working lives of individuals and not just specific snapshots during the course of that employment. The paper is critical of current organisational thinking in relation to employees' work‐life balance needs and challenges HRD professionals to begin to examine this important and complex issue in a more holistic manner.

Paid parental leave for both mothers and fathers has fed countless debates. Four years after the implementation of a new parental leave policy in Quebec, this paper aims to assess how parental leave is perceived in the workplace.

Using data from employee surveys carried out in a municipal police service, the paper employs analysis of variance techniques to compare the perception of parental leave within two groups of respondents: those who had gone on parental leave and those who had not.

The findings highlight significant differences between the perceptions of parental leave entertained by the respondents who have taken it up and those who have not yet experienced parental leave.

Analysing these differences has produced extremely interesting findings: adopting a public policy is not sufficient; organisations need to make employees feel supported in taking parental leave if they really want the policy to achieve the targeted results.

Paid parental leave is relatively new in Europe and almost non‐existent in North America and few studies have been carried out to measure their perception in the workplace. This research shows how important it is to follow the use of the policy to make sure that it does not have negative impacts for those who use it.

The past few decades has seen the proliferation of “family-friendly” policies incorporated into the workplace to promote the recruitment and retention of women for whom time to take care of families and elders has been primary. Despite the increase of women in high-level professions, many organizations have cultures that still do not support work-life integration. We propose a paradigmatic shift from family-friendly policy development and solutions focused on compliance transactions – to what we call “strategic organizational development and transformational change.” We take the argument one step further and suggest three powerful organization intervention strategies to build the culture's capacity to accomplish the business strategy, while weaving work-life integration into the DNA of the 24/7 culture.

To explore the failure of equal opportunity policies to counteract the barrier of children for women in management by considering male and female managers’ views on work culture, family division of labour and childlessness.

Thirty Australian managers (19 male, 11 female) were interviewed as a follow up to a larger study in 1996, in order to extend inquiries around the issues of children, childlessness and senior management aspirations.

Managers acknowledge the impediment that children are to a woman's career path. They also have an awareness of patterns of delayed childbearing and potential childlessness. This awareness is confirmed through first hand experience in the families and at work. Managers also use a language of sacrifice and loss regarding their own or others’ failure to partner and procreate, as well as some reference to freedom and lifestyle. Furthermore there are diverging discourses on company loyalty and company greed given in relation to competing family loyalties and obligations. Finally, acknowledgement of gendered inequality (and some blindness to it) is indicated by both male and female managers.

Although based on a small sample from one country, the findings do imply that it is unwise to assume that women committed to a career do not want children. The option of having both is not made easy.

Family policy for senior management should continue to be considered.

Recognition of the complexity and diversity of attitudes to children, family and work contributes to a critique of overdrawn notions of types of women (Hakim, 2001).