Reassessing the family friendly workplace: trends and influences in Britain, 1998-2004

This report examines changes in the incidence and distribution of family-friendly provisions in British workplaces, based on the Workplace Employment Relations Survey 1998-2004 Panel. Overall, we find a number of reasons for optimism about the ‘familyfriendly workplace’ in Britain. There has been a marked, although not uniform, increase in the incidence and comprehensiveness of familyfriendly provisions (FFPs) between 1998 and 2004. The largest increases occurred among workplaces with relatively few provisions in place in 1998. By 2004, family-friendly provisions were no longer significantly more prevalent in public sector workplaces. Large workplaces and those with more female employees had a higher incidence of provisions. Although provision is no guarantee of effective implementation, increased comprehensiveness provides a basis for the extension of entitlements and the acceptance of work-family policies as part of normal management practice. There are however also indications of a widening disparity in access to family-friendly provisions between male and female dominated workplaces. Increased incidence of family-friendly provisions in private sector workplaces was positively associated with managers’ perceptions of improved financial performance over the time period, demonstrating that increasing provisions are compatible with improving financial performance