Work-life Balance: Learning from Maternity and Parental Leave Policies in Six Western European Union (EU) Countries

The purpose of this paper is three folded. First, the paper discusses the emerging concept of work-life balance from the perspectives of maternity and parental leave policies. Second, the paper presents a comparative analysis of the implementation of maternity and parental leave policies and laws in six western European Union (EU) countries—Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. Third, the paper describes the current state of paid maternity and parental leave practices in the United States. Finally, the paper concludes with implications in HRD research and practices. Integrative literature review was applied as a research method. The study reveals that literature addressed the work-life balance concept in several terms such as flexible working hours, women and minorities empowerment, and support from the supervisor. However, no discussion was found in relation to maternal and parental leave policies as one of the components of balancing family and professional life. The paper addressed the issue and presented a comparative analysis on maternity and parental leave policies and practices vary across these six western EU countries. In some EU countries, maternity allowance depends on the previous employment, or in some cases, on social security contributions, and it is typically paid by the public health insurance funds. In most member states, women must have worked and paid social security contributions for a certain period to become eligible for the maternity allowance. Findings also include the current manner of these kinds of leave policies in the United States.LimitedThis a working paper, waiting for publication