RECONCILING WORK AND ELDERCARE Informal and formal reconciliation

Faced with a historically unprecedented process of demographic ageing, many European societies implemented pension reforms in recent years to extend working lives. Although aimed at rebalancing public pension systems, this approach has the unintended side effect that it also extends the number of years in which working carers have to juggle the conflicting demands of employment and care-giving. This not only impinges on working carers ’ well-being and ability to continue providing care but also affects European enterprises ’ capacity to generate growth which increasingly relies on age-ing workforces. The focus of this paper will thus be a cross-national comparison of individual reconciliation strategies and workplace-related company policies aimed at enabling working carers t