This year’s
International Day of Families highlights the need for work-family balance. The aim is to help workers everywhere provide
for their families financially and emotionally, while also contributing to the socio-economic
development of their societies.
Current trends underscore
the growing importance of work-family policies.
These include greater participation by women in the labour market, and growing
urbanization and mobility in search for jobs. As families become smaller and generations live
apart, extended kin are less available to offer care, and employed parents face
rising challenges.
Millions of
people around the world lack decent working conditions and the social support
to care for their families. Affordable
quality childcare is rarely available in developing countries, where many
parents are forced to leave their preschool children home alone. Many young children are also left in the care
of older siblings who, in turn, are pulled from school.
A number of
countries offer generous leave provisions for mothers and fathers. Many more, however, extend few comprehensive
benefits in line with international standards. Paternity leave provisions are still
rare in the majority of developing countries.
Flexible working
arrangements, including staggered working hours, compressed work schedules or
telecommuting, are becoming more widely available – but there is much room for
improvement everywhere. I am committed
to this in our own organization, where we are currently looking at our own
arrangements, and seeing what we can do better.
We need to respond
to the ever-changing complexities of work and family life. I welcome the establishment of family-friendly
workplaces through parental leave provisions, flexible working arrangements and
better childcare.
Such policies
and programmes are critical to enhancing the work-family balance. These actions can also lead to better working
conditions, greater employee health and productivity, and a more concerted
focus on gender equality.
Work-family
balance policies demonstrate both a government’s commitment to the well-being
of families and the private sector’s commitment to social responsibility.
On this
International Day of Families, let us renew our pledge to promote work-family
balance for the benefit of families and society at large.
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