Reconciling care and professional work

Combining work and parenting responsibilities — and more broadly: with the daily care of the family — can be a big challenge. Reconciling a caring role with professional work often means having to choose between job stability and career development and caring for loved ones. It is still mainly women who perform caregiving functions - and while statistics confirm this, this does not mean that men do not face similar difficulties in combining family and professional life.

The situation of families in Poland is also influenced by the migration context, especially after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. About 80% of the refugees are women and children, which further strains the care system and exposes its weak points. Although the modern labour market in many sectors is becoming more and more flexible, there is still a lack of systemic solutions and a work culture that truly supports parents.

Can programmes and reforms introduced by the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy improve the situation of carers and carers — and at the same time positively affect fertility in Poland? We check.

Report Family Care and Work 2022 (Responsible Business Forum, Diversity Charter)

Examination Family Care and Work 2022 consists of two parts: the first presents the results of surveys of the opinions of Poles and employers on combining work with care (February 2022), the second — estimates the potential costs and benefits of systemic changes and contains recommendations for different groups of decision-makers.

First of all, let's look at the background of care work in Poland. The results of the survey show that more than half (52%) of Polish adults up to the age of 65 have a caring role in their private life and this mainly concerns children. One in ten Poles takes care of an elderly, close person in need of permanent care and 4% care for a loved one with a disability/chronically ill close person. At the same time, let us remember that our society is an aging society, which additionally predicts a significantly increased need for care of the elderly in the future. It is estimated that by 2030 a total of 17.3% of single-person households will be run by people aged 80 and over. This forecast requires systemic changes.

Perspective of female and female employees

Family and caring for them are often daily challenges and the need to respond to emergencies. For working people, this often means interruptions in work, lack of continuity, stress and fear of losing their job. Meanwhile, families are the foundation of society — and like every worker, they deserve stable, dignified working conditions.

Socially and culturally, we have become accustomed to seeing women as “less attractive” in the labor market — because of the possibility of getting pregnant or taking a break from raising a child. Unfortunately, this approach is far from the respect and security that should be the basis of a well-functioning society. And what does the reality of care look like if we look at gender and division of responsibilities? Let's take a closer look at it.

According to the study, about 57% of people combining work with care had to stop their work duties during working hours for care reasons. In the case of childcare, women were more likely to be affected, while in the case of adult dependents, it was slightly more common for men.

Employers' Perspective

In Poland, more than 90% of companies do not carry out research that deals with care work, despite the fact that so many employees are affected. However, about 1/3 of companies have encountered problems faced by employees in combining work with childcare and/or adult dependents to the HR/HR department. More often, such problems are reported in large companies (employing more than 250 people), perhaps because they have more specialized HR departments. At the same time, comparing this with other results from the same survey, we can note the ambiguity of employers' approach to care work; nearly half of employers, or precisely 41% of companies in Poland, use facilities to support employees combining work with care of children and/or adult dependents. However, have we not stopped at a certain stage of activities as a company and the modern culture of the organization? It is worth noting that while 58% of employers consider current legislation supporting childcare to be sufficient, only 22% think so for the care of adult dependents.

Employers are often afraid of top-down regulations and changes introduced for the “convenience” of the employee. This is the result of a media narrative that often demonizes values as basic and natural as caring for the family. Meanwhile, this attitude does not serve the organization itself - employees who see that the company supports a caring role are more willing to apply for it, and those already hired work more calmly, more efficiently and leave less often, which reduces turnover and stabilizes the team.

Media narratives

Unfortunately, care work is still often undervalued or simply overlooked — both in terms of its value and the challenges that come with it. Often the mainstream media present the topic in a way that is not based on research, but on so-called anecdotal evidence — individual, overstated stories that have little to do with the everyday life of most caregivers. Characteristic of this narrative is the portrayal of families and people caring for children, the elderly or people with disabilities as inefficient workers or a burden on the system. Meanwhile, the data show that more than half of Polish women and women do care work — devaluing their efforts is not only dishonest, but also a harmful narrative that compromises their own society.

Recommendations for action

Caregiving responsibilities are both rewarding and burdensome — 71% of caregivers are satisfied with them, but almost as many (69%) indicate their time consuming. The most stress is associated with caring for children with disabilities and adult dependents, which should be particularly taken into account by employers and legislators when designing support.

Building an organizational culture that promotes the combination of work with care by women and men is an important element of the modern culture of the organization. therefore Recommendations for Employers are:

• empathy and understanding,
• introduction and monitoring of indicators (leave entitlements, training, communication campaigns),
• showing in company practice that caring responsibilities are not a barrier to a career,
• ensuring full and easily accessible information on the rights and facilities of female and male employees,
• ensuring duplication of competences and sufficiently large human resources (not overloading other employees),
• Introducing/disseminating the solutions most preferred by employees, as far as possible in a given workplace,
• the possibility of leaving work on demand for a short time during the day, with the possibility of making up for the absence without loss of leave (without “penalties”),
• additional days off for caregiving duties,
• the ability to work from home,
• days off for adult care - as for children under 14,
• non-reduction of bonuses for redundancies used,
• the abolition of annual/periodic contracts and the offer of a second contract for an indefinite period (stabilization),
• funding for care services,
• shorter working hours for carers,
• the possibility of including elderly family members (seniors) in a paid package of medical care,
• subsidizing nurseries and kindergartens.

Programs of the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy

The Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy (MRPips) implements a number of programs aimed at facilitating the reconciliation of work with caring responsibilities and supporting people in need of care — both children and seniors or people with disabilities. Parents can benefit from the “Active Parent” program, which offers funding to care for their child — regardless of whether it is provided by a nanny, grandmother or grandfather. The support is supplemented by a care allowance, which is payable in situations where it is necessary to take personal care of a child up to the age of 8.

At the same time, the ministry is carrying out activities for the elderly, such as the “Care 75+” programme, which aims to increase access to care services for seniors aged 75 and over. For people with disabilities, there are, among others, the “Care and Housing Centres” program, which provides adequate care and support in daily functioning, and a support service, which aims to help in independent living and social integration.

All these initiatives have a common goal: to build a system that supports carers and dependents, enabling them to live a dignified, safe and active life, However, additional recommendations are needed:

• increasing the amount of time available for care,
• introduction of solutions to support adult carers, such as care leave,
• reducing disparities in access to care leave for women and men,
• flexibility in breaks from work enshrined in the law,
• simplifying the system of leave granted to parents after the birth of a child,
• financial support of employees-guardians, i.e. primarily allowances and surcharges,
• effective enforcement of existing rules,
• organisation of nursing care and counselling,
• ensuring the right to care points,
• co-financing of services and facilities,
• conduct within the framework of an active labour market policy,
• dissemination of telehealth instruments,
• increasing opportunities for higher, postgraduate and vocational education in the care professions.
• conducting an active policy of attracting new people to work in this profession, including foreigners,
• Raising wages in the long-term care sector.

summary

Combining professional work with caring responsibilities is a daily routine for more than half of Polish adults. While these responsibilities are often rewarding, they are also a source of stress, time strain and job instability — especially for women. Poland is aging and the care system needs to adapt to the growing needs of families: both those with young children and those caring for the elderly or with disabilities.

Report Family Care and Work 2022 points out that despite growing awareness and some good practices, there is still a lack of a comprehensive approach: both on the part of the state and employers. The Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy implements programs such as Active Parent, Care 75+ whether Care and residential centers, However, broader reforms are needed — from labour law, to financial support, to organisational culture and media narrative.

System Solutions can realistically improve the living conditions of carers and carers, increase the professional activity of women, stabilize the labour market and... positively influence fertility. But only if they are designed with the real needs of families in mind — and with the voices of those who try to combine work and care every day.

Sources:

1. https://odpowiedzialnybiznes.pl/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/FOB_Opieka-rodzinna-i-praca.pdf
2. https://www.gov.pl/web/rodzina/pracowite-ministerstwo-pracy2
3. https://www.gov.pl/web/rodzina/program-opieka-75
4. situ https://niepelnosprawni.gov.pl/#:~:text=Minister%20Rodziny%2C%20Pracy%20i%20Polityki%20Spo%C5%82ecznej%20og%C5%82asza,Programu%20%E2%80%9ECentra%20opieku%C5%84czo%2Dmieszkalne%E2%80%9D%20og%C5%82oszonego%20w%202024%20r.
5. https://www.gov.pl/web/rodzina/swiadczenie-wspierajace
6. https://www.gov.pl/web/rodzina/zasilek-opiekunczy#:~:text=Zasi%C5%82ek%20opieku%C5%84czy%20przys%C5%82uguje%20ubezpieczonemu%2C%20gdy%20konieczne%20jest,w%20rodzaju%20stacjonarne%20i%20ca%C5%82odobowe%20%C5%9Bwiadczenie%20zdrowotne%2C