Families, care and work facing the challenges of a globalized world: the role of companies

The work-family reconciliation is a fundamental theme in the political debate; the EU is in fact... facing a huge dilemma in terms of social policy: It requires to increase employment rates to ensure economic growth and sustainability of welfare systems, while also promoting social inclusion in a context characterized by high complexification, especially in intergenerational perspective. In this frame and according to a vision of Corporate Citizenship, companies are strategic actors in the process of lifetimes’ arrangement. The paper will present the results of a national survey carried out on behalf of the National Observatory on the Family aimed at identifying some company good practices of work-family reconciliation. Italian companies involved in the work-family reconciliation have been mapped with a quantitative methodology; then were identified some promising practices and case studies have been made. Using a complex methodology (both quantitative and qualitative) has been possible to reach an articulated judgment about the case studies analyzed and to highlight interesting elements, dimensions and dynamics of corporate and management culture. The analyses carried out generally disclose a strong coherence especially with corporate culture and the modality with which these values are translated on a daily basis into the reality of each company and in concretely implemented reconciliation measures; this reveals transparency in company processes and the communication modalities used. Finally the enacted reconciliation programs turn out to be well developed structured and coherent in their constitutive parts (preliminary analysis, ad hoc planning capability, realization, in itinere evaluation).