The Responsive Workplace: Employers and a Changing Labor Force

As the American workforce has changed in recent years to accommodate an increasing number of working parents, the workplace itself must also adapt. Sheila Kamerman and Alfred Kahn, two of the most respected authorities on work and the American family, explore in this study the ways in which the workplace has responded to social change. They examine innovations in the workplace as well as enduring concerns--fringe benefits, day care and other services, and employers' policies at the workplace. And, they assess employers' adequacy in assisting parents of young children to manage simultaneously their work and family roles. In doing so, Kamerman and Kahn separate over-optimistic "wish lists" from reality, and mere claims of certain effects from observed results. They also look at some critical benefits and services in detail, delineating which are useful and practical. The authors consider whether a workplace-based pattern of provision will meet everyone's needs and, if not, what alternatives are possible. While endorsing a serious role for employers, they stress that government must also take a role in respect to families of working parents.

Sheila B. Kamerman and Alfred J. Kahn are professors of social policy and planning at the Columbia University School of Social Work, and codirectors of the Cross-National Studies Research Program. They are the authors of many books including Child Care, Family Benefits, and Working Parents and Maternity Policies and Working Women (with Paul Kingston), both published by Columbia University Press.