Work-Family Conflicts

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  • Woman working on a laptop with baby using a tablet in the foreground and older child at a table in the background, photo by recep-bg/Getty Images

    Commentary

    How the Coronavirus Changed the Childcare Debate

    Policymakers have long had evidence that childcare enables mothers to work. What the COVID-19 pandemic taught everyone is how the lack of childcare can be a disastrous constraint.

    Jul 26, 2021

  • Mother working on a laptop while holding her baby, photo by monkeybusinessimages/Getty Images

    Commentary

    Helping Mothers Return to Work Is a Gender Equality Issue

    Employers and policymakers play a crucial role in ensuring that women are not unnecessarily disadvantaged when they have children. Policies such as access to family leave, job protection, and childcare options can play a large role.

    Jan 21, 2021

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  • RAND Weekly Recap

    Blog

    Taiwan, Putin's Holy War, Mining the Moon: RAND Weekly Recap

    This weekly recap focuses on why China likely won't attack Taiwan anytime soon, Vladimir Putin's “holy war” in Ukraine, why it's time to make rules for space-mining, and more.

    Nov 25, 2022

  • Young Afro-Latina mother taking temperature of her child in bed, photo by Vesnaandjic/Getty Images

    Commentary

    Working Moms' Winter Math Is Getting Tougher

    Working mothers remain disproportionately responsible for raising children, and no one can work and take care of sick kids at the same time. In the coming months, the tripledemic of COVID, the flu, and RSV will pull a lot of working mothers out of the office for days at a stretch, compounding the obstacles that women already face.

    Nov 22, 2022

  • USCGC Richard Snyder takes part in Operation Nanook to enhance collective abilities to respond to safety and security issues in the High North, in the Davis Strait, August 13, 2021, photo by USCGC Richard Snyder/U.S. Coast Guard

    Commentary

    Putin's Actions in Ukraine Are Spilling North

    The decision of seven Arctic countries to suspend collaborative work with Russia in the Arctic is by far the most severe and consequential break in cooperation the region has ever seen. This breakdown of Arctic diplomacy could have several important impacts on the region and could potentially threaten the United States as well as its allies.

    Mar 30, 2022

  • A group of small school kids with teacher sitting on the floor in class, photo by Halfpoint/Adobe Stock

    Journal Article

    Building a Better Understanding of the Impact of Early Childhood Education and Care

    This European Platform for Investing in Children research note examines the medium- and long-term impact of early childhood education and care provision on education and labour market outcomes for children and parents, as well as the indicators employed for these measurements.

    Jan 27, 2022

  • Mother working at home on laptop while child looks at mobile phone, photo by Andor Bujdoso/Adobe Stock

    Journal Article

    Juggling Work and Childcare During COVID-19: How EU Member States Supported Working Families in 2020

    This report outlines existing evidence about the experiences of working parents and families in Europe during the COVID-19 outbreaks in 2020 and reviews the policies set out by 10 selected EU member states in response to these challenges.

    Jan 11, 2022

  • Lauren Hoffmann had to return to work when her son Micah was a few weeks old, due to lack of paid family leave, in San Antonio, Texas, February 6, 2019, photo by Callaghan O'Hare/Reuters

    Commentary

    Supporting Working Parents Could Accelerate Recovery

    Since the COVID-19 recession started last February, almost 3 million women have left the labor force. With vaccines rolling out, will they go back to work? There are several policies that could help.

    Jan 15, 2021

  • Woman works at home while her children play video games, photo by filadendron/Getty Images

    Commentary

    COVID-19 Gave Managers a Look at Our Home Lives. Will They Now Penalize Women?

    The pandemic gave managers a window into the struggles of working women. What will they do with this information? Will they accommodate women by making exceptions to their established norms? Or will they do the harder work of remaking their culture so women are no longer the exception?

    Dec 14, 2020

  • Woman working from home with young son, photo by ArtMarie/Getty Images

    Commentary

    Women Are Leaving the Labor Force in Record Numbers

    The economic downturn during the pandemic is affecting women workers measurably harder than men. There were 2.2 million fewer women in the labor force in October 2020 than there were last October. Investing in childcare and expanding labor laws could keep women employed and buoy the entire economy.

    Nov 24, 2020

  • Illustration of a diverse group of women, photo by Ada Yokota/Getty Images

    Commentary

    Sitting It Out? Or Pushed Out? Women Are Leaving the Labor Force in Record Numbers

    Added to long-standing challenges such as securing child care and combating pay disparities, the economic downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic has hit women workers measurably harder than men. The consequences highlight just how much policy has failed to keep up with women's progress.

    Oct 23, 2020

  • Mature Black women working on a computer at home, photo by Goodboy Picture Company/Getty Images

    Commentary

    National Security and Workplace Flexibility Aren't Incompatible After All

    For years, the U.S. Defense Department dismissed workplace flexibility as being incompatible with national security. But during the pandemic, flexibility became a matter of survival for all employers, including Defense. The question now is whether it will keep recent adaptations or go back to its rigid ways.

    Jul 17, 2020

  • Social distancing dividers for students in a classroom at St. Benedict School in Montebello, near Los Angeles, California, July 14, 2020, photo by Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

    Commentary

    Back to School: Working Parents Will Need Help from Employers

    Reopening schools would provide much-needed child care for parents who need to work, help feed 30 million U.S. children, and prevent further inequitable learning losses. But it also means exposing more kids to the virus. How can families and employers prepare for the disruptions that lie ahead?

    Jul 17, 2020

  • RAND Weekly Recap

    Blog

    Protests and Police Reform, Facial Recognition, Gun Policies: RAND Weekly Recap

    This weekly recap focuses on protests and police reform after the killing of George Floyd, facial recognition bans, gun policies that likely reduce deaths, and more.

    Jun 19, 2020

  • Mother working at home while caring for a toddler, photo by kate_sept2004/Getty Images

    Commentary

    Working Moms Are at Risk of Being Left Behind

    Being a working parent was hard enough before the pandemic. If COVID-19 intensifies the perception that parenting is at odds with work, then there may be devastating career consequences for working mothers.

    Jun 11, 2020

  • Mother with teenage boy working from home, photo by martinedoucet/Getty Images

    Commentary

    Reopened Offices Won’t Mean Back-to-Normal for Caregivers

    As some workplaces start to reopen and work-from-home guidelines relax, corporate leaders may hope things will quickly get back to normal. But for employees who are also caregivers, that's likely not going to be the case.

    Jun 4, 2020

  • Naomi Hassebroek holds her son Felix while working with her husband Doug Hassebroek at their home, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brooklyn, New York, March 19, 2020, photo by Caitlin Ochs/Reuters

    Commentary

    Can We Emerge from COVID-19 with a Healthier Work Culture?

    American families want greater choices in determining how their work and their families fit together. Post-pandemic, can we create a system that fits workers? If so, we have the opportunity to emerge from this crisis with both healthier employees and better performing organizations.

    Apr 16, 2020

  • Seattle City Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda checks in to a council meeting by phone due to the council's temporary work from home policy during the COVID-19 outbreak in Seattle, Washington, March 23, 2020, photo by Lindsey Wasson/Reuters

    Commentary

    Parenting Through the Pandemic: Who's Working, Who's Caring for the Kids, and What Policies Might Help

    To help inform policy decisions that could help working parents affected by COVID-19, we examined the U.S. Department of Labor's Current Population Survey and recent coronavirus relief acts. Our review shows us what aid working parents might expect and what kinds of aid policymakers might consider going forward.

    Apr 8, 2020

  • Report

    Report

    2017 U.S. Air Force Community Feedback Tool: Key Results Report for Air Force Headquarters

    This report presents results from a self-reported needs assessment of airmen, spouses of airmen, and Air Force civilian employees intended to help leadership and service providers better address the major challenges that community members are facing.

    Nov 14, 2019

  • An older factory worker in a factory, with a younger male worker in the background

    Research Brief

    Nearly Half of Retirees Would Return to Work

    Overall, older workers report having more meaningful work and more workplace flexibility than their younger peers. Nearly half of retirees say they would return to work under the right conditions—and a large number already have.

    Nov 12, 2019

  • Illustration of traditional and nontraditional families, photo by ONYXprj/Adobe Stock

    Journal Article

    Leave Policies and Practice for Non-Traditional Families

    This policy memo provides an overview of the extent to which non-traditional families are taken into account by Member States in developing family leave policies.

    Aug 16, 2019

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