Is your work culture single-friendly?
For decades, employers have worked to create a work culture that is friendly to their employees with children. And why wouldn’t they? The norm had been to include children in one's life plan. Employers wanted policies in place that would attract and retain young talent, which, for so long, meant those that appealed to parents.
Times are changing. More young people are questioning whether having children should be in their life plan. Employers need to recognize that the policies they have in place for parents have zero appeal for the child-free. And often, makes them feel undervalued because employers have no corresponding benefits for the child-free.
In 2007, Wendy Casper, David Weltman, and Eileen Kwesiga conducted a study examining the perceptions of single employees regarding how their workplaces supported their work-life balance compared to their colleagues with children.
A singles-friendly culture was defined as “the shared assumptions, beliefs, and values regarding the extent to which an organization supports integration of work and nonwork that is unrelated to family, and the degree to which equity is perceived in the support an organization provides for employees’ nonwork roles, irrespective of family status.”
One stated goal of the study was to develop a measure of a singles-friendly culture with the following five dimensions:
Social inclusion. The degree to which there are similar social expectations and opportunities for single child-free employees and employees with families.
Equal work opportunities. The degree to which work opportunities, like promotions and assignments, are allocated without respect to family status.
Equal access to benefits. The degree to which there are similar opportunities for single child-free employees and employees with families to access workplace benefits.
Equal respect for nonwork roles. The degree to which similar value is placed on nonwork roles for all employees.
Equal work expectations. The degree to which there are similar work expectations for all employees, regardless of whether they have children.
The study demonstrated that this measure could be used to identify a culture that is singles-friendly.
The results showed that single employees perceive less equal treatment with respect to non-work support than employees with families. A 2022 Resume Lab study showed that child-free employees continue to hold this perception. Employers have a long way to go to implement equitable policies for the child-free.
One of the reasons I started CFW2 was to raise awareness about the need for there to be equity between employees with children and those who are child-free. Of concern for employers, perceptions of unfairness can lead to counter-productive behaviour in employees.
This research reinforces the need for employers to focus on creating policies that child-free employees will perceive as equitable and supportive of their equally important non-work needs.
Alysia Christiaen
Creator of CFW² and a child-free woman.
