From Work-Family Balance to Work-Family Interaction

Chapter 4

Work–Family Balance: Does the Market Reward Firms That Respect It?

Wayne F. CascioClifford E. YoungUniversity of Colorado at Denver

Although many countries in the developed world have cut back the annual number of hours worked per person since the mid 1990s, Americans have headed in the opposite direction, adding an average of 58 hours to their annual total. The Japanese, by contrast, have cut an average of 191 hours. Unionized workers in France and Germany now work an average of 35 hours per week, and, according to data from the World Tourism Association, enjoy approximately 35 annual vacation days on average. By contrast, U.S. workers enjoy an average of 13 annual vacation days. To make matters worse, U.S. workers do not even take ...