Pros and Cons of Work

As a child, I’ve seen my parents focused the majority of their time and energy at their work to provide for our family. In 2000, the U.S Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics had recorded that working couples with children under 18 years of age worked an average of 66 hours a week compared to couples without children, who worked an

Studies suggest that when the number of children in the home rise, and as the age of the youngest child decreases, there are more conflicts within the family. In establishing relationships with children, parents struggle to manage work and family, including having insufficient time to completely focus on both the necessities of work and family (Cichy, Stawski, & Almeida, 2012). Due to new job obligations, MJ experiences work stress independently, enhancing personal and financial stressors. There can be an adverse effect between job security and father-child relationship due to fathers striving to secure careers so they are able to provide for their family. As personal stressors are experienced more regularly, so are perceptions that one’s work obligations increase negative effects on their family life (Minnotte, Pedersen, & Mannon, 2013).

Work-life balance has been a popular topic for employees across all age and occupations for years, representing a rising concern of contemporary human resource management and labor policies. This topic has attracted the attention from the millennium generation, who is stepping into the market and beginning to grow a career. Therefore considering the increasing demand, well-designed workforce planning with diverse scheduling options offered to employees appears to be extra credits for most companies. This research paper aims to communicate the positive effects of four-day workweek, and providing support for why employers should adopt this schedule for employees and themselves through 1) introducing background and history of four-day workweek as a work schedule option and 2) demonstrating benefits of four-day workweek from both employer and employees’ perspectives.

Both men and women hope to be parents someday, and both recognize the importance of working and parenting. While some are confident leaving their children with a nanny for extended periods of time, most students portrayed a desire to be financially stable and have time to cultivate memories with their family. They then went on to say that both parents would have to work at least part-time in order to make such a family dynamic work for the benefit of

According to Statistics Canada, the amount of two parented full time working families has gone up 17% since the 1980’s. As a result of such an outcome, more employees in larger and smaller based companies are finding it harder to keep up with both risen work loads and home life necessities, which in turn have caused more absentees in the work place. The reason being for this is due to

Workaholism is a disorder that has ruined the lives of many individuals. The need to work can over shadow and dominate a person. Workaholism is a disorders that is driven by the person themselves. Shifron (1999) writes that the disorder itself not only dramatically affects the person but “also negatively affects the individual’s entire family system and society. This disorder dramatically takes a toll on the person’s mental and physical ability to deal with everyday reality. A workaholic may even fantasize about work during leisure time and family events (Snir, 2008). To a workaholic their drive to work is viewed as a gift or luxury to their loved ones. But in reality working is an escape from the problems, hardships, and insecurities a workaholic has. In this article workaholism is shown as a disorder that can easily ruin lives ranging from the workaholic to those in close proximity. Workaholism can easily be noticed and employers should take the necessary steps to help a workaholic out of their habits. Plotrowski and Vondanovich (2008) suggest that employers “encourage workaholics to participate in counseling.”

Society heavily influences our work agenda, often times pushing a human to the brink of wanting to just hit the easy button and move back in with their parents at age 50. Most people float through life thinking that the only way to be successful is to work the hardest and keep moving forward; however, to achieve success in any endeavor, a person must fail. These such failures can be the epitome of someone's success. Under it all, there is an art to the simplicity of living the easiest life possible.

Parents must work long hours and cannot be helped because a family must provide food on the table for their family. In jobs today they will force one to work over time and sometimes not even pay. Look at this example, “ Wal-Mart blames unpaid overtime on individual department managers, insisting that such practices violate company policy” ( Olsson 613). If parents did not have to work such long hours maybe their parents would have time to cook a homemade meal for their children instead of them going out to eat. By parents cooking for their kids the kid learns that that is the norm and will cook for their kids and for generations

The labor force of the United States has changed drastically over the last forty years. According to the Department of Labor, in 2012, 64% of woman with children under the age of six are in the labor force. While only 34% of mothers were working in 1970 (Gullekson, Griffeth, Vancouver, Kovner, & Cohen, 2014). Furthermore, in 1974, 80% of kids under the age 17 were cared for by a parent (Morrissey & Warne, 2011). Given this dramatic increase of mothers in the workforce, there is a considerable amount of time missed by the working parent. On average, American working parents miss nine days of work per year and that number increases to thirteen as the child moves through daycare and into elementary school. Breakdowns in childcare cost businesses three billion dollars annually (Shellenback, 2004). Given these staggering numbers the demand for reliable and affordable childcare has never been bigger.

Well, my parents went to work every day to provide for my brother and I and we had everything we ever needed. We lived in a nice house, had a dog, and I never went without. I was able to dream about the future and the possibilities that were out there for me to seize. With that being said the first topic I would like to discuss with you is the issue of childrearing. If you look at the US over the last 50-100 years within the scope of childrearing you will find a common theme. The “normal” house consists of a father who leaves every day to go to work and provide for the family and a mother who stays home to take care of the children and the house. This has been a standard of living in the US for a very long time. A recent article published by the Pew Research Center states: “While most stay-at-home parents are mothers, fathers represent a growing share of all at-home parents – 16% in 2012, up from 10% in 1989. Roughly a quarter of these stay-at-home fathers (23%) report that they are home mainly because they cannot find a job. Nearly as many (21%) say the main reason they are home is to care for their home or family. This represents a fourfold increase from 1989, when only 5% of stay-at-home fathers said they were home primarily to care for family” (Livingston 2014). This is interesting in many ways. Less than thirty years ago the number of stay at home dads was drastically lower. One might say that the only reason that these dads are staying home is because they cannot find work outside the home. The statistics disprove this theory. While it is true that some have suffered from a shaky economy, many are home because they choose to be. 23 percent say that they are home due to the fact that they cannot find work. 21 percent are home by their own choosing. This is hard to understand for most people. Globally it is accepted that the place of the man should be

We know that balancing work and family life produces stress and guilt, not to mention the uncomfortable conviction that one day your child will cry to a therapist about how the babysitter nursed them through the chicken pox”(1). This quote is explaining how trying to balance work and family can cause stress, especially when children are involved. Children can effect parents at work and at home. Work can impact children needs and relationships between them and parents. In, “The Child’s View of Working Parents”, Daniels and Galinksy write, “Parents who have well work environments, who come home in a better mood and with more energy to invest in their children, have kids who fare better.

Being a mother is a full time job because as a mother you need to be around your child all the time. Even the father plays a similar role but nothing can ever come close to the nurturing capabilities of a mother towards her child. However, the present trends reflect that most parents are generally engaged in professional jobs where they need to devote a certain amount of time. Irrespective of the professional commitments that parents have, they must also give time to their children and take care of their responsibilities.

Arne Ken is a distinguished professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina. Eileen Appelbaum is a senior economist at the center of economics and Policy Research, and is a an awarded author. In this case study, they analyze the high commitment that comes with being a full-time working parent. It’s critical for full-time working parents to be organized and follow routines that accommodate for their busy schedules both in and outside of work. Organizational practices like making lists or planning out schedules ahead of time are usually inherited by people who work in highly organizational jobs themselves. Also, parents have to keep their time in mind when scheduling activities or doctor’s appointments and other events because of how tedious and strict their schedules already are to begin with. Parents working only part time or in highly-skilled professions don’t have to deal with these kinds of problems as often because it’s easier for them to ask for a day off or leave during their shift. Ken, Appelbaum, and Berg all have degrees in social sciences and supported their argument and conclusion with evidence from the case study they performed themselves. Such a study with little room for error due to its precise yield and careful practice leaves little room in general for a bias that may have risked the accuracy of the results. This source is quite different from the ones I have found before because it analyses specifically the necessity of organization and planning ahead that full-time working parents have to master. Because this source brings in a totally new perspective to the balance of work and play, it would strengthen my argument and its legitimacy

"Work" is a positive thing for many people. To some people, it may be described as a place to escape from the kids, or even a time consumption thing for a single or retired person, but most importantly it is what we do in order to provide for our families and ourselves. Work is something that we all will experience at one time or another during our lives.

Mothers are very passionate about their choice to work or stay at home with their children. This is a heated debate about what is best for children and who is the better mother. Just in the last generation more mothers are choosing to work, which is also sparking some conflict in families where grandparents felt it was important to stay at home with their children. This paper compares and contrasts both sides of working and being a stay at home mother. While there is no right or wrong answer to the work and family dilemma, it’s important to understand both sides.