Reducing Work-Life Conflict: What Works? What Doesn't?

4.3 Work-Life Conflict and the Decision to Have Children

Statistics Canada (2004) reported that in 2002 Canada's crude birth rate (the number of live births for every 1,000 people in the population) fell to an all-time low of 10.5 live births for every 1,000 people. Several things are notable about this number. First, it is the lowest crude birth rate since vital statistics began to be produced nationally in 1921. Second, it means that the Canadian crude birth rate has dropped 25.4% in the last 10 years alone. Third, it represents the 11th decline in the past 12 years.

Examination of Canada's fertility rate, an entirely different measure, provides a similar picture. Fertility rate estimates the average number of children women aged 15 to 49 will have in their lifetime. Canada's fertility rate in 2002 was 1.50 per woman, which is only marginally above the record low of 1.49 set in 2000 but far below the replacement fertility rate of 2.1 (Statistics Canada, 2004). While women aged 25 to 29 had the highest fertility rate, their fertility rate has decreased 24% since 1990 as more women are delaying their first pregnancies into their 30s. In 1983, women in their 30s and older accounted for only 14% of live births to first-time mothers. By 1999, this proportion had more than doubled to 32%. This section of the report looks at the link between declining birth rates and work-life conflict. It does so by looking at the responses given to two questions in the survey:

• I have had fewer children because of the demands at work.
• I have not yet started a family/decided not to have a family because of my career.

Demands at work influence women's decisions with respect to having children

One in four Canadians who responded to this study indicated that they had fewer children because of demands at work. A further 28% indicated that they had delayed starting a family/decided not to have a family due to the demands at work.

As can be seen by looking at Figure 52, decision making around having children is associated with gender and job type. The following observations can be made with respect to this issue:

• Women, regardless of job type, are significantly more likely than men to say that they have followed a strategy of having fewer children because of the demands of their work and that they have delayed having children/decided not to have a family because of their career.
• Women in managerial and professional positions are more likely than women in other positions to say that they have had fewer children because of the demands of their work (29% versus 23%) and that they have delayed having children/decided not to have a family because of their career (37% of the female managers and professionals in the sample gave this response versus 24% of the females in other positions).

It would appear that many women managers and professionals perceive that motherhood and career advancement are not compatible goals. The section below, which links these two strategies with the various forms of work-life conflict, supports these perceptions. Employees who cannot balance work and family are more likely to choose not to start a family

Not surprisingly, employees without children who cannot balance work and family are more likely to agree that they have decided to delay or not have a family because of their career. The relationship between two forms of work-life conflict, role overload and work-to-family interference, and the decision to start a family is identical and very straightforward. Men and women with high levels of role overload and work-to-family interference, regardless of the type of job they work in and their dependent care status (they may have elder care), are more likely to say that they have decided to delay starting a family than their counterparts with lower levels of conflict. The difference in role overload between someone who uses this coping strategy and someone who does not is Δ +0.6. Similarly, the difference in work-to-family interference between someone who uses this strategy and someone who does not is Δ = +0.7.

Employees who have decided not to start a family report lower levels of family-to-work interference

The decision to not have children pays off for women. For example, women without dependents who have decided not to have children report significantly lower levels of family-to-work interference (Δ = -0.3) as do female managers and professionals (Δ = -0.4) and females in other positions (Δ = - 0.3) who use this strategy. No such impact was noted for the men in the sample.

Employees with high levels of caregiver strain are more likely to decide not to start a family

There is a significant positive association between the decision to have children and caregiver strain. In both cases, men and women with high levels of caregiver strain were more likely to say that they had decided not to start a family. In the gender by dependent care analysis, the difference in caregiver strain between the men (Δ = +0.5) and the women (Δ = +0.4) who used this strategy is worthy of note. When job type is taken into account, the difference in caregiver strain between men and women who used this strategy and those who did not was identical and substantive (Δ = +0.7).

This suggests that governments that wish to increase birth rates need to help employees cope with role overload, work-to-family interference and caregiver strain.

Figure 52: Relationship Between Work-Life Conflict and Decision to Have Children
a. Had Fewer Children Because of Job Demands

Figure 52: Relationship Between Work-Life Conflict and Decision to Have Children
b. Have Not Started a Family/Decided Not to Have a Family Because of Career

Figure 53: The Relationship Between Work-Life Conflict and Limiting Family Size
a. Role Overload

Figure 53: The Relationship Between Work-Life Conflict and Limiting Family Size
b.Work-to-Family Interference

Figure 53: The Relationship Between Work-Life Conflict and Limiting Family Size
c. Family-to-Work Interference

Figure 53: The Relationship Between Work-Life Conflict and Limiting Family Size
d. Caregiver Strain

Employees with high levels of work-life conflict cope by having fewer children

Men and women who are overloaded and experience higher levels of work-to-family interference cope with these stressors by deciding to limit their family size. Employees with high family-to-work interference and caregiver strain are also more likely to adopt this coping strategy. The relationship between all four of these forms of work-life conflict and the use of this coping strategy is fairly straightforward when gender and dependent care status are taken into account. Men and women who are overloaded (Δ = +0.7), who perceive that their work interferes with their family (Δ = +0.8), who find that their family interferes with work (Δ = +0.5) and who experience high caregiver strain (Δ = +0.3) are more likely to limit their family size. The relationship is not, however, as straightforward when job type is taken into consideration (Figure 53). The key observations that can be made with respect to the relationship between family size and work-life conflict are:

• This coping strategy is associated with increased levels of role overload in both men and women. The increase is larger for men and women in other positions (Δ = +0.6) than for male and female managers and professionals (Δ = +0.5). This suggests that the higher the level of overload experienced by employees, the more likely they are to reduce their family size as a way to cope.
• This coping strategy is associated with increased levels of work-to-family interference for both men and women. Again, we can see that the difference in interference between those who use and those who do not use this strategy is higher for those in other jobs (Δ = +0.8) than for managers and professionals (Δ = +0.7). It should be noted, however, that the relationship is very strong for all the groups included in the study.
• This coping strategy is associated with increased levels of family-to-work interference for both men and women. Again, we can see that the difference in interference between those who use and those who do not use this strategy is higher for those in other jobs (Δ = +0.6) than for managers and professionals (Δ = +0.4).
• This strategy is associated with increased caregiver strain for both men and women. Again, we see that the increase in caregiver strain between those who use the strategy and those who do not is higher for those in other jobs (Δ = +0.5 for men in other positions and Δ = +0.4 for women in other positions) than for those in management and professional positions (Δ = +0.2).

Taken as a whole, it appears that limiting family size makes more of a difference with respect to the work-life balance of those in managerial and professional positions than their counterparts in other positions.