1. The Hungarian Family-friendly Workplace Award
Carmen SVASTICS
and
Zsolt NEMESKÉRI Ph.D.
6-7. October, Enna, Sicily

2. Content Short Introduction The Concept
The Family-friendly Workplace Award
What is Family-friendliness?
HR in the 21st Century
Experiences
The Future
6-7. October, Enna, Sicily

3. 1. Short introduction - Hungary
Large scale structural changes since 1989
Employment rate - Female: 50.9 (EU25: 56.3) Male: 63.0 (EU25: 71.2)
Unemployment rate - Female: 7.5 (EU25: 9.6) Male: 5.0 (EU25: 7.6)
Economically inactive:
Students:~30% Male/Female
Pensioners: 31% - early retirement, persons with reduced working ability etc.; Female: 43%, Male: 57%
People on parental leave:~10%; Female: 98.3% Male: 1.7%
others
Part time employment - Female: 6.1 (EU25: 32.6) Male: 2.9 (EU25: 7.3)
Horizontal segregation: professions dominated by men: ~52%, professions dominated by women: ~30%, gender balance in ~18%
Wage gap: ~11% (?)
Child-care: créche (8.4 places/100 child), kindergarten (121.6 place/100 child)
Summary:
Women work mainly full time with indefinite contracts
Women are either inside or outside the organised labour market – big difference
Long parental leave (up to 3 years with little compensation)
Women aged with at least 1 child have the lowest employment rate in EU
Multiple disadvantages: in the country, low level education, age, many children, single parent families, roma ethnicity

4. 2. The concept
6-7. October, Enna, Sicily

5. Family-friendliness/work-life balance
Background:
Best Workplace Hungary research etc.
6 out of 10 employees are concerned to fit the expectations from both the family and the workplace
Upper management work per week: ~40h: 3%; 40-49h: 23%; 50-59h: 54%; 60-80h: 20%
Inflexibility affects both men and women but men are more content with their situation
Childcare is a general problem but it affects mainly women’s career
Flexibiliy in working time and working place is the biggest need
Young people starting out on a career have growing expectations of work/life balance
There is a significant difference between average worplaces and workplaces where family-friendly initiatives are introduced
6-7. October, Enna, Sicily

6. ... it is easy/difficult to introduce... because it affects:
Employment policy
Family policy
Social dialogue
Corporate social responsibility (CSR)
Organisational development of companies
Human resources management
Equal opportunities/gender equality
Empowerment
6-7. October, Enna, Sicily

7. 3. The Family-friendly Worplace Award
Given by the government since 2000
Altogether almost 500 applicants so far
Continuously growing expectations towards the applicants
4 categories: small, medium size and big companies + public authorities and NGOs
Evaluating committee:
ministries, National Committee on Social Dialogue, Committee on Gender Issues, chambers of industrial relations
Winners:
4 award winners + special prizes
Prize: certificate, PR objects, the right to use the logo for a year
6-7. October, Enna, Sicily

8. 4. What is family-friendliness?
Working time (various models, transfer, career opportunities, overtime, public transport etc.)
Training (equal opportunites, time, place, cost, making use of various subsidies etc.)
Reintegration after parental leave (keeping contact, career planning, flexible work arrangements, child-care etc.)
Child-care facilities (financial and in kind support, opening hours, summer vacation etc.)
Allowances in money and in kind (family occasions, extraordinary situations, housing, health, recreation, insurance, board etc.)
Safety at workplace (rights, collective bargaining, health check, barrier free environment, equal opportunites plan etc.)
Events at the workplace (involving the family, school breaks, summer job for students etc.)
6-7. October, Enna, Sicily

9. 5. HR in the 21st Century Top 8 Challenges/Opportunities
Being the Employer of Choice
Winning the War for Talent
e-Learning and Development
Think Globally, Comply Locally
Flexible, Adaptable Organizations
Workforce as a Profit Center
HR as a Strategic Partner
Technology as a Facilitator
6-7. October, Enna, Sicily

10. Being the Employer of Choice
Main challenges
Creating attractive corporate culture
Using HR branding as a weapon
Understanding the new workforce
Celebrating diversity
Effective work/life practices
Create long term relationships with employees, customers, suppliers
6-7. October, Enna, Sicily

11. Work/Life Balance 87% of workforce has family responsibility
78% say work/life balance job a priority
Telecommuting – work is time driven, but no longer time bound
6-7. October, Enna, Sicily

12. 6. Experiences
After the evaluating committee decision – analysis
University of Pécs, Faculty of Adult Education and Human Resource Development
More than 20 final projects since 2001
More than 500 applicant analyzed
Collecting new ideas, new management tools, new methods
6-7. October, Enna, Sicily

13. Research Findings - Working time
Opportunity to choose a part time job – 91% of applicants
85% of applicants actually employ workers in part time jobs
Rate of employees in part time positions – less than 15%
Generally the reason for choosing a part-time job is not even related to work-life balance issues
4 hours
6 hours
Female
Male
Big companies
67%
33%
69%
31%
Medium-sized companies
87%
13%
94% 6%
Small companies
100% -
80%
20%
Total
6-7. October, Enna, Sicily

14. Research Findings - Training and Development
Training as a family-friendly HR tool
65% of training activities are scheduled in working hours, costs are mostly covered by employers
Almost 50% of full-time employees ara involved in training & development, the same rate for part-time employees is only 4-5%
Working hours
Week-ends
Paid leave
Evening courses
Leave (without payment)
Flexible
Total
Big
companies
58%
12%
11% 3% 4%
100%
Medium-sized companies
79% 8% 1% 2%
Small companies
57%
14%
65% 9% 7%
10%
6-7. October, Enna, Sicily

15. Research Findings - Reintegration after Parental Leave
Applicants emphasize keeping contact with employees on a parental leave
The most important methods of communication: via personal realtions, social programmes
Family-friendly organizations involve employees on parental leave in training & benefit programmes
6-7. October, Enna, Sicily

16. Case Study
Institute of Adult Education and Human Resource Development, University of Pécs
public authorities and NGOs category – award winner in 2001
100 employees, 3500 students, HUF 1bn yearly budget
Three innovative tools in HR management
Working time harmonization / employee empowerment
New, innovative form of child-care
Paid leave for fathers (1 week, newborn babies)
One male employee on parental leave (role model)
6-7. October, Enna, Sicily

17. 7. The Future ‘Work and Life’ Audit Programme
Structural Funds – equal opportunities as a horizontal priority
2nd National Development Plan Human Resource Development Operative Programme
EQUAL Programme
6-7. October, Enna, Sicily

18. Thank you for your kind attention!
6-7. October, Enna, Sicily