Transition to Parenthood in UK SMEs

英国中小企业向父母过渡

• 批准号: ES/W01002X/1
• 负责人: Bianca Stumbitz
• 金额: $ 61.98万
• 依托单位: Middlesex University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FW01002X%2F1
• 关键词: Transition; Parenthood; UK; SMEs

UK research on pregnancy and maternity related discrimination at work (Adams et al., 2016a,b) found that small employers had the lowest awareness about the rights of pregnant and newly maternal employees, and that they were least likely to provide options for flexible working. In the UK, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for 99.9% of the business population, three fifths of the employment and around half of turnover in the private sector . Whilst the research by Adams et al. (2016a,b) has highlighted the concerning extent of pregnancy and maternity related discrimination in differently sized UK workplaces, the study neither included specific recommendations on how to improve maternity support in SMEs, nor the experiences of new fathers. However, the management of new parenthood in SMEs is very different from large firms as SMEs are characterised by a number of key features, including resource scarcity and preference of more informal approaches to staff management. They often do not have a dedicated Human Resources department and no written maternity/paternity policies. SME owners/managers are also often more resistant to maternity/paternity protection regulations than large firms, fearing the time and costs involved. Our proposed study addresses an important gap in detailed knowledge on transition to parenthood in UK SMEs and is designed to have a direct impact on practice and policy as well as academic understanding of the management of maternity/paternity in SMEs. It is timely as it feeds into current/recent UK policy debates on parental leave, flexible working, and on how to support fathers in the workplace. However, while focusing on the UK, our project addresses a global problem: SMEs are globally under-researched although they employ the majority of (parental) workers worldwide.The project builds on previous research by including key stakeholders in the co-design of context-sensitive, low-cost and scalable solutions for effective management of new parenthood in SME workplaces. We adopt a mixed methods design, combining quantitative and qualitative elements. Specifically, data collection will include the following elements: 1. Employing a longitudinal and participatory approach, qualitative data will be collected on experiences in relation to pregnancy, maternity/paternity/adoption/shared parental leave, flexible working, breastfeeding and childcare support, and accompanied by an awareness raising intervention co-designed by (owner-)managers and employees. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with (owner-)managers and employees in three phases over a one-year period. In addition, focus groups will be conducted with a) prospective/expecting parents; b) co-workers to explore perceptions and experiences related to new parenthood and work; c) parents who requested flexible working.2. Two large-scale cross-sectional surveys of employees and employers working in SMEs to complement the qualitative data and more broadly explore attitudes, intentions, experiences and social norms around pregnancy, breastfeeding and childcare support, parental leave and flexible working for parents and the availability to and take-up by mothers and fathers to further inform academic and policy debates.Key outputs will include a final report, data-sets emerging from the different methods, an awareness raising toolkit with a focus on SME specific low-cost solutions, a video designed to support positive employer-employee interactions, and a series of factsheets and related short video documentaries. Dissemination, user engagement and impact activities will include a stakeholder engagement event and a one-day academic conference, presentations at academic conferences and publications in peer-reviewed journals. The sharing of findings will also be integrated from the start and involve a dedicated project website accompanied by regular blog posts and social media work.

英国对工作中与怀孕和生育有关的歧视的研究（亚当斯等人，2016 a，B）发现，小雇主对怀孕和新产妇雇员的权利认识最低，他们最不可能提供灵活工作的选择。在英国，中小企业占商业人口的99.9%，占私营部门就业人数的五分之三，营业额约占一半。虽然亚当斯等人（2016年a，B）的研究强调了英国不同规模工作场所中与怀孕和生育相关的歧视程度，但该研究既没有就如何改善中小企业的产妇支持提出具体建议，也没有提供新父亲的经验。然而，在中小企业的新父母的管理是非常不同的大公司，中小企业的特点是由一些关键的功能，包括资源稀缺和偏好的员工管理更非正式的方法。他们往往没有专门的人力资源部门，也没有书面的产假/陪产假政策。中小企业所有者/管理人员也往往比大公司更不愿意遵守保护母亲/父亲的规定，因为担心所涉时间和费用。我们提出的研究解决了一个重要的差距，详细的知识过渡到父母在英国中小企业，旨在有一个直接的影响，实践和政策，以及学术理解的管理，在中小企业的母亲/父亲。这是及时的，因为它为英国当前/最近关于育儿假、灵活工作以及如何在工作场所支持父亲的政策辩论提供了信息。然而，在关注英国的同时，我们的项目解决了一个全球性的问题：中小企业在全球范围内的研究不足，尽管它们雇佣了世界各地的大多数（父母）工人。该项目建立在以前的研究基础上，通过包括关键利益相关者共同设计上下文敏感，低成本和可扩展的解决方案，以有效管理中小企业工作场所的新父母。我们采用混合方法设计，结合定量和定性元素。具体而言，数据收集将包括以下内容：1.将采用纵向和参与性方法，收集有关怀孕、产假/陪产假/收养/共享育儿假、灵活工作、母乳喂养和儿童保育支助方面的经验的定性数据，并辅之以由（业主）管理人员和雇员共同设计的提高认识干预措施。半结构化面试将在一年内分三个阶段与（所有者）经理和员工进行。此外，还将与以下人员组成焦点小组：a）准父母; B）同事，以探讨与新的父母身份和工作有关的看法和经验; c）要求灵活工作的父母。对在中小企业工作的雇员和雇主进行两次大规模的横断面调查，以补充定性数据，并更广泛地探讨有关怀孕、母乳喂养和儿童保育支助、育儿假和父母灵活工作的态度、意图、经验和社会规范，以及母亲和父亲是否可以和是否接受这些假，以进一步为学术和政策辩论提供信息。通过不同方法产生的数据集、侧重于中小企业具体的低成本解决办法的提高认识工具包、旨在支持雇主与雇员积极互动的视频，以及一系列概况介绍和相关的短视频纪录片。传播、用户参与和影响活动将包括利益攸关方参与活动和为期一天的学术会议，在学术会议上的演讲和在同行评审期刊上的出版物。还将从一开始就纳入成果共享，并涉及一个专门的项目网站，同时定期发布博客文章和社交媒体工作。