Transition to Parenthood in UK SMEs

英国关于工作中与怀孕和产假有关的歧视的研究(Adams等人，2016a，b)发现，小雇主对怀孕和新产妇雇员的权利的认识最低，他们最不可能提供灵活工作的选择。在英国，中小型企业(SME)占商业人口的99.9%，就业人数的五分之三，私营部门营业额的一半左右。而亚当斯等人的研究。尽管报告(2016a，b)强调了英国不同规模工作场所中与怀孕和产假有关的歧视的程度，但该研究既没有就如何改善中小企业对产假的支持提出具体建议，也没有提出新父亲的经历。然而，中小企业对新父母的管理与大公司有很大不同，因为中小企业的特点是一些关键特征，包括资源稀缺和倾向于采用更非正式的方法进行工作人员管理。他们往往没有专门的人力资源部，也没有书面的产假/陪产假政策。中小企业所有者/经理也往往比大公司更抵制产假/陪产假保护法规，担心涉及的时间和成本。我们拟议的研究解决了英国中小企业在过渡到为人父母的详细知识方面的一个重要差距，旨在对中小企业的母子/父亲管理的实践和政策以及学术理解产生直接影响。它是及时的，因为它提供给当前/最近的英国政策辩论，关于育儿假，弹性工作，以及如何在工作场所支持父亲。然而，在专注于英国的同时，我们的项目解决了一个全球问题：尽管中小企业在全球雇用了大多数(父母)工人，但它们在全球范围内研究不足。该项目建立在先前研究的基础上，通过将关键利益相关者纳入到共同设计的上下文敏感、低成本和可扩展的解决方案中，以有效管理中小企业工作场所的新父母身份。我们采用了混合设计的方法，将定量和定性相结合。具体而言，数据收集将包括以下内容：1.采用纵向和参与性方法，收集与怀孕、产假/陪产假/收养/共享育儿假、弹性工作、母乳喂养和托儿支持有关的经验的定性数据，并辅之以(业主--)管理人员和员工共同设计的提高认识干预措施。在为期一年的时间里，将分三个阶段对(所有者)经理和员工进行半结构化面试。此外，将与a)准父母/准父母；b)同事探讨与新为人父母和工作有关的看法和经验；c)要求灵活工作的父母，开展重点小组活动。对在中小企业工作的雇员和雇主进行了两次大规模的横断面调查，以补充定性数据，并更广泛地探讨关于怀孕、母乳喂养和托儿支持、育儿假和父母弹性工作的态度、意图、经历和社会规范，以及母亲和父亲提供和接受的情况，以进一步为学术和政策辩论提供信息。主要产出将包括一份最终报告、不同方法产生的数据集、侧重于中小企业特定低成本解决方案的提高认识工具包、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短片纪录片。传播、用户参与和影响活动将包括一次利益攸关方参与活动和一次为期一天的学术会议、在学术会议上的发言和在同行评议期刊上发表的出版物。分享调查结果也将从一开始就结合起来，包括一个专门的项目网站，并伴随着定期的博客帖子和社交媒体工作。

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.