Transcript Cross-Cultural Work-Family Interfaces: Dual Career Couples

Cross-Cultural Work-Family
Interfaces:
Dual Career Couples
Jaymee Froyalde
Sam Lam
Hisayo Murayoshi
Steve Nguyen
Kenneth Trinh
Countries of Comparison
USA & Japan
Topics
• USA Dual Careers Households
• US Expatriates
• Japanese Dual Career Households
• Comparison
• Implications on International Human
Resource Management
Definition
• Dual Career Households: a household in
which the couple each has a career path
of their very own.
USA Topics of Discussion
• Overview of USA
• Overview of Dual Career Couples in the
USA
• Current USA Expatriate System and Trends
USA Overview
• Land Mass 9,161,923 sq km
• Government: Constitution-based federal
republic, strong democratic tradition
• Population: 293,027,571
• Diversity: white 77.1%, black 12.9%,
Asian 4.2%, Amerindian and Alaska native
1.5%, native Hawaiian and other Pacific
islander 0.3%, other 4% (2000)
USA Economy
• GDP: $10.99 trillion
• most technologically powerful economy
• Labor Force 146.5 million
• per capita GDP: $37,800
US Dual Career Statistics
• Represents 54% of married couples in the
USA
• Represents 45% of US labor force
Benefits of Dual Career
• Extra Income
• Flexibility of Leaving, Transition Through,
or Re-Entering Labor Force
• More Equality
• Happier Spouses
Disadvantages of Dual Career
Households
• Reduction of Job Mobility for Spouses
• Work-Family Conflicts
• Household Responsibilities/Allocation
Issues in Perspective
• Working and Well-Being
• Working-Family Conflict
• Work-Family Spillover and Cross Over
• Division of Labor
• Prioritizing Careers
Spillover Effects
FamilyWork
WorkFamily
Positive
Positive
relationships
energize and
improve work
Experience
makes one
more
interesting
Negative
Disagreemen
ts leads to
poor
performance
Workload
leads to
distraction
and
irritability
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/wfnetwork/rft/wfpedia/wfpDECent.html
US Dual Career Expatriates
• Definition: an employee, with a spouse
who has a career of their own, that is sent
to another country for an assignment
abroad.
US Dual Career Expatriate Data
• 70% of expatriates has a partner/spouse
that has a career of his/her own.
• 91% of married female expatriates are in
category of “dual-career couples” vs. only
50% of males
Current Trends of US based
Companies
• More females are considered for oversees
•
•
assignments (80% of women don’t turn down
assignments.)
Short-term expatriate assignments are on the
rise
Companies are still slow to address dual-career
couple issues
Problems with Current System
• Concerns about spousal/dual career issues
- #1 reason for rejecting assignment
• Pay systems aren’t “dual-career” oriented
• Women expatriates still aren’t taken
seriously despite what research shows –
that they possess valuable talent in IA’s
Overview of Japan
• Location: Eastern Asia, island chain between the North
•
Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan,
east of the Korean Peninsula
Population:127,330,002
(July, 2004)
• GDP: $3.582 trillion (2003 est.)
Time Use of Workers by Working
Hours
Men
0.37
Women
3.57
Housework
Child Care
0.03
0.18
Work
6.85
4.20
Tertiary Activities
6.15
5.42
Primary Activities 10.60
10.62
Total
24.00
24.00
Gender impact of
work-family measures
• Reduction of working hours
• Non-core tracks in corporations
• The child-care leave system
Financial compensation
• The child allowance
• Deduction for dependents
• Child rearing allowance
Recommendations the Japanese
government policy
• Increased efforts towards further reduction of working
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•
•
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•
hours.
Rapid elimination of the wage gap between men and
women.
Quick resolution of various issues concerning part-time
workers.
Efforts to heighten public awareness of work-family
policies.
Comprehensive measures to assist economically
disadvantaged families.
Spurring on economic growth with a view to lowering
the unemployment rate.
Japan Vs. United States
Dual Career Couples
• Housework Allocation
• Childcare
• Family Support Policies
– Japan
– United States
Housework Allocation
• Determinants of the amount of housework:
– Earnings
– Hours worked
– Children
Child Care
• Who takes care of the children?
• Children’s education
Family Support Policies in Japan
• Child Care Leave
• Family Care Leave
• Night Work
• Overtime
• Part-Time Work Law
Family Support Policies in United
States
• Family and Medical Act Leave
• Individual employers offer family policies
to support dual earner couples
What This Means
• US lacks family support policies; therefore,
IHRM must take the initiative
• There is a certain need for family support
policy to dual career Japanese expatriates
Summary-United States
• We all have our assumptions on the cultural differences between Japan and
•
•
America but the truth is that both are similar in many cultural aspects of
societal roles between men and women.
Regardless of the changing societal norms, the process of expatriations
brings forth a universal challenge of co-existence of ethnic values and
beliefs for Americans who settle in an Eastern culture.
Several factors can lead to an array of conclusions on Japanese and
American culture but more importantly, the social skill of communication is
the very reason in which a transition from a comfortable place to a foreign
place is successful for a dual career family. American companies need to
emphasize more on the linguistic part of the expatriation process
Summary-Japan
• In many instances the value of compensation plays a big role in regards to
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the welfare of the family for them to consider the move to a new world.
And for others, its all about the support for their family and extended family
that will help them make that leap of faith towards expatriation.
Thus, the support has to be consistent and reliable enough where the
simplest issues like schools, malls, and leisure is simplified enough for them
to take the job.
The government also needs to play a bigger role in changing its view of
women in the workforce and the way they are compensated.