How do employers help employees reconcile work and family life ?

Employers’ family-friendly policies generally take the form of financial support rather than benefits in kind. Occasional benefits and services are much more common than those granted on a regular basis. Corporate day care centres are still very rare, for example, despite the fact that employers attach importance to child care provision. Some employers nonetheless offer a certain degree of work-time flexibility or agree to informal arrangements, often on a case-by-case basis. A wide range of benefits are offered by public sector companies and the civil service, often targeting families with children. In the private sector, the measures implemented, if any, mainly concern financial support and less family-oriented benefits, such as insurance fund contributions.