Work-family state support for the self-employed across Europe
| Published date | 17 August 2015 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JEPP-01-2014-0006 |
| Pages | 187-208 |
| Date | 17 August 2015 |
| Author | Anne Annink,Laura den Dulk,Bram Steijn |
| Subject Matter | Strategy,Entrepreneurship,Business climate/policy |
Work-family state support for
the self-employed across Europe
Anne Annink, Laura den Dulk and Bram Steijn
Department of Public Administration,
Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to map and understand work-family state support for the
self-employed compared to employees across European countries.
Design/methodology/approach –To map state work-family support policies for the self-employed,
an overview of public childcare, maternity, paternity, and parental leave arrangements across
European countries is created based on databases, local government web sites, and local experts’
country notes. Secondary data analyses are conducted in order to compare support for the
self-employed to support for employees and across countries. Differences across countries are analysed
from a welfare state regime perspective, which explicates assumptions about the role of the
government in providing work-family state support and which is often used in research on
work-family support for employees.
Findings –Results show that, in general, the self-employed receive less work-family state support
than employees or none at all. The extensiveness of work-family state support varies widely across
European countries. Patterns of welfare states regimes, which explain variation in work-family support
for employees, can also be found in the context of self-employment.
Practical implications –Findings result in practical suggestions for policy makers at the European
and national level to monitor policy compliance considering maternity leave for the self-employed,
to increase childcare support, and to rethink the European Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan.
Originality/value –Work-family state support for the growing number of self-employed has never
been mapped before, although this is a very topical issue for (European) policy makers. This
paper offers a starting point to contextualise and understand the way self-employed experience the
work-family interface in different country contexts.
Keywords Self-employment, Childcare, Social policy, Leave, Work-family state support
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The integration of work and private life is an issue for many workers today, whether
employed or self-employed (Kossek et al., 2010). In 2013, 17.3 per cent of EU labour
market participants were self-employed (OECD, 2013). Self-employment is valued
because it offers autonomy and flexibility, both spatially and temporally (Arenius and
Kovalainen, 2006; Verheul et al., 2006), improving workers’ability to balance work and
personal/family life (Benz and Frey, 2003; Blanchflower, 2000; Prottas and Thompson,
2006). However, the long hours and work insecurity associated with self-employment
may also create tensions and conflict (Parasuraman and Simmer, 2001). Conflicts
between life domains increase the risk of health problems and negatively impact
well-being, performance, and quality of life (Allen et al., 2000; OECD, 2001). Because of
these effects, the inability of finding a satisfactory work-life balance might even impact
the duration of self-employment (Blanchflower, 2000; Williams, 2004). Journal of Entrepreneurship and
Public Policy
Vol. 4 No. 2, 2015
pp. 187-208
©Emerald Group Publis hing Limited
2045-2101
DOI 10.1108/JEPP-01-2014-0006
Received 31 January 2014
Revised 21 July 2014
Accepted 15 August 2014
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2045-2101.htm
This study has been funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO
14010002.006).
187
Work-family
state support
for the self-
employed
National governments increasingly support workers in combining work with
family life. Work-family state support includes maternity, paternity, parental leave
arrangements, and childcare allowances. Leave arrangements enable parents to take
care of a child or to make arrangements for the child’s welfare by offering them paid
or unpaid time off from work. Childcare allowance is meant as a compensation for the
costs of formal childcare. While leave arrangements offer the possibility for parental
care at home by reducing time at work, childcare allows to outsource care during
working hours. In work-family research and policies, the focus is on employees.
The nature and extent of work-family supportive policies for employees are mapped
yearly (Moss, 2014). In these yearly reports, little attention is paid to the entitlements
for the self-employed.
However, European policy makers increasingly acknowledge the importance of
work-family state support for self-employed workers, because these workers do
not benefit from family-friendly arrangements offered by companies. In 2010, the
right to maternity leave for the self-employed was introduced, which should allow
self-employed women to interrupt their occupational activity for at least 14 weeks
during pregnancy or motherhood. According to the European Parliament, the economic
and physical vulnerability of pregnant self-employed workers and pregnant spouses
makes this necessary. It is unknown whether the self-employed agree on this. It might
be that leave and childcare in its current form are undesirable for them. Most of the
self-employed parents are able to creatively building business around the routines of
daily childcare (Ekinsmyth, 2014). Leave and childcare offered by the government
could bind them. Furthermore, Davies (2013) argues that creating a safety net for the
self-employed, similar to that for employees, would need to be paid for by social
contributions or taxes. This might reduce the returns and hence the motivation to
become self-employed.
Entrepreneurial characteristics, ambitions, and skills are not criteria for social support.
Therefore, in this paper we refer to “the self-employed”rather than “entrepreneurs”
because this includes all own-account workers eligible for social support (Urwin, 2011).
Before being able to develop a work-family support system for the self-employed, it is
useful to know what countries offer and how this differs from the employees system.
In addition, the question might rise whether the self-employed need (similar types of )
work-family support.
Research on work-familystate support for employeesshows that work-family support
differs considerably across European countries. Welfare state regime typologies are
commonly used to understand these differences (Bettio and Plantenga, 2004; Den Dulk,
2001; Engster and Olofsdotter Stensöta, 2011; Ferrarini and Sjöberg, 2010; Korpi, 2000;
Schulze Buschoff and Schmidt, 2009). Welfare states regimes are clusters of countries
with similar systems of protecting the health and well-being of its citizens, especially
those in financial or socialneed. These systems are based on assumptions aboutthe role
of the government in providing social security for individuals in society. Furthermore,
assumptions about the social roles of men, women, and families influence how policies
are shaped. This has implications for the type and extensiveness of work-family state
support they offer (Den Dulk et al., 1999).
The purpose of this paper is to map and understand work-family state support for
the self-employed across European countries. The employees serve as a reference
category in this comparison, to understand and to interpret the nature and extent of
work-family support for the self-employed. Similar to research on work-family support
for employees, we will maintain an institutional perspective by using the welfare state
188
JEPP
4,2
To continue reading
Request your trial