Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - A better work-life balance: stronger support for reconciling professional, private and family life
Date: 2008-10-03
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: family, gender equality, social policy, working life

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 3.10.2008 
COM(2008) 635 final 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL,  
THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

A better work-life balance: stronger support for reconciling professional, private and 
family life 

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COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL,  
THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

A better work-life balance: stronger support for reconciling professional, private and 
family life 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

The choices which men and women make in combining the professional, private and family 
aspects  of  their  lives  are  primarily  personal.  Nonetheless,  the  way  in  which  individuals 
balance  these  competing  demands  has  consequences  for  public  policy,  for  example  by 
influencing labour-market participation and fertility rates. At the same time, public policy in 
turn influences these choices, for instance by establishing legal rights to family-related leave 
and public provision of care for children and other dependants or by affecting other factors, 
such as the opening hours of shops and the length of the school day. Although the focus has 
tended  to  be  on  supporting  the  reconciliation  choices  of  those  who  are  —  or  wish  to  be  — 
employed by others, these issues are equally relevant to the self-employed. 

Strategies  to  support  the  above-mentioned  reconciliation  choices  build  on  a  range  of 
components  and  require  the  commitment  of  various  players.  Childcare  facilities,  leave 
entitlement and flexible working time arrangements are core components of the policy mix, 
while the powers are spread between European, national and local levels and between social 
partners at European, national and sectoral levels.  

The European Union’s role in this area is relatively limited, but the success of reconciliation 
policies  affects  achievement  of  major  EU  goals,  in  particular  more  and  better  jobs.  This 
Communication therefore reviews the current situation and sets  out  the  steps being  taken to 
develop 
this 
Communication. 

the  proposals  which  accompany 

legislative  framework, 

including 

the 

2. 

RECONCILIATION POLICIES IN SUPPORT OF KEY POLICY OBJECTIVES 

At  European  Union  level,  successful  reconciliation  of  work  and  private  life  is  particularly 
relevant to a number of key policy objectives. 

The Lisbon Strategy, established in 2000 covered reconciliation. The relaunch in 20051, has 
placed stronger emphasis on growth and jobs and recognised that women’s huge potential on 
the labour market needs to be tapped if the strategy is to succeed. The March 2005 European 
Council stressed the contribution which measures reconciling work and family life can make 
to  attracting  more  people  onto  the  labour  market.  By  setting  a  target  employment  rate  for 
women  (60%)  which  was  lower  than  the  overall  target  (70%),  however,  the  Council 
acknowledged the prevalent gender imbalance in employment rates.  

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COM(2005) 24. 

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The  Integrated  Guidelines  to  support  the  Lisbon  Strategy  are  addressing  this  gender 
imbalance,  including  by  means  of  reconciliation  policies  but,  in  the  words  of  the  Joint 
Employment  Report  2007/20082,  ‘progress  in  the  field  of  gender  equality  has  been  mixed’ 
and ‘many Member States are far from reaching the childcare targets and most do not even 
refer to them in their national strategies.’ Notwithstanding this, female employment has been 
the  main  driving  force  behind  the  steady  growth  of  employment  in  the  EU  in  recent  years. 
Between  2000  and  2007,  the  number  of  people  in  employment  in  EU-27  grew  by  14.6 
million,  9.2  million  of  whom  were  women.  The  employment  rate  of  women  (aged  15-64) 
went up each year, reaching 58.3% in 2007, 4.6 percentage points above the 2000 level and 
well within reach of the target of 60% by 2010.  

This is an impressive achievement, but its impact on gender equality has been less marked. 
The  Treaty3  requires  the  EU  to  aim  to  eliminate  inequalities  and  promote  equality  between 
men and women in all its activities. Yet the indicators for pay, labour market segregation and 
the  number  of  women  in  decision-making  jobs  have  shown  no  significant  improvement  in 
recent  years.  In  particular,  the  pay  gap4  has  remained  steady  at  15%  since  2003  and  has 
narrowed  by  only  one  point  since  2000.  As  the  Commission  noted  in  its  annual  report  on 
equality  between  women  and  men5,  ‘it  would  appear  that  the  substantial  efforts  made  in 
connection with the European Strategy for Growth and Jobs with a view to creating more and 
better jobs for women have proved more successful in terms of quantity than quality’.  

This situation is unlikely to change as long as the current gender imbalance in the take-up of 
reconciliation options persists (for example, in terms of working part-time or taking family-
related  leave)  and  as  long  as  there  is  a  significant  gap  between  the  employment  rates  of 
women with children and women without. Between 2000 and 2007, the overall employment 
rate of both groups increased, but the gap between the two remained at 12 percentage points. 

The  relevance  of  reconciliation  policies  to  demographic  renewal  is  now  explicitly 
recognised  at  European  level6.  With  an  ageing  population  and  a  falling  birth  rate,  such 
policies  can  support  women  and  men  who  care  for  older  dependants  and  make  it  easier  to 
combine parenthood with work. There is also clear evidence that Member States which have 
effective policies to enable women and men to balance work and family responsibilities have 
higher fertility rates and higher female employment rates. Further, having a high quality job is 
acknowledged  as  the  best  safeguard  against  social  exclusion  and  poverty  in  general.  The 
provision of affordable quality care services for children and other dependants has therefore 
been emphasised in the context of active inclusion policies7. As emphasised in the 2008 Joint 
Report  on  Social  Protection  and  Social  Inclusion8,  strategies  to  increase  parents'  access  and 
attachment to the labour market including though enabling services and with adequate income 
support are also a particularly vital element in fighting child poverty.  

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Page 9 of  the Joint  Employment  Report  2007/2008  adopted  by  the  Council on 29 February 2008  and 
published  on  3  March  2008.  On  page  4,  the  report  criticises  the  fact  that  ‘the  responsiveness  of 
European labour markets to the challenges of globalisation and ageing remains insufficient’. 
Articles 2 and 3(2). 
The  ‘gender  pay  gap’  is  the  difference  between  average  hourly  pay  for  women  and  men  before  tax 
across the economy as a whole. See Tackling the pay gap between women and men - COM(2007) 424. 
COM(2008) 10. 
Promoting Solidarity between the Generations - COM(2007) 244. 
COM(2007) 620. 
http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/spsi/publications_en.htm.  See  also  the  full  report  of  the 
Taskforce  in  Child  Poverty  and  Child  Well-being  set  up  by  the  Social  Protection  Committee  (SPC): 
http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/spsi/docs/social_inclusion/2008/child_poverty_en.pdf. 

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The  Report  recognises  the  major  role  that  reconciliation  measures,  e.g.  those  enhancing  the 
quality and availability of childcare can play, but also highlighted the importance of looking 
at measures such as work intensity and quality of jobs.  

As pointed out above, a broad range of players, including at European level, are involved in 
developing and delivering reconciliation policies. 

The Commission has made enhancing reconciliation one of the six priority areas of action in 
its Roadmap for equality between women and men for 2006-20109 and measures in this area 
are  closely  linked  to  the  related  priority  of  achieving  equal  economic  independence  for 
women and men.  

This priority was echoed in the European Pact for Gender Equality, agreed by the March 2006 
European  Council,  and  taken  up  in  the  joint  programme  and  declarations  of  the  German, 
Portuguese  and  Slovenian  Council  Presidencies  in  2007-0810.  In  March  2008  the  European 
Council  concluded  that  the  availability  and  affordability  of  quality  childcare  should  be 
increased  in  line  with  agreed  targets  and  that  efforts  should  be  pursued  to  support 
reconciliation. And in their joint programme11 for the eighteen months up to the end of 2009 
the French and future Czech and Swedish Presidencies have committed themselves to paying 
special  attention  to  measures  to  improve  reconciliation  of  work,  family  and  private  life  for 
both women and men. 

The  European  Parliament  has  consistently  called  for  improvements  to  the  existing 
Community  legislation  on  maternity  and  parental  leave12  and,  in  its  May  2008  proposals  to 
amend the new Employment Guidelines, called for the provision of parental and other leave 
schemes13.  In  its  resolution  of  21  February  2008  on  the  demographic  future  of  Europe14, 
Parliament  called  on  the  Member  States  to  adopt  best  practices  as  regards  the  length  of 
maternity  leave  and  pointed  out  that  it  is  possible  to  influence  birth-rate  curves  favourably 
through  coordinated  public  policies,  by  creating  a  family-  and  child-friendly  material  and 
emotional environment. In its resolution of 27 September 200715 it urged the Member States 
to  mutualise  the  costs  of  maternity  and  parental  leave  allowances  in  order  to  ensure  that 
women  no  longer  represent  a  more  costly  source  of  labour  than  men  and  welcomed  the 
consultation  procedure  on  reconciliation  with  the  social  partners.  Supporting  a  work-life 
balance is one of the four priorities in the Framework of Actions on Gender Equality agreed 
by the European social partners in 2005. The latest annual report16 on this subject points out 
that  this  is  the  area  generating  the  largest  number  of  initiatives  by  national  social  partners. 

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COM(2006) 92. 
In  its  December  2007  resolution  on  balanced  roles  of  women  and  men  for  jobs,  growth  and  social 
cohesion,  the  Council  recognised  that  difficulties  in  reconciling  work,  family  and  private  life  still 
prevail  and  called  on  the  Commission,  inter  alia,  to  assess  the  current  Community  legal  framework 
related to reconciliation, especially the impact on labour-market participation. 
Council document 11249/08 POLGEN 76 of 30 June 2008. 
For example, Resolution 2003/2129(INI), P5_TA(2004)0152), point 26. 
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P6-TA-2008-
0207+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN 
2007/2156  (INI),  points  14  and  15,  at:  http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-
//EP//TEXT+TA+P6-TA-2008-0066+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN. 
2007/2065(INI)) at: 
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P6-TA-2007-
0423, point 13, 28 and 29. 
http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/social_dialogue/docs_en.htm. 

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Developments reported by the social partners include introduction or extension of care leave, 
flexible working arrangements and measures to increase the take-up of these options by men. 

It  can  therefore  be  concluded  that,  while  the  need  for  reconciliation  policies  is  now 
uncontested at European level, the inadequacy of such policies coupled with the gender gap in 
take-up  mean  that  reconciliation  measures  cannot  yet  make  an  optimum  contribution  to 
achieving the EU’s major policy objectives. Enhancing the work-life balance also constitutes 
a real opportunity to reconcile the objectives of security and flexibility17 both for employees 
and employers, although these principles are often presented as opposed. 

3. 

IMPROVING SUPPORT FOR RECONCILIATION 

In  its  2008  Annual  Policy  Strategy  the  Commission  gave  an  undertaking  to  propose  new 
initiatives  to  improve  reconciliation  of  family  and  professional  life.  The  measures  set  out 
below  are  in  line  with  the  values  of  opportunities,  access  and  solidarity  which  underpin  the 
Renewed Social Agenda18.  
The legislative proposals deal with: 

–  strengthening workers’ legal entitlement to family-related leave;  

–  ensuring equal treatment of the self-employed and their assisting spouses.  

The availability of affordable, accessible quality childcare is vital for parents’ reconciliation 
choices. Accordingly,  the  legislative  proposals are accompanied by a report on the progress 
which  Member  States  have  made  towards  meeting  the  childcare  targets  agreed  at  the  2002 
Barcelona European Council.  

3.1. 

Family-related leave 

The Commission launched its current deliberations in 2006 with a formal consultation of the 
European social partners under the European social dialogue procedure. Inter alia, this allows 
the European social partners  to negotiate  agreements which can then be given force of law. 
The first directive agreed under this procedure was based on the 1995 framework agreement 
on  parental  leave19.  The  Commission’s  consultation  documents20  addressed  legislative  and 
other measures to support reconciliation and identified a number of options for new types of 
leave which could meet the needs of workers better by reconciling professional, private and 
family life, namely paternity leave (a short period of leave for fathers around the time of the 
birth or adoption of a child), adoption leave (leave similar to maternity leave around the time 
of adoption of a child) and filial leave (to care for dependent family members).  

The Commission also suggested ways to improve the rules on maternity protection (Directive 
92/85/EEC) and the framework agreement on parental leave annexed to Directive 96/34/EC. 
The  proposals  relating  to  parental  leave  cover  incentives  for  fathers  to  take  parental  leave, 

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Cf  COM(2007)  359  final  Towards  Common  Principles  of  Flexicurity:  More  and  better  jobs  through 
flexibility and security. 
COM(2008) 412. 
Council Directive 96/34/EC of 3 June 1996 on the framework agreement on parental leave concluded 
by UNICE, CEEP and the ETUC (OJ L 145, 19.6.1996, p. 4). 
SEC(2006) 1245 and SEC(2008) 571. 

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protection  of  employment  rights  and  prohibition  of  discrimination,  the  duration  of  and 
payment for such leave, flexibility in taking parental leave and the age of the child.  
Other measures highlighted by the Commission include care facilities for children and other 
dependants,  new  ways  of  working  (including  telework)  and  encouraging  men  to  take  up 
reconciliation options. 

A report to the Tripartite Social Summit in March 2008 announced that the social partners had 
agreed  a  package  of  joint  measures  to  support  reconciliation.  Then  in  July  2008  they 
confirmed their intention to initiate the negotiation procedure provided for in Article 138 of 
the EC Treaty to ‘better achieve the aims of the Parental Leave Directive.’ Since it cannot be 
ruled out that the negotiations will also address other forms of family-related leave, such as 
paternity leave, adoption leave and leave to care for other family members, the Commission 
does not intend to make proposals on parental or other family-related leave at this stage. The 
social partners have confirmed, however, that they do not intend to address maternity leave in 
their negotiations. 

3.1.1.  Revision of Directive 92/85/EEC on maternity protection  

Maternity leave differs from other types of family-related leave for one obvious reason, since 
it  can  only  be  taken  by  the  mother.  The  Commission  considers  it  appropriate  to  make  a 
proposal21 now, so that when the social partners come to review parental leave they will have 
an indication of the minimum leave to which the mother could be entitled and the conditions 
governing it after a revision of the Directive. The proposals are: 

–  to  increase  the  minimum  maternity  leave  from  14  to  18  weeks  (in  line  with  the  ILO 

recommendation); 

–  to increase the flexibility for women to decide when to take their maternity leave before or 

after giving birth; 

–  to improve employment protection for women on, or returning from, maternity leave. 

These measures are expected to make it easier for women to stay in the labour market after 
giving  birth,  since  it  may  be  easier  for  women  to  return  to  the  labour  market  after  a  longer 
maternity leave rather than taking parental leave to look after their still-too-young child as is 
the  case  with  shorter  maternity  leave  periods.  In  addition,  the  decision  to  return  to  work  is 
facilitated if the woman's employment rights are respected. Improving leave arrangements and 
payment  during  leave,  and  strengthening  employment  rights  will  help  reconcile  work  and 
family life and improve labour market participation of women with children.  

3.1.2.  Further proposals on family-related leave 

In  a  letter  dated  10  July  2008  the  social  partners  announced  that  they  expected  the 
negotiations  to  start  in  September.  At  the  end  of  the  period  set  by  the  Treaty  for  such 
negotiations  (nine  months,  extendable  by  agreement),  the  Commission  will,  if  the  social 
partners  so  request,  take  the  necessary  action  to  give  legal  force  to  the  new  agreement  by 
adopting it in the form of a proposal for a directive. If the negotiations do not result in a new 
agreement, and as foreseen in the second-stage consultation document, the Commission will 

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consider  bringing  forward  proposals  to  complement  the  existing  legislation  in  the  area  of 
reconciliation. 

The Commission conducted an impact assessment22 on all the legislative options outlined in 
the  2007  second-stage  consultation  document  sent  to  the  social  partners.  Although  the 
Commission  is  currently  restricting  the  scope  of  its  proposal  to  maternity  leave,  the 
assessment of the other options could assist the social partners in their negotiations. 

3.2. 

Equal treatment for the self-employed and their assisting spouses 

Balancing family life and work is a challenge not only for men and women employed by other 
people but also for the self-employed and their spouses who help them in their professions or 
businesses. Directive 86/613/EEC established the principle that equal treatment is not limited 
to  employed  workers.  It  also  recognised  the  need  to  provide  reconciliation  measures, 
especially in relation to maternity.  

The  Directive  has  had  a  limited  impact  and  its  vague  wording  makes  it  difficult  to  enforce. 
However, the need for action in this area, spurred by the growing recognition of the need to 
tackle the gender gap in entrepreneurship, is as great as ever. One reason for this gap may be 
the  scant  —  or  total  lack  of  —  social  protection  available  to  self-employed  women,  in 
particular maternity protection23. Around 11% of the self-employed rely on assisting spouses 
to manage the family business. One third of assisting spouses work more than 25 hours per 
week  yet  have  no  protection  in  the  event  of  divorce  from  or  death  of  their  self-employed 
partner. 

The  Commission  has  decided  to  propose  to  repeal  Directive  86/613/EEC  and  to  propose  a 
new Directive in order to achieve the goals set by the original Directive more effectively. The 
main proposals24 are: 

–  female self-employed workers and assisting spouses or life partners should be entitled, at 
their  request,  to  the  same  maternity  leave  entitlement  as  provided  for  employees  under 
Community law in Directive 92/85/EEC 

–  at their request, assisting spouses or life partners when recognized by national law should 
be able to join the same social security scheme as self-employed workers, under the same 
conditions applicable to self-employed workers.  

These  changes  are  expected  to  lessen  the  disincentive  for  women  to  become  self-employed 
and the vulnerability of assisting spouses.  

3.3. 

Report on implementation of the childcare targets by the Member States 

The 2002 Barcelona European Council urged the Member States to remove disincentives to 
female  participation  in  the  labour  force  by  aiming  to  provide  childcare  by  2010  for  at  least 
90% of children between three years old and school age and at least 33% of children under 
three. These targets have become an integral part of the European Employment Strategy and 
Lisbon Agenda. 

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SEC(2008) 2526. 
Commission  Staff  Working  Document  SEC(2008)  2101  –  Impact  Assessment  accompanying  the 
Commission Communication Think Small First: A Small Business Act for Europe - COM(2008) 394. 
COM(2008) 601. 

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In a report accompanying this Communication, the Commission points out that: 

–  most  Member  States  are  not  on  course  to  meet  the  targets,  especially  for  children  under 

three; 

–  where facilities do exist, often they are costly or the opening hours are not compatible with 

full-time work or jobs with atypical hours; 

–  the quality of the facilities (qualifications of the staff and the staff/child ratio, for example) 

could deter parents from using them. 

In  a  recent  letter  to  the  Commission  the  social  partners  expressed  their  concern  that  the 
Barcelona targets will not be achieved and, while recognising that the primary responsibility 
lies with public authorities in the Member States, suggested that the social partners could play 
a supporting role.  

In  response  to  the  above-mentioned  report  on  progress  towards  achieving  the  childcare 
targets, the Commission will: 

–  monitor  the  follow-up  to  Member  States’  policies  in  this  field  under  the  Strategy  for 
Growth  and  Jobs,  support  it  with  comparable,  up-to-date  statistics  and,  if  necessary, 
propose Recommendations to those countries where implementation is weak; 

–  analyse  the  development  of  childcare  services  and  their  specific  contribution  to  gender 
equality,  in  particular  in  the  annual  report  on  equality  between  women  and  men  to  each 
spring European Council; 

–  promote  exchanges  of  good  practice  in  this  area  and  stimulate  research  on  jobs  in  the 

childcare sector;  

–  promote the development of affordable quality childcare services, including by making full 
use  of  the  potential  of  the  EU  Cohesion  Policy,  in  collaboration  with  all  stakeholders 
(Member States and social partners).  

3.4. 

Other action 

As  stated  in  Section  2,  a  number  of  policy  objectives  are  directly  linked  to  reconciliation 
policies.  For  example,  in  the  area  of  demographic  renewal,  establishment  of  a  group  of 
experts  on  demographic  issues  and  of  the  European  Alliance  for  Families  will  stimulate 
discussion and exchanges on reconciliation issues. 

Nonetheless,  reconciliation  measures  will  continue  to  focus  primarily  on  gender  equality, 
since  effective  reconciliation  is  a  precondition  for  equal  economic  independence,  the  first 
priority of the Roadmap. The Commission is currently preparing the mid-term report on the 
implementation of the Roadmap. The two working programmes for the Roadmap for the years 
2007  and  200825  already  show  that  the  Commission  is  making  good  progress  with 
implementing  the  measures  set  out  in  it  but  that  greater  commitment  is  needed  from  all 
concerned to mainstream gender equality more effectively into social and economic policies. 

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SEC 2007(537) and SEC(2008)338. 

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In order to enhance knowledge of reconciliation policies and the analytical tools for assessing 
them, the Commission will: 

–  foster exchanges and dissemination of good practice between the Member States, focusing 
in 2008 on provision of childcare and on measures to address the gender imbalance in use 
of family-related leave; 

–  promote  use  by  the  Member  States  and  other  players  of  the  manuals  produced  by  the 
Commission in 2007 and 2008 on gender mainstreaming in employment, social inclusion 
and social protection policies26; 

–  continue  to  develop,  together  with  Member  States,  a  common  Europe-wide  basis  for 
obtaining  timely,  comparable  and  pertinent  statistics  on  reconciliation  between  work  and 
private  and  family  life,  especially  on  childcare,  flexible  working-time  arrangements  and 
use of family-related leave. 

Lastly,  the  EU  Cohesion  Policy  (in  particular  by  means  of  the  European  Social  Fund)  will 
continue  to  co-finance  initiatives  at  national  and  local  levels  to  promote  reconciliation,  for 
example by providing support for care services for children and other dependants, for training 
and qualifications of care workers and for employers who offer their employees career breaks, 
childcare and other family support services. 

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The  Commission  considers  that  better  support  for  reconciliation  measures  will  enable  men 
and women  to exercise  greater  choice  in balancing the work  and  private  sides of  their lives 
and will also contribute to achieving major policy objectives of the European Union, notably 
on growth and jobs, the social inclusion of vulnerable groups and gender equality. 

The improvement and modernisation of the European regulatory framework which should be 
achieved by the proposals accompanying this Communication and the negotiations launched 
by  the  social  partners  will  enable  women  to  achieve  greater  economic  independence  and 
encourage  men  to  play  a  greater  role  in  family  life.  Action  at  Community  level  setting  out 
minimum  obligations  to  improve  the  reconciliation  of  work,  private  and  family  life  is 
necessary and appropriate in order to achieve the Community task of gender equality and the 
targets of the Lisbon strategy. 

The primary responsibility for developing and promoting reconciliation measures belongs to 
the Member States. The Commission therefore calls on them to ensure that these measures are 
implemented  in  a  way  which  gives  women  and  men  real  choices.  In  particular,  the 
Commission  urges  the  Member  States  to  take  the  necessary  steps  to  make  up  for  the 
significant delay in meeting the targets they have set themselves on childcare provision. 

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http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/gender_equality/gender_mainstreaming/tools_en.html. 

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