Egidio Riva

Workplace work‐family interventions: Italy in times of welfare state retrenchment and recession

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to investigate work‐family interventions in Italian organizations within the context of a national welfare regime and in the face of recession.Design/methodology/approach – The results of case studies carried out on eight leading companies in the field of workplace work‐family policies are presented. The case study research is supported by a literature review as well as an analysis of national legislation and political agenda concerning work‐family issues.Findings – Findings indicate that, against the backdrop of the institutional framework, one impact of the recession may be the setting aside of workplace work‐family intervention, especially in small and medium‐sized organizations with limited resources. Evidence collected using case study research suggests that this has not happened in larger companies where employers have adopted a strategic approach to work‐family issues. In these larger firms, work‐family policies have been assessed and reorganized as a result...

The Effect of the Country of Birth of the Owner on Business Survival. Evidence from Milan Metropolitan Area, Italy

This paper presents a large scale and longitudinal analysis of business survival patterns in Milan (Italy), which is based on data drawn from the business registers. It examines the role played by the country of birth of the entrepreneur in explaining business longevity. The study controls, by means of coarsened exact matching, for a set of individual, firm and context variables that have been found to impact on firm survival prospects. They include attributes of the owner (age and gender) and contextual conditions (industry and year of the start-up). Results suggest that, all other individual and environmental factors being equal, migrant-owned firms generally have better survival prospects than their native-owned counterparts. More in detail, compared to Italian-owned firms, business run by individuals born in Egypt, Morocco, Peru and Albania display significantly lower failure rates; only Chinese-owned firms are less likely to endure. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Familialism reoriented: continuity and change in work–family policy in Italy

This manuscript examines the process of policy-making in the work–family field in Italy and outlines the main changes in the way work–family policy has been framed and pursued. The overall objective is to investigate to what extent discourse has concurred to produce policy change. In this regard, following previous literature, the focus is on the kind of change in the three components of policy that have been brought about in the following domains: leave schemes, childcare provision and flexible working arrangements. Insights from the Italian case deliver substantive inputs to international scholars, policy-makers and practitioners as regards the nature and extent of factors preventing change in national policy settings. In addition, results help to promote discussion and identify the ways and tools that could overcome the risk of policy failure and contribute to foster suitable and effective work–family strategies and policy frameworks.

Background and rationale of collective bargaining around work-family issues in Italy: The duality of the business case argument

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to outline and assess the role of industrial relations in introducing work-family-related policies and investigate the drivers, nature and scope of contract provisions that were bargained in the following domains: flexible working arrangements, leave schemes, care services and other supportive arrangements. Analyses draw on information filed in a unique and restricted access repository, the SEcond-level Collective Bargaining Observatory (OCSEL) held by Confederazione Italiana Sindacati Lavoratori (CISL), one of the major trade union organizations in Italy. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents and examines, by means of descriptive statistics and content analysis, available information on 285 company-level agreements around work-family-related issues that were signed in Italy between January 2012 and December 2015, in the aftermath of the great recession. Findings Work-family issues do not seem to be a major bargaining concern. The availability of specific arrangements is mostly limited to the domain of working time flexibility and it is not quite innovative in its contents. Besides, there is little evidence that the mutual gains rationale is embedded in collective bargaining in the field. However, mature and well-established labour relations result in more innovative and strategic company-level bargaining that is also conducive to work-family-related arrangements. Research limitations/implications The sample is not representative. Thus, the results obtained in this study cannot be extended to make predictions and conclusions about the population of collective agreements negotiated and signed in Italian companies in the period under scrutiny. Originality/value Research on the industrial relations context that lies behind the design and implementation of work-family workplace arrangements is still limited. Furthermore, the evidence is inconclusive. This manuscript intends to address this research gap and provide a much more nuanced understanding.

The impact of different supports on work-family conflict

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether and how the actual use of supports available from the state, organisations and families helps workers reduce perceived work–family conflict (WFC), explored from both works interfering with family (WIF) and family interfering with work (FIW) perspectives.,The study is based on a survey of 2,029 employees at six large Italian firms. To test hypotheses, a hierarchical regression analysis was performed.,WFC should be explored considering its bi-directionality, as supports have different impacts on WIF and FIW. Workplace instrumental support elicits mixed effects on WFC, whereas workplace emotional support and familiar support reduce both FIW and WIF.,The study is limited to the Italian national context, and data were collected in a single moment of time, which did not allow for observing changes in employees’ lives.,Human resource managers, as well as policy makers, will find this study’s results useful in designing effective work–life balance policies and supports, in which attention is devoted mainly to promoting workplace emotional supports and facilitating familiar support.,The study highlights that by reducing pressures from work and family responsibilities that generate WFC conditions, organisational and familiar supports elicit different effects, which should be considered carefully when defining policies and interventions.,This study is one of the few that compare the role of supports provided by actors in different sectors on FIW and WIF, thereby allowing for an understanding of whether the bi-directionality of the conflicts is a relevant perspective.

Institutional pressures and internal motivations of work-life balance organizational arrangements in Italy

Drawing upon theories regarding both institutional and organisational culture, this paper explores how organisations respond to both coercive pressures and internal motivations when implementing work-family balance (WFB) arrangements, thus making an original contribution to the field. The study is developed using the Italian context, which represents a well-known welfare-state model, and includes a sample of 107 organisations divided nearly equally among the for-profit, non-profit and public sectors. The studys results suggest that there is sector-specific heterogeneity in terms of both motivations for implementing WFB and the types of arrangements provided. Indeed, the various institutional contexts that characterise sectors significantly influenced the WFB arrangements implemented at the organisational level. In addition, the various cultural settings and attitudes of the three sectors determined various behaviour patterns.

The sustainability and political agency of social cooperatives in Italy during the great recession

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which social cooperatives in Italy followed and managed to preserve their core values and principles while withstanding multiple pressures during the great recession. Attention is paid to two key issues. First, the concept of political agency is used to understand whether social cooperatives have been sensitive and committed to their role as key political players in the sustainable development of the community in which they operate. A further issue addressed is the impact of the post-2008 crisis on the quality of work and employment in social cooperatives. Design/methodology/approach – This paper adopts a mixed-method social research approach. It integrates quantitative analysis of administrative data on business life cycle drawn from the Italian business registers with empirical evidence collected via in-depth interviews and focus groups on a sample of managers of social cooperatives and representatives of social cooperative associations...

Work-life balance e performance aziendale nella prospettiva del Diversity Management

L’articolo prende in esame le politiche organizzative di work-life balance, proponendone una lettura che le vede quale dispositivo per affrontare, congiuntamente, la sfida della gestione della diversita nei luoghi di lavoro e quella della competitivita dell’impresa. Piu in particolare, l’articolo offre un inquadramento, a livello concettuale e operativo, e una discussione critica del legame che intercorre tra work-life balance e diversity management. Quindi, attingendo sia alla letteratura in materia sia agli esiti dell’attivita di consulenza organizzativa e ricerca empirica compiuta dagli autori, si sofferma sui vantaggi derivanti dall’adozione di politiche aziendali di WLB e sulle questioni connesse all’innovativita e sostenibilita delle stesse.

La conciliazione lavorativa, tra uguaglianza e capacitazione

Entro un discorso su cittadinanza e uguaglianza di genere, l’articolo propone una lettura per certi versi inedita delle politiche di conciliazione. Oggi tese in prevalenza a promuovere la presenza delle donne sul mercato del lavoro sono invece chiamate, proprio nell’ottica di una cittadinanza considerata secondo la prospettiva di genere, a diventare uno strumento in grado di garantire a uomini e donne reali possibilita di decidere e piu ampia capacita di azione in merito al proprio corso di vita, ovvero a porsi come diritto di cittadinanza sociale.