WORK-FAMILY BALANCE IN CHILDCARE CENTERS: IS SUPPORT RELATED TO PARTICIPATORY MANAGEMENT?

This article analyses organisational support to work-life balance measures and policies in the childcare centers in the social economy (i.e., excluding the private childcare centers). It shows that the social economy sector is more supportive, and also shows that the mission and management approach (participatory decision-making process) influences organizational support to work-family (WFB) or work-life balance (WLB) and the perception of WLB-related issues. The quantitative data show that this subsector is more supportive than others which we studied. The qualitative part of the research shows that the specificity of the social economy sector, i.e., mission and participatory management, explain the stronger support of WLB in that subsector.