Should Children Become the Key Stakeholders in Designing Family-Friendly Workplaces ?

Descriptive methodological research through electronic surveys with two target groups. The first group of respondents consisted of 1,279 children and youth who expressed their opinion on the impact of the parental workplace on them and what needs to be done to make companies more oriented to the needs of children. The second survey involved 64 employers, who provided insight into existing family-friendly workplace practices and their views on achieving a balance between work and family. Given the existence of two target groups covered by the research, the following research questions are stipulated: Q1: Are children aware of the impact of the parental workplace at home? Q2: Are employers aware of the challenges of striking balance between work and family? Q3: Do family-friendly workplace practices consider the needs of children of employees? Q4: Did the protection of employees during COVID-19 include their families and children? Based on the research questions, the paper aims to determine whether there is a gap between the impact of the parental workplace on children and youth and family-friendly workplace practices deployed by employers.