By Luciano Malfer, Research and Family Development Manager, Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK)
In recent years, major demographic, social, and technological changes have transformed both the way we work and family life. Population ageing, declining birth rates, the growing participation of women in the labour market, new care responsibilities, and the spread of digital work are asking companies to rethink their role. Organizations can no longer see people only as workers or professional resources. They also need to recognize their personal and family responsibilities.
In this context, work-family balance becomes a strategic part of organizational well-being. Flexible working arrangements, care policies, support for parents, equal opportunities, and attention to the different stages of life contribute not only to the quality of work, but also to companies’ ability to attract and retain talent, reduce employee turnover, and strengthen people’s engagement. The family itself can be seen as one of the company’s stakeholders, because organizational decisions directly affect the lives of employees and their communities.
A particularly significant experience in Latin America is the Centro Conciliación Familia y Empresa – CONFyE, established in 2009 at the IAE Business School of Universidad Austral in Argentina. The Center studies and promotes best practices for integrating family and work, working with the academic, business, and institutional sectors. Its activities focus on corporate family responsibility, the protection of human ecology, and the promotion of equal opportunities. Through research, publications, best-practice guides, training activities, and the IFREI Club, CONFyE has created a space for discussion, exchange, and learning among organizations in Argentina and other Latin American countries.
To learn more about the history, working methods, and future perspectives of this experience, I chose to speak with Patricia Debeljuh, Director of the CONFyE Center and Professor of Human Behavior in Organizations at IAE Business School. Patricia Debeljuh has been one of the pioneers in Latin America in the study of work, family, and personal life balance, and she has supported many companies in introducing family-responsible policies.
Prof. Debeljuh, the CONFyE Center has been active since 2009 and is now a leading reference in Latin America on work-family balance. How was the Center created, what was the original idea behind it, and how have its mission and activities developed over time?
The CONFyE Center was created at a time when, in Argentina, almost no one was talking about work-family balance. We were true pioneers in introducing the concept of Corporate Family Responsibility in Argentina and other Latin American countries.
Why? Because we believe that employees’ families are a new stakeholder for companies. The Center was created to raise awareness among the leaders and entrepreneurs who attend the Universidad Austral Business School, as well as among the many companies we work with, about the importance of supporting employees and their family life.
What initially seemed like an innovative idea soon had a strong multiplying effect. Shortly after the Center was created, a Club of companies committed to promoting this agenda was established. This network has continued to grow and become stronger over time.
For more than fifteen years, we have worked to strengthen this community of companies that choose to actively promote work-family balance as part of their organizational culture.
CONFyE is not only involved in research, but also develops best-practice guides, training programs, studies, and opportunities for companies to exchange experiences, including through the IFREI Club. What are the main tools used by the Center, and what concrete changes have you seen in the organizations involved in terms of well-being, productivity, engagement, and the ability to attract and retain people?
Yes, through this network of companies, created in 2010, we have promoted many initiatives, including several research projects. For example, last year we carried out a study on remote work in Latin America. This year, we launched the fifth edition of our survey on the personal, family, and professional expectations of new generations. The survey involves young people between the ages of 18 and 30, not only from Argentina but from twelve Latin American countries.
Thanks to our collaboration with these companies, we have also been able to measure the impact of Corporate Family Responsibility policies on key business indicators, such as productivity, employee engagement, satisfaction, well-being and quality of life, as well as the company’s ability to attract and retain talent.
The results are very clear: a company’s commitment to supporting the families of its employees is an essential part of what we now call emotional salary. Why? Because people who work in organizations that follow this approach feel that the value of their work goes beyond their financial salary. There is an additional value made up of well-being, quality of life, flexibility, and support for work-family balance. This has a direct impact on people’s lives and on what matters most to them: their family.
One of the most innovative aspects of your approach is recognizing the family as a stakeholder of the company. What does this principle mean in practice, and how can company policies support people at different stages of life, while at the same time contributing to business competitiveness and to stronger communities and territories?
Considering an employee’s family as a new stakeholder means starting from a simple belief: one of the main reasons why people work is the well-being of their loved ones. At the end of the working day, however, there is a family waiting for them and, if we are not careful, the people they love may receive the worst version of them.
This is why it is important to encourage leaders and entrepreneurs to ask themselves: how do we return employees to their families every evening after they have spent eight or nine hours with us? It is natural to go home tired, but being tired is very different from being angry, unmotivated, or deeply dissatisfied. A child does not understand that a parent has had a difficult day at work: the child simply feels the parent’s mood.
Companies should therefore support people through the different stages of family life: from starting a life as a couple to motherhood and fatherhood, from caring for children to caring for older family members. Work and family are both dynamic realities. The challenge is to stop seeing them as being in conflict and to recognize them as two dimensions that can support and enrich each other.
Looking to the future, what challenges are created by demographic change, artificial intelligence, hybrid work, and the presence of different generations within organizations? How can CONFyE’s experience contribute to developing a new work culture and family-friendly policies in Argentina and, more broadly, across Latin America?
Demographic change, artificial intelligence, hybrid work, and the presence of different generations within organizations all send the same message: the future of work will depend not only on technology, but above all on the ability of companies to put people at the center. AI will transform many activities, but it cannot replace what makes an organization truly human: trust, good leadership, a sense of purpose at work, and care for relationships.
Demographic change and population ageing also require companies to rethink their role. More and more employees will have to care for their children and their ageing parents at the same time. The experience gained by the CONFyE Center over more than fifteen years shows that work-family balance is no longer a benefit for a few, but a strategic necessity for building sustainable organizations that are able to attract, engage, and develop talent.
The presence of different generations is also an opportunity. We do not believe in conflict, but in complementarity: young people bring innovation, energy, and new ways of working, while more experienced generations bring knowledge, balance, and a long-term perspective. The challenge for leadership is to turn these differences into opportunities for mutual learning.
For this reason, work-family balance cannot be seen simply as a human resources policy. It is a management model and a sustainability strategy that improves well-being, strengthens engagement, helps companies attract and retain talent, and supports the development of families and society.
Our challenge is to continue supporting companies across Latin America in developing a work culture where technological innovation and human development go hand in hand, and where success is measured not only by economic results, but also by the positive impact that companies create in the lives of people and their families.
Housing is a fundamental condition for building a family project and for companies’ ability to attract and retain workers. What role can companies, together with institutions, play in helping their employees access housing?
Companies can make a concrete contribution by making smart use of the tools and skills related to their own business. I know, for example, a bank that, when an employee gets married or starts a new life project as a couple, offers them a loan with particularly favorable conditions and a reduced interest rate. For a bank, it is relatively simple to provide this kind of support, but for the person receiving it, it can make a very important difference.
Another significant example is a company that produces cement and works in the housing construction sector. The company offers its employees special financial conditions for purchasing the materials needed to build or renovate their homes. In this case too, the company makes use of what it knows how to do and makes part of its business available to support its employees’ family projects.
There are also organizations that provide financial contributions, bonuses, or other forms of support when an employee gets married or starts a new family. Not all companies can provide a mortgage or directly contribute to building a home, but each company can identify a form of support that fits its own sector: guarantees, low-interest loans, advance payments, rent contributions, special agreements, or easier access to goods and services.
These examples show that housing can become part of Corporate Family Responsibility policies. Cooperation with banks, institutions, and local organizations can further expand these initiatives. Helping a person access housing means supporting the stability of their family and, at the same time, strengthening the employee’s relationship with the organization, their trust in it, and their willingness to stay.
(All photos by Centro CONFyE – IAE Business School)