Work-life Balance and Fathers in Austria? - Empirical Evidence at the Company Level

Against the background of changing formal care regulations in Austria, we discuss the implementation of these policies at company level and its impact on men’s care involvement. Two factors are seen relevant for fathers’ to take up parental leave and to realise a Work-Life-Balance after re-entering labour market: an organisational culture that respects WLB issues as daily practice and where fathers are widely supported and a sector that is dominated by female employees with long experience in WLB-issues. We demonstrate that for both, an organisational culture that puts WLB into practice and a sector with dominantly female employees, individual dispositions decide about if and how WLB is implemented at company level. We argue that more formalised equality policies like collective agreements and statutory standards with sanctions are needed to guarantee WLB in a broader perspective and to foster WLB as an issue also for men.