Reconciling work and family life is one of the main issues of an investive social policy. The aim of these policies is to foster gainful employment for mothers and build up the human capital of the next generation. On that account, policy and research are focused exclusively on women, the reconciliation of work and childbearing and social policy at the state level. In our study on Germany, we concentrate on men who reconcile gainful employment with elderly care and focus on investive social policies at the company level. During the last decade, the share of men who are responsible for taking care of their elderly relatives has remarkably increased in Germany, although at the state level there have not been many political measures which have fostered such a development. Therefore, our study emphasizes the (growing) importance of the company level. We ask such questions as: Which measures help men better reconciling the responsibilities of working and caring? Which familial, social, workplace-related and/or legal resources do they need? What is the role of companies – alongside changing family models and limited state policies – in the provision or support of eldercare?
In our qualitative research, we carried out case studies with eleven companies. We conducted approximately 60 interviews with male employees caring for an elderly relative as well as with members of the works councils and human resources departments in different kinds of companies. The results of our empirical study show that even smaller companies play a decisive role in some aspects of investive social policy. At the same time it is clear that a lack of comprehensive measures at the state level can be counterbalanced at the company level only to a very limited degree.
