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This study examines the relationship between home‐based work (HBW) and time use by comparing unpaid (overtime) home workers, paid (agreed) home workers and non‐home workers. Especially, unpaid HBW was linked to the stretching of working hours and the reduction of free time.

Many European families are affected by the 24/7 economy, but relatively little is known about how working parents experience nonstandard hours. The aim of this study was to analyze the possible associations of dual earners' work schedules and other work-related factors with their experience of time-and strain-based work-family conflict. These phenomena were examined among dual earners living in Finland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, countries that differ in working time practices and policies. Multigroup structural equation modeling was used to analyze cross-cultural data on dual earners with children aged 0 to 12 years (N = 1,000). The results showed that working nonstandard schedules was associated with increased time-based work-family conflict, but only among Finnish and British parents. Poorer financial situation, working longer hours, more time spent working at very high speed, and lower work satisfaction were associated with both types of work-family conflict in all countries.

This study examined the association between parental work schedules and non-parental childcare arrangements among dual-earner families in Finland, the Netherlands and the UK. Data from the 'Families 24/7' web-survey were used, including 937 parents with children aged 0-12 years. Results showed a negative association between non-standard work and formal childcare across all countries. A similar association was found for using a combination of formal and informal childcare, whereas solely using informal childcare was not associated with work characteristics. Country differences showed that, compared with Finland, the probability of using formal childcare was lower in the Netherlands, whereas the probability of using informal childcare was higher in the UK. Interaction effects showed that the negative association between non-standard work and formal childcare was stronger in the Netherlands, compared with Finland. Also, the positive association between working hours and formal childcare was weaker for Dutch and British parents. This study identified the challenges that parents face when arranging childcare outside of office hours. Although the supply of formal childcare seems to be insufficient, using informal childcare introduces other potential problems. Because a considerable proportion of employees work non-standard hours, governments should help these parents in meeting their need for high quality childcare.

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