Large numbers of employees now combine both paid employment and caring responsibilities. This raises important issues for the organisation of work and family life. New research explores employee and managerial experiences in two different localities and in three different sectors of employment - local government, supermarkets and retail banking - where family-friendly employment policies are being implemented. The researchers - Sue Yeandle, Rosemary Crompton, Andrea Wigfield and Jane Dennett - surveyed employees and interviewed managers, employed carers and care providers. The research team, based at Sheffield Hallam and City Universities, found that:

• Fifty per cent of employees surveyed, including those with care responsibilities, were unaware of the family-friendly policies of their employers.
• In both localities, employers had very few links with local care service providers.
• Relatives were the main source of help for employed carers. Carers in Sheffield were more able to draw on support from relatives than carers in Canterbury. This reflects lesser geographical mobility in Sheffield, and lower employment rates.
• Managers' understanding of the policies they were responsible for implementing varied. Many felt they had not received suitable training and guidance about implementation issues.
• Employees and managers sometimes struggled to balance carers' needs for flexibility with service delivery. Where workers could readily substitute for each other, as in supermarkets, flexible systems could be introduced with minimal disruption. This was more difficult where jobs were highly specialised. Most managers were sympathetic to carers' needs; there was little evidence of hostility to employed carers.
• In the bank and the local authorities, recent reorganisations and leaner staffing were barriers to effective implementation of family-friendly employment policies.
• Local managers in the same organisation did not interpret policies differently, although individual discretion created some ambiguity and variation.
• While managerial discretion was crucial in enabling employees to integrate their work and caring responsibilities, it could lead to perceived inequities in the treatment of individuals.

Since 1997, a variety of policy changes affecting employees with care responsibilities have been introduced. These cover part-time working, working time, employees' rights to time off to deal with caring situations, and changes to entitlements to parental leave. National strategies for carers and for childcare have also been introduced.

This new research investigates how carers with all kinds of responsibilities manage their employment and family lives. The study was carried out in three types of organisation: retail banking, supermarkets and local government. It compares experience in each organisation in the two contrasting localities of Sheffield and Canterbury.

Overall, one in five of employees cared for a dependent adult and one in three cared for children (see Table 1).

"We try and be as obliging as possible but it's very difficult because we need staff to serve customers, and for things like unpaid leave we don't have enough counter staff, so it's very difficult. I think we are understaffed anyway and so to let staff have more time off makes it even more difficult." (Bank: manager)

"Due to cuts we are short-staffed. ... if it's leave for emergency care then we just have to cope somehow, but it does increase the stress on other staff." (Local authority: manager)

"You have this problem at the end of the day - a couple of hours' gap between the time that the school finishes and the time that you would normally finish work." (Local authority: employee)

"From hearing what everyone is saying, it does sound as if school holidays would be a time that perhaps employers could focus on because it is the one at which your heart sinks when you're just approaching it." (Local authority: employee)

Carers of older and disabled people, including disabled children, have particular needs. They were especially concerned about responding to unforeseen events.

"Now and again my mum in law [aged 87] is ill and I can't give 3 weeks notice to see her, so I would like to say to [my managers in the supermarket], 'I just have to go to help her. I'm her only child'." (Supermarket: employee)

"[I'm] unable to take odd days off in an emergency. Holidays are booked nearly a year in advance, and if any days are saved for 'emergencies' it is very difficult to obtain time off when needed." (Bank: employee)

There was concern that increased workplace pressures were making caring difficult. But carers also stressed that they valued the experience of employment; some emphasised that their income was essential.

Employers were rarely involved in the formal care arrangements used by their staff. Despite their commitment to family-friendly practices, they had not established strong links with local service providers. From the review of local service provision, some examples of innovative practice emerged (see Box 1) and some practitioners delivering services felt new policies held the potential to offer better support for employed carers.

• There is a need to increase awareness of employers' policies.
• Unpaid leave helps some carers, and is welcomed by them, but its financial consequences are an important barrier to take-up.
• More training needs to be available for managers.
• This training needs to address differences in managers' approaches to implementation, which can result in inequities between employees.
• There is scant evidence of opposition to family-friendly employment policies, among managers or employees.
• As family-friendly policies are susceptible to changes in business and organisational pressures, there is a continuing role for government.
• Policy development needs to recognise the differing needs of different categories of carer.
• Government support is needed to develop employer-community initiatives and to improve channels of communication between employers and care providers.