Nowadays, painless connection of professional and family life is an ideal desired virtually by all parents in the Czech society. It is certainly difficult to be engaged at work and in the family life as well. All parents face the problem of how to divide their attention and time. Whether this decision happens knowingly or rather intuitively, in the end, the parents have to find a certain compromise between their professional and family life.
The following text is based mainly on public opinion researches carried out by the Centre for Public Opinion Research of Academy of Science of the Czech Republic (Centrum pro výzkum veřejného mínění AV ČR). It will try to answer how successful is the process of harmonization of professional and family life in Czech families. It will also try to find out, what could facilitate this process for Czech parents and on the contrary, what makes harmonization of family and work in families more difficult.
Let us first have a look at the importance that people assign to their family and to their work. The CVVM research carried out in May 2004 dealt, among others, with the problem of value orientation. On the whole we can say that close friends and relatives have the highest value for majority of respondents. Almost all of the questioned stated that it is important for them to help their family and friends and live in a happy family (both statements were supported by 97 % of the questioned). Czech citizens assign absolutely crucial meaning to their surroundings and to their health.
90 % of Czech citizens ascribe important role to their work. As for professional values, the most important one is to have interesting and at the same time useful and meaningful job. For almost nine out of ten Czechs it is important to work in a group of nice people and to have a high salary. With respect to the importance that the Czechs ascribe to professional and family sphere, the problem of harmonizing family and professional life is surely worth examining.
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