In many families today, both the mother and the father have jobs outside the home. This can make it difficult to take care of the children. To help, some companies are changing the work rules. These companies are trying to be more family-friendly.
What are companies doing to become family-friendly? Many companies are allowing their employees (雇员) to work flexible (灵活的) hours. With flexible hours, people can work full time, but they don’t have to work to a nine-to-five schedule. Some employees choose to come early and leave early. Some employees choose to work ten hours one day and six hours the next. Most companies say that flexible hours increase productivity. In the United States, about one-third of full-time employees have flexible work schedules.
Family-friendly companies also allow two employees to share one job. Each employee does half the job and gets half the salary. In the United States, 27% of the companies offer some kind of job sharing.
Many family-friendly companies also give paid leave to both parents when a baby is born. In many countries, employers have to give female workers time off before and after the birth of a child. In the United States, for example, female employees get 12 weeks of unpaid time off. New mothers can stay at home, but they don t get their salary. In some countries, employers have to give all workers paid leave for the birth of their child. In Finland, for example, both male and female employees get paid leave. Women get 105 days of paid leave and men get 42.
The way people work is changing. For many people, that is a good thing.
【小题1】Some companies make some changes in their work rules to ________.| A．enable parents to take care of their children |
| B．give parents more time to relax |
| C．provide parents with more job opportunities |
| D．allow parents to work at home |
| A．can arrange their work time themselves | B．can work with their babies around |
| C．must work from nine to five | D．must share jobs with others |
| A．Employers become busier with flexible hours. |
| B．Employers have enough time to look after their children. |
| C．Employees can get job-sharing opportunities in some American companies. |
| D．Employees can have three months’ paid leave in some American companies. |
| A．they have physical problems | B．they have a new baby |
| C．they do a good job | D．they do extra work |
| A．companies’ work rules about getting leave |
| B．ways of job sharing in some companies |
| C．job opportunities for female employees |
| D．some companies’ family-friendly rules |
