title: Availability and the use of work-life balance benefits guaranteed by the Polish Labour Code among workers employed on the basis of employment contracts in small and medium enterprises.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Polish Labour Code provides employees with a range of solutions (benefits) supporting them in achieving balance between work and private life. This paper was aimed at indicating availability and the use of legal benefits supporting work-life balance (WLB) among Polish workers of small and medium enterprises.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study sample included 219 respondents, aged 22-64, working in small and medium enterprises and employed on the basis of employment contracts for at least a year. The respondents completed a questionnaire on availability and the use of benefits guaranteed by the Polish Labour Code, referring to their current workplaces.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Most frequently the studied employees took sick leave because of one's own illness and leave on demand. In our sample, 45% of the women took maternity leave and 26% of the men took paternity leave. The respondents took educational and parental leave the least frequently. More than half of the respondents (58%) did not return to the same position after leave devoted to childcare, even though they had such a possibility.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In fact, most of work-life balance benefits guaranteed by law were available to the employees of small and medium enterprises, regardless of their gender. Availability and the use of the majority of benefits were similar among the women and men. Availability of benefits depended on the specificity of industry and a profession, thus, future research on work-life balance policy should control for variables related to the character of work.
authors.affiliation: Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Łódź, Poland (Department of Health and Work Psychology). andysz@imp.lodz.pl.
authors.forename: Aleksandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Andysz
authors.affiliation: Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Łódź, Poland (Department of Health and Work Psychology). awojcik@imp.lodz.pl.
authors.forename: Aleksandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jacukowicz
authors.affiliation: Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Łódź, Poland (Department of Health and Work Psychology). stanczak@imp.lodz.pl.
authors.forename: Aleksander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stańczak
authors.affiliation: Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Łódź, Poland (Department of Health and Work Psychology). drabek@imp.lodz.pl.
authors.forename: Marcin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Drabek
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004493:Education / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004651:Employment / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016524:Parental Leave / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011044:Poland; D018582:Sick Leave / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000072358:Work-Life Balance
keywords: WLB benefits; availability of benefits; gender differences; labour code; small and medium enterprises; use of benefits