Job contracts, parenthood and work satisfaction: perspectives from decent work

The future of work is undoubtedly linked to the sustainability of job contracts and of work-family relationship. The article aims at reflecting the practical application of the decent work definition as a set of dimensions that facilitates the understanding of worker’s perceptions of different job contracts. The study, with a correlational design and cluster analysis, investigates the differences between workers with dissimilar job contracts, for what concern work-family conflict issues, job satisfaction, and other variables. By using a person-centred approach, an index of decent work was constructed and then used as an independent variable in a factorial ANOVA. Study 1 involved a sample of 3122 workers coming from different regions of Italy; Study 2 involved 901 workers from different Italian regions. Results revealed that women with children were more satisfied with their job rather than childless women, even if their job was not secure and guaranteed. This result collides with the decrease of nativities, probably due to the backward laws on work-life balance. The legal system needs to update laws in terms of reconciliation, to encourage parenthood. Decent work can facilitate the understanding of recent development in exchanges between workers and organizations, and provide a useful framework for understanding key processes in personnel management, job contract management, and work-family policies.