Promoting family‐friendly policies: Is the basis of the Government's ethical standpoint viable?

This article examines how human resource (HR) practitioners are responding to the current UK Government's “business case” approach to promoting family‐friendly policies. The ethical basis of the Government's approach to work‐life balance is examined and the results of a survey of HR practitioners’ views on this issue are presented. Findings indicate that, when examining the interdependent factors that determine the ethical basis of support and opposition to such policies, respondents are more likely to reject the Government's rationale on equal and opposite terms to which they are being promoted.