Final answer:
Clients may hire their own support workers when workplace-provided support, such as flextime and daycare, isn't adequate to alleviate work-family conflict. Personal support workers can offer tailored practical and emotional support to help manage work and family demands.
Step-by-step explanation:
Clients might hire their own support workers for several reasons tied to enhancing their work-life balance and reducing work-family conflict. This need may arise due to increased stress levels, as indicated by research, during certain phases of a program when traditional support structures may not suffice. For instance, if a workplace offers flextime, onsite daycare, or health clinics, but these options do not adequately address an employee's specific family dynamics or scheduling needs, hiring a support worker personally can provide the necessary practical support at home which has been found to be crucial. Similarly, if someone finds the emotional support at their workplace insufficient, they might opt for private assistance to better manage the multiple demands of work and family life.
In a college setting, there can be creative solutions to fund such supports. For example, using students and faculty from the Early Childhood Education program to run a college's daycare program could both provide practical experience for students and reduce overall costs, freeing up resources to pay for additional support roles such as counselors.