Showing papers on "Work–life balance published in 2004"

Working to live or living to work? Work/life balance early in the career

Abstract: This article reports the findings of research that explored relationships between work/life balance, work/non-work conflict, hours worked and organisational commitment among a sample of graduates in the early years of their career. It concludes that, although graduates seek work/life balance, their concern for career success draws them into a situation where they work increasingly long hours and experience an increasingly unsatisfactory relationship between home and work. The article discusses the causes and potential consequences of this predicament and in particular how work/non-work conflict is linked to hours worked, the state of the psychological contract and organisational commitment. It highlights the role of organisations' policy and practice in helping to manage the relationship between work and non-work and the development of organisational commitment through support for younger employees' lives out-of-work and effective management of aspects of the psychological contract.

Work-life balance and the software worker

Abstract: This article examines the impact of employer flexibility to work-life issues and negative spillover from work to non-work life on the attitudes of software developers. Software workers present an interesting case for work-life balance issues - Ackroyd et al (2000) designate them the key occupation to examine in future studies of 'knowledge workers', and Barrett (2001) states that they are the 'vanguard' of new working practices, with the separation of work and life being substantially more 'blurred' than for more traditional occupations. Despite this general perception of the work-life boundary, our results show that intrusion of work into private life for this group of workers still has a substantial impact on work-related attitudes. Work-life boundary variables affect trust in the organisation which plays a mediational role in these variables' relationship to job satisfaction and organisational commitment. Our results suggest that even within this industry, where employees are relatively individualistic in orientation, highly marketable and unlikely to show attachment to a single organisation, mutual gains for employee and employer can be attained by an accommodating approach to non-work commitments which may lead to greater organisational attachment.

Work–life Balance and Working from Home

Abstract: In recent years, there has been increasing focus on the question of how to balance work and life commitments in both academic and political debates. Homeworking is one initiative that has been promoted as a way of improving the work–life balance. This paper examines the experience of homeworking drawing on a recently completed ESRC study on homeworkers. Using the data from 45 interviews and 3 focus groups with homeworkers from different socio-economic backgrounds, it explores the question of whether working (or not) from home improves people's capacity to balance their work and life commitments.

Occupational balance: exploring the relationships among daily occupations and their influence on well-being.

Abstract: In this lecture, I have reviewed theoretical discussions and definitions of occupational balance, findings from selected studies, and highlighted some methods for measuring aspects of occupational balance. Are any of these ideas directly applicable to occupational therapy practice, education and research? Consider the hassles of everyday life, and add the complicating factors of illness, injury, disability, and limited income. Life, and the pursuit of necessary, desirable and obligatory occupations, can become overwhelming. Given that occupational therapists aim to enable individuals, regardless of ability, to successfully engage in a range of occupations, the answer to the question is yes. Furthering our understanding of occupational balance can improve our ability to serve individual clients and society. In 2001, Fearing stated in her Muriel Driver Memorial Lecture: We will not only recognize and value the skill of maintaining balance, our own and that of our clients, but we will live it. Balance will not be viewed as a set of scales that has equal parts such as work on one side and play on the other but rather the kind of balance that comes from being centred so that we act from a stable base. From that stable base, we will gain a keen sensitivity to rhythm--knowing when to move and when to let go. (Fearing, 2001 pp. 214-215) Perhaps these reflections have added a little coherence to the study of occupational balance. Occupational balance is a relative state, recognizable by a happy or pleasant integration of life activities and demands. There are indicators of imbalance, more so than tangible ways to measure it, and once recognized occupational therapists have the strategies to help restore a sense of occupational balance. Given our collective history and skill in client-centred practice, occupational therapists are capable of both advancing this line of inquiry and attaining occupational balance for ourselves and our clients.

Working part-time: achieving a successful ‘work-life’ balance?†

Abstract: The role of part-time employment in the balancing of women's employment and family lives has generated an immense literature. Using data on women working part-time and full-time in different level occupations in the British Household Panel Survey, this paper argues that it is now vital to move these balancing debates on from their location within work-family rhetoric and to re-position the study of women's working time in broader work-life discussions. Work-family debates tend to neglect a number of key domains that women balance in their lives, in addition to family and employment, including their financial security and their leisure. The paper shows that examining the financial situations and the leisure lives of female part-timers in lower level jobs reveals a less positive picture of their 'life balancing' than is portrayed in much work-family literature. Instead, they emerged as the least financially secure employees and, linked to this, less satisfied with their social lives too. It is concluded that since the work-life system is multi- and not just two-dimensional, it is important to examine how all life domains interrelate with each other. In this way, we would be in a better position to begin to assess all the benefits and disadvantages associated with working part-time and with other work-life balancing strategies.

Lacking balance? Work-life employment practices in the modern economy

Abstract: The UK has operated a lightly regulated approach to help employees balance their work and domestic obligations, an approach which employers have welcomed and which they and Government consider to be successful. On the basis of empirical studies this paper challenges these assumptions and outcomes. Apart from definitional difficulties, seven major problems associated with current UK practice over work‐life balance are identified. The first problem concerns unevenness of adoption across different sectors and organisations. The second is a lack of formalisation of policies at organisational level, with largely untrained line mangers having discretion over policy application. Third, there is restricted employee voice over the introduction and implementation of policies. Fourth, policies are introduced primarily to meet business needs, rather than those of employees. Fifth, there is no evidence of reductions in working hours. Sixth, tangible and intangible work intrusions into domestic life have been identified. Finally, domestic responsibilities are still conducted primarily by women irrespective of their employment status. The researchers conclude that many employees continue to face difficulty in reconciling their work and domestic responsibilities.

Work‐life balance initiatives: implications for women

Abstract: This article uses evidence from a piece of action research conducted in the UK hospitality industry to explore the effectiveness of work‐life balance initiatives in helping women progress to senior management. It explores the main barriers to women's progression and highlights the long hours associated with managerial roles as a major problem. The article shows that the business case which underpins diversity management and a voluntary approach to work‐life balance may only deliver positive benefits to women when the labour market is tight, and, even then, the benefits for women in management are far from demonstrated. A stronger equal opportunities approach is also shown to be problematic as it draws attention to women's “difference” to men and their need for special treatment. Given the contingent nature of the business case, it is argued that a strong floor of rights is still needed to protect the most vulnerable employees, especially in an industry where trade unions have virtually no “voice”. It is further argued that more work needs to be done with male managers in order to humanise the workplace for men and women who wish to lead rounded lives.

Fathers and Mothers: Dilemmas of the Work-Life Balance: A Comparative Study in Four European Countries

Abstract: Preface Gosta Esping-Andersen. Acknowledgements. Notes On Authors. Table Of Contents. List Of Tables In Text. List Of Figures In Text. List Of Tables In Appendix. 1: Introduction:- Overview of Book. 2: France:- Setting The Context: French Family And Childcare Policies. Childcare Allowances: Reducing The Costs Of Childcare For Working Parents. Parental Leave And Child-Rearing Benefit. Attitudinal Studies. Workplace Policies In France. New Challenges: Is There A Predicament For Family Policy? 3: Italy:- National Social Policies. Workplace Policies-Objective Measures. Attitudinal Studies-Subjective Measures. Studies On Gender Role Attitudes. 4: Denmark:- Denmark By Numbers. Danish Rules Of Leave. Leave And The Labour. Gender And Working Life In Workplace Cultures. Scandinavian Equality Model(S). 5: Ireland:- National Social Policies. Current Status Of Family-Friendly Arrangements In Irish Workplaces. Childcare In Ireland: An Historical Perspective And Current Policy Issues. Attitudinal Studies: Changing Gender Roles And Social Policies In Ireland. 6: A Comparison Of The Four Countries: An Overview:- Women's Labour Force Participation. Relationships Between Fertility And Employment. Comparative Social Policies. Flexible Working. Gender Roles And Attitudes. Research On Fathering. Conclusion. 7: Methodology:- Method. Characteristics Of The Sample. 8: Children And Family Life:- The Effect Of The Birth Of The Youngest Child On Work And Family Life. Division Of Labour Within The Household. Childcare. Time Preferences. 9: The Workplace:- Workplace Demographics. Changes In Work Following The Birth Of The Youngest Child. Potential For Flexibility. Perceptions Of Workplace Attitudes. Workplace Policies. 10: Combining Work And Family Life:- Reconciling Work And Family. Well-Being. Correlates Of Well-Being. 11: Summary And Discussion:- Background. The Study. Children And Family Life. The Workplace. Combining Work And Family Life. Conclusions And Social Policy Implications. Appendix A: Tables. Appendix B: Questionnaire. References. Author Index. Index.

The organizational stratification of opportunities for work–life balance

Abstract: As organizational scholars, we offer an ‘organizational stratification’ approach useful for revealing inequalities in the distribution of work–life ‘opportunities’ within and across jobs and workplaces. In doing so, we discuss the implications of historically narrow conceptualizations of workplace opportunity — typically focused on promotion only — and suggest a more expansive approach to theorizing, and in turn operationalizing, workplace opportunities essential to worker and family well‐being. We illustrate how researchers might employ an organizational stratification approach by describing an ongoing research project in which we differentiate opportunities ‘on paper’ from opportunities ‘in practice’ and examine variations in how US employers distribute work–life opportunities among lower‐skilled jobs. We demonstrate how an organizational stratification perspective can be useful for developing knowledge on the nature of inequality in the distribution of opportunities for work–life balance, and thus, for...

Managing the Family: Productivity, Scheduling and the Male Veto

Abstract: This paper argues that research, analysis and policy innovations focused on how households combine paid work with care responsibilities are driven to too great a degree by preconceptions of "the problem" that do not take sufficient account of how families themselves understand their work and care roles and the choices they are making. The evidence of 246 SOCCARE interviews across five European countries (Finland, France, Italy, Portugal and the UK) is that the variables that are conventionally accepted as having fundamental significance (family-friendly policies and generous care services, flexible working hours, women's work–life preferences, family type, national labour markets, cultural differences) are less important than is often suggested. More important are time pressures and the idiosyncratic factors that constrain the work and care timetables that families are able to construct. We characterize these as "scheduling problems". They occupied a large part of the accounts of their lives provided by our respondents and are a primary dimension within which their combinations of paid work and care responsibilities need to be understood. The difficulties our respondents faced in coordinating the work and care activities of their families bear a striking similarity to the problems described in the operations research literature on small businesses. Within the context of these scheduling problems a second important factor emerged: the preferences and behaviour of men who played a critical, though often passive, part in the construction of work and care timetables of the families. We characterize this effect as the "the male veto".

At What Price Inclusion? Some Pedagogic Implications of the Digital Divide

Abstract: Current claims by government, major IT companies and educational institutions in the UK that IT skills offer enhanced inclusion into the new economy, are attracting women to the field of information systems The needs of one social group – lone women parents – that IT skills initiatives seek to include will be analyzed in the light of another policy trend, the ‘work life balance’ Using narrative data from a research study of the Cisco Academy network engineer training programme, multiple stakeholder perspectives will be examined in relation to these two initiatives The narratives presented highlight a systemic paradox; that the design of IT skills development scheme, the policy principle of ‘work life balance’, and the inclusion of lone women parents are simultaneously working in opposition to each other By critically analyzing the assumptions underpinning IT skills training in the UK, this paper considers the implications of the contradictions revealed for government policy formation, the design of IT skills initiatives, and our understanding of the role of IT skills in the development of society

Work life balance initiatives : creating change by changing the culture

Abstract: This study looked at three organizations that have recently introduced work life balance into their culture. What role culture plays in the implementation and continuous development and sustainability of work life balance in organizations was the reason for this study. Interviews were conducted at all three organizations with individuals from all levels of the organizations. It was discovered that culture, through the mechanisms of psychological contracting, managerial support, and effective communication plays a significant role in the implementation, development, and sustainability of work life balance. These mechanisms of change facilitate a culture that supports work life balance. Despite the support of work life balance, as with any change initiative, resistance was discovered. Resistance was looked at from the perspective of employees: 1) not knowing about the changes, 2) not being able to participate in the changes, and 3) not being willing to be involved in the changes. In these organizations resistance was best mitigated by constant and effective communication.

Reconciling work and parenthood in the new european work place: The role of colleagues

Abstract: Paper presented at CRFR conferance: work life balance across the lifecourse 30 June - 2 July 2004 at University of Edinburgh, Scotland

"Work-Life Balance - An Exploration"

Abstract: For Ireland to continue to build on its competitive success, recruitment and retention of quality employees has become a major concern for employers. Work and parenthood can create conflicting pressures on employees, resulting in problems for both employers and employees, such as lost time and reduced productivity. Today, skilled people have more options than ever before about whom they work for. As the labour force becomes diverse, the issue of managing this diversity, including family-friendly, worklife balance issues, is both a challenge and an opportunity for organisations. Innovative ways are increasingly required to both encourage existing staff to remain with an organisation and also to attract those considering a return to the paid workforce. Family friendly work arrangements/work-life balance are an essential aspect of the process of allowing workers to combine labour market participation with their caring responsibilities and personal life outside the workplace. Work-life balance arrangements are beneficial for both employers and employees. From an employers point of view, offering work-life balance can benefit the organisation in many ways, such as increased productivity and staff retention. From an employee's point of view, benefits such as combining work and family responsibilities can be facilitated by a company that offers these initiatives. The focus of this dissertation is to research issues relating to a family-friendly workplace and work-life balance policies and practices, including the analysis of concepts, exploration of usage and take-up in ANFIS Ireland and employee satisfaction rates.