Work–life balance

About: Work–life balance is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2252 publications have been published within this topic receiving 36240 citations. The topic is also known as: Work Life balance & work-life balance.

Policies and Practices of Family Friendliness. Time and Employment Relations in Knowledge Work

Abstract: In Norway an ideology of gender equality and the universal welfare state has created generous leave arrangements for parents, both mothers and fathers, to make the combination of work and family possible.To recruit competent women and men, knowledge work organisations have to accommodate to working hours that are compatible with the responsibility for a family. In the knowledge economy in Norway we therefore find women and men with higher education trying to act out the ideals of gen- der equality at work and at home. In this paper we explore how family-friendly policies in knowledge work organisations result in family-friendly practices.We do this by analysing two R&D departments belonging to large Norwegian companies in the international market. Both had policies of gender equality and family friendly working time arrangements and career opportunities for women with reduced hours.We show how different employment relations and forms of organisation influenced the work and time practices of the research scientists. Using the concept of social contracts in em- ployment and a relational concept of time, we found that it was more difficult to realise the reduced hours in the organisation that took responsibility for the career and welfare of their employees in a long-term perspective because of the mutual trust and obligations in this relationship.The women in the organisation with more transactional relations where their employment was dependent upon the market and their short-term economic performance, were able to use their accounting system to reduce their hours.The young fathers in the same organisation who were not yet established as experts, could not use the accounting system to limit their hours like the senior women.They needed to work long hours on scientific publications to qualify as researchers to secure their employment. In Norway an ideology of gender equality and the universal welfare state has created generous leave arrangements for parents, both mothers and fathers, to make the combination of work and family possible.To recruit competent women and men, knowledge work organisations have to accommodate to working hours that are compatible with the responsibility for a family. In the knowledge economy in Norway we therefore find women and men with higher education trying to act out the ideals of gen- der equality at work and at home. In this paper we explore how family-friendly policies in knowledge work organisations result in family-friendly practices. We do this by analysing two R&D departments belonging to large Norwegian companies in the international market. Both had policies of gender equality and family friendly working time arrangements and career opportunities for women with reduced hours.We show how different employment relations and forms of organisation influenced the work and time practices of the research scientists. Using the concept of social contracts in em- ployment and a relational concept of time, we found that it was more difficult to realise the reduced hours in the organisation that took responsibility for the career and welfare of their employees in a long-term perspective because of the mutual trust and obligations in this relationship.The women in the organisation with more transactional relations where their employment was dependent upon the market and their short-term economic performance, were able to use their accounting system to reduce their hours.The young fathers in the same organisation who were not yet established as experts, could not use the accounting system to limit their hours like the senior women.They needed to work long hours on scientific publications to qualify as researchers to secure their employment.

Impact of work–life policies on organizational commitment of construction professionals: role of work–life balance

Abstract: This paper examines the relationship between work–life policies (WLPs) and organizational commitment, and determines if work–life balance (WLB) mediates in the relationship as it concerns female co...

Work-Life Balance, Working Conditions and the Great Recession

Abstract: While concern with the interface between work and family life is not new, work-life balance has risen to prominence in academic and policy debates in recent years. This has occurred in the context of rising female participation in the labour market, and a concomitant rise in the proportion of people combining work and caring roles (McGinnity and Whelan 2009). Work does not happen in a vacuum: individuals weave work into their lives in myriad ways, and to a greater or lesser extent feel ‘successful’ or ‘balanced’ in how they do this.

Work–Life Balance and the Needs of Female Employees in the Telecommunications Industry in a Developing Country: A Critical Realist Approach to Issues in Industrial and Organizational Social Psychology

Abstract: Finding a balance between the demands of the role requirements of work, family, and social life is a challenging problem for modern society and is particularly relevant for the growth of women’s pa...

Quality of Life and Satisfaction with the Work-life Balance

Abstract: In spite of an abundance of literature on the quality of work and the quality of life, we still know little about the relationship between the individual’s ability to balance working with other areas of life and overall life satisfaction. In particular, we have only limited knowledge of how work organizations, the working environment and the broader societal context affect this relationship. Paid employment is an important determinant of a high quality of life in Europe (Clark, 2001a, 2005). Working not only gives people an adequate amount of money to make ends meet, but it also offers them a clear time structure, a sense of identity, social status and integration, and opportunities for personal development (Gallie, 2002, 2007). However, with demands rising both at work and in the home (see Chapter 2), managing the interface between work and other life domains is becoming increasingly complex and difficult. As a result, people may feel less satisfied with their work-life balance and this, in turn, may affect their quality of life (Parasuraman et al., 1992; Rice et al., 1992; et al., 1999). There are signs that the ability to balance working with other life domains is becoming an important issue for individuals’ quality of life in Europe, and that its relevance to overall life satisfaction grows along with a country’s economic prosperity and welfare provisions (Szucs et al., 2008; Drobnic et al., 2010). The EU Social Agenda and the Lisbon Strategy have identified the compatibility of work and family life as a core value, one that is believed to have major influence on quality of life (European Foundation for Living and Working Conditions, 2005). It is therefore important to study both the relationship between working life and private life and the sources of work-life balance and well-being from a comparative European perspective.