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Life Balance (life + balance)
Selected Abstracts,Allowed into a Man's World' Meanings of Work,Life Balance: Perspectives of Women Civil Engineers as ,Minority' Workers in ConstructionGENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 1 2009Jacqueline H. Watts This article discusses how women working as civil engineers within the UK construction industry perceive work,life balance and considers strategies they use to achieve this. The findings are presented of a qualitative research project that explored the experiences of women in this role, focusing on the subcultural context of a profession that is dominated by the values of presenteeism and infinite availability. A feminist post-structuralist framework is used to analyse how women negotiate their personal and professional time and the extent to which their other roles as carers and nurturers unsettle male work practices in this highly gendered profession. There are gradually increasing numbers of women in professional construction roles and their success appears to depend on being able to fit in to the dominant masculine culture of long working hours and the male pub gathering. Despite an increased presence, women's minority status in construction continues to challenge their professional identity and this is central to the conflict many face between the dual roles of corporate worker and private non-work person. [source] Time and Work,Life Balance: The Roles of ,Temporal Customization' and ,Life Temporality'GENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 5 2008Emma Roberts This article poses a challenge to the orthodox binary, conceptualization of work,life balance only made possible by relying on the widespread ,clock time' worldview, which understands employment practices in terms of the basic time = money equation. In particular, it is the balance metaphor which relies on a quantification of both work and life in order to make sense and can therefore be seen to be based on an understanding of time as a measurable and value-able unit. This article seeks to begin the exercise of examining the concept of work,life balance through a broader concept of the temporal dimension than simply limited quantitative notions. Two temporal themes are reported from a study which identified employees who had customized their working pattern to suit the various and multi-dimensional facets of their lifestyles and thereby successfully improved their work,life balance. Participants in this study demonstrated that an improved work,life balance is more about a mind-set that refuses to be dominated by a work temporality and is determined to create ,me time' rather than e.g. simply choosing a four day week or a part-time job. It is argued that the notion of work,life balance is more usefully conceptualized within a broader notion of ,livingscapes' which contain both elements of work and life and that as researchers, our challenge must be to reflect the complexity of this weave within our analyses of individuals' work,life balance. [source] ,I'm Home for the Kids': Contradictory Implications for Work,Life Balance of Teleworking MothersGENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 5 2008Margo Hilbrecht This study explores the experience of time flexibility and its relationship to work,life balance among married female teleworkers with school-aged children. Drawing from a larger study of teleworkers from a Canadian financial corporation, 18 mothers employed in professional positions discussed work, leisure and their perceptions of work,life balance in in-depth interviews. Telework was viewed positively because flexible scheduling facilitated optimal time management. A key factor was the pervasiveness of caregiving, which could result in ongoing tensions and contradictions between the ethic of care and their employment responsibilities. The ideology of ,intensive mothering' meant that work schedules were closely tied to the rhythms of children's school and leisure activities. The different temporal demands of motherhood and employment resulted in little opportunity for personal leisure. Time ,saved' from not having to commute to an office was reallocated to caregiving, housework or paid employment rather than to time for their self. The women also experienced a traditional gendered division of household labour and viewed telework as a helpful tool for combining their dual roles. Time flexibility enhanced their sense of balancing work and life and their perceived quality of life. At the same time, they did not question whether having the primary responsibility for caregiving while engaged in paid employment at home was fair or whether it was a form of exploitation. [source] Discourses of Work,Life Balance: Negotiating ,Genderblind' Terms in OrganizationsGENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 2 2005Janet Smithson This article examines current debates about gender equality, work-life balance and flexible working. We contrast policymakers' and organizational discourses of flexible working and work,life balance with managers' and employees' talk about these issues within their organizations. We show how, despite the increasingly gender-neutral language of the official discourses, in the data studied participants consistently reformulate the debates around gendered explanations and assumptions. For example, a ,generic female parent' is constructed in relation to work,life balance and flexible working yet participants routinely maintain that gender makes no difference within their organization. We consider the effects of these accounts; specifically the effect on those who take up flexible working, and the perceived backlash against policies viewed as favouring women or parents. We argue that the location of work,life balance and flexibility debates within a gender-neutral context can in practice result in maintaining or encouraging gendered practices within organizations. Implications of this for organizations, for policymakers and for feminist researchers are discussed. [source] The New Economy and the Work,Life Balance: Conceptual Explorations and a Case Study of New MediaGENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 1 2003Diane Perrons Given the varied claims made about the new economy and its implications for the organization of work and life, this article critically evaluates some conceptualizations of the new economy and then explores how the new media sector has materialized and been experienced by people working in Brighton and Hove, a new media hub. New technologies and patterns of working allow the temporal and spatial boundaries of paid work to be extended, potentially allowing more people, especially those with caring responsibilities, to become involved, possibly leading to a reduction in gender inequality. This article, based on 55 in-depth interviews with new media owners, managers and some employees in small and micro enterprises, evaluates this claim. Reference is made to the gender-differentiated patterns of ownership and earnings; flexible working patterns, long hours and homeworking and considers whether these working patterns are compatible with a work,life balance. The results indicate that while new media creates new opportunities for people to combine interesting paid work with caring responsibilities, a marked gender imbalance remains. [source] ,High-performance' Management Practices, Working Hours and Work,Life BalanceBRITISH JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, Issue 2 2003Michael White The effects of selected high-performance practices and working hours on work,life balance are analysed with data from national surveys of British employees in 1992 and 2000. Alongside long hours, which are a constant source of negative job-to-home spillover, certain ,high-performance' practices have become more strongly related to negative spillover during this period. Surprisingly, dual-earner couples are not especially liable to spillover , if anything, less so than single-earner couples. Additionally, the presence of young children has become less important over time. Overall, the results suggest a conflict between high-performance practices and work-life balance policies. [source] What Would You Sacrifice?GENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 1 2009Access to Top Management, life Balance, the Work This article is based on a current research, combining quantitative (human resources figures and statistics) and qualitative data (60 interviews with career managers, top managers and high potential talents, both men and women), conducted in a major French utility company on the subject of diversity and more specifically on the issue of women's access to top management positions. The main purpose of this research is to understand the difficulties women may encounter in the course of their occupational career linked to organizational aspects, including the ,glass ceiling' processes, informal norms related to management positions (such as time and mobility constraints) and social and cultural representations attached to leadership. The other perspective of this research focuses on the different strategies women and men build either to conform to the organizational norms or bypass them. The issue of work,life balance are therefore addressed both from a corporate/organizational standpoint and an individual and family perspective. [source] Time and Work,Life Balance: The Roles of ,Temporal Customization' and ,Life Temporality'GENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 5 2008Emma Roberts This article poses a challenge to the orthodox binary, conceptualization of work,life balance only made possible by relying on the widespread ,clock time' worldview, which understands employment practices in terms of the basic time = money equation. In particular, it is the balance metaphor which relies on a quantification of both work and life in order to make sense and can therefore be seen to be based on an understanding of time as a measurable and value-able unit. This article seeks to begin the exercise of examining the concept of work,life balance through a broader concept of the temporal dimension than simply limited quantitative notions. Two temporal themes are reported from a study which identified employees who had customized their working pattern to suit the various and multi-dimensional facets of their lifestyles and thereby successfully improved their work,life balance. Participants in this study demonstrated that an improved work,life balance is more about a mind-set that refuses to be dominated by a work temporality and is determined to create ,me time' rather than e.g. simply choosing a four day week or a part-time job. It is argued that the notion of work,life balance is more usefully conceptualized within a broader notion of ,livingscapes' which contain both elements of work and life and that as researchers, our challenge must be to reflect the complexity of this weave within our analyses of individuals' work,life balance. [source] ,I'm Home for the Kids': Contradictory Implications for Work,Life Balance of Teleworking MothersGENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 5 2008Margo Hilbrecht This study explores the experience of time flexibility and its relationship to work,life balance among married female teleworkers with school-aged children. Drawing from a larger study of teleworkers from a Canadian financial corporation, 18 mothers employed in professional positions discussed work, leisure and their perceptions of work,life balance in in-depth interviews. Telework was viewed positively because flexible scheduling facilitated optimal time management. A key factor was the pervasiveness of caregiving, which could result in ongoing tensions and contradictions between the ethic of care and their employment responsibilities. The ideology of ,intensive mothering' meant that work schedules were closely tied to the rhythms of children's school and leisure activities. The different temporal demands of motherhood and employment resulted in little opportunity for personal leisure. Time ,saved' from not having to commute to an office was reallocated to caregiving, housework or paid employment rather than to time for their self. The women also experienced a traditional gendered division of household labour and viewed telework as a helpful tool for combining their dual roles. Time flexibility enhanced their sense of balancing work and life and their perceived quality of life. At the same time, they did not question whether having the primary responsibility for caregiving while engaged in paid employment at home was fair or whether it was a form of exploitation. [source] Discourses of Work,Life Balance: Negotiating ,Genderblind' Terms in OrganizationsGENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 2 2005Janet Smithson This article examines current debates about gender equality, work-life balance and flexible working. We contrast policymakers' and organizational discourses of flexible working and work,life balance with managers' and employees' talk about these issues within their organizations. We show how, despite the increasingly gender-neutral language of the official discourses, in the data studied participants consistently reformulate the debates around gendered explanations and assumptions. For example, a ,generic female parent' is constructed in relation to work,life balance and flexible working yet participants routinely maintain that gender makes no difference within their organization. We consider the effects of these accounts; specifically the effect on those who take up flexible working, and the perceived backlash against policies viewed as favouring women or parents. We argue that the location of work,life balance and flexibility debates within a gender-neutral context can in practice result in maintaining or encouraging gendered practices within organizations. Implications of this for organizations, for policymakers and for feminist researchers are discussed. [source] The New Economy and the Work,Life Balance: Conceptual Explorations and a Case Study of New MediaGENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 1 2003Diane Perrons Given the varied claims made about the new economy and its implications for the organization of work and life, this article critically evaluates some conceptualizations of the new economy and then explores how the new media sector has materialized and been experienced by people working in Brighton and Hove, a new media hub. New technologies and patterns of working allow the temporal and spatial boundaries of paid work to be extended, potentially allowing more people, especially those with caring responsibilities, to become involved, possibly leading to a reduction in gender inequality. This article, based on 55 in-depth interviews with new media owners, managers and some employees in small and micro enterprises, evaluates this claim. Reference is made to the gender-differentiated patterns of ownership and earnings; flexible working patterns, long hours and homeworking and considers whether these working patterns are compatible with a work,life balance. The results indicate that while new media creates new opportunities for people to combine interesting paid work with caring responsibilities, a marked gender imbalance remains. [source] Expert commentary on work,life balance and crossover of emotions and experiences: Theoretical and practice advancements,JOURNAL OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR, Issue 5 2009Mina Westman Professor Mina Westman, the head of Organisational Behaviour Program at the Tel Aviv is a leading international expert on the crossover of emotions and experiences in the family and the workplace. In this interview with Paula Brough and Thomas Kalliath (guest editors), Professor Westman clarifies the nature of two related constructs: Work,life balance and crossover. Work,life balance is the perception that work and non-work activities are compatible and promote growth in accordance with an individual's current life priorities. Crossover focuses on how stress experienced by the individual influences strain experienced by the individual's spouse or team member. In this expert commentary, Professor Westman discusses the philosophical underpinnings of work,life balance, the significance of crossover of emotions and experiences for organizations and individuals, current advances in the field and sets out the new directions for this research. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The neglect of spatial mobility in contemporary studies of work: the case of teleworkNEW TECHNOLOGY, WORK AND EMPLOYMENT, Issue 1 2007Donald Hislop Whilst many teleworkers are increasingly working beyond home and office, these mobile teleworkers are neglected in the telework literature. This neglect is addressed through reviewing relevant literature, developing a conceptual locational framework that accounts for mobile teleworkers and the presentation of an illustrative example which links to the theme of work,life balance in the telework literature. [source] Demographic variation in housing cost adjustments with US family migrationPOPULATION, SPACE AND PLACE (PREVIOUSLY:-INT JOURNAL OF POPULATION GEOGRAPHY), Issue 4 2008Suzanne Davies Withers Abstract This paper examines the demographic variation in housing-cost adjustment associated with family migration in the United States. The American population continues to migrate away from very large metropolitan areas down the urban hierarchy towards smaller metropolitan and micropolitan areas, an exodus that is frequently attributed to the push effects of diseconomies and congestion, increasing presence of foreign-born population, and housing affordability problems, particularly in the large gateway cities. Yet, there is no empirical study of the housing-cost adjustments associated with migration. This study addresses this gap by empirically assessing whether migration is associated with housing affordability adjustments, whether migrating families increase or decrease their housing costs, whether demographic variations occur in these adjustments, and whether there are significant differences in the geographies of housing-cost adjustments among migrant families. These questions are addressed using the Census 2000 county-to-county migration flows merged with Census measures, and the 2000 Public Use Micro-Sample 5% National file. The results indicate significant changes in housing costs associated with migration, and interstate migration in particular. On average, the direction of migration is to more affordable places. Families migrating from the traditional gateway cities with a relatively high percentage of foreign-born populations are the most likely to make enormous shifts in affordability. However, these moves do not correspond neatly with regional white-flight theory. Hispanics are far more likely to decrease housing costs with migration, as are non-citizens and naturalised citizens. This research makes an important contribution to debates within the family migration literature, including conjectures of regional white flight and gendered theories of migration. Family migration towards greater housing affordability appears strategic and embedded in larger issues of family work,life balance. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Rethinking the Work,Life Interface: It's Not about Balance, It's about Resource AllocationAPPLIED PSYCHOLOGY: HEALTH AND WELL-BEING, Issue 2 2010Matthew J. Grawitch This article re-conceptualises the framework surrounding work,life balance. Though previous research has focused primarily on the ways in which work life and non-work life influence each other (mostly negatively), we present an alternative perspective that focuses on personal pursuits and the management of personal resources. We introduce a personal resource allocation (PRA) framework that treats all life demands,whether preferred or required,as forcing individuals to make choices about where, when, and how they expend their personal resources across the life domain. Building on self-regulatory theories, such as control theory, self-determination theory, and conservation of resources theory, we suggest ways in which effective personal resource allocation not only decreases negative outcomes (which has been the emphasis in work,life balance research), but also how effective personal resource allocation can actually contribute to positive outcomes. We conclude by providing some practical implications for individuals and organisations based on the PRA framework and suggest future research opportunities. [source] Enhancing resilience in registered aged care nursesAUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL ON AGEING, Issue 2 2010Fiona Cameron Aim:, To identify the factors that impact the resilience of registered aged care nurses, that is their capacity to adapt to the physical, mental and emotional demands of working in aged care facilities. Method:, This study explored the lived experience of nine registered nurses working in residential aged care facilities on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, who were asked to reflect on the phenomenon of resilience in the workplace. Results:, This study found that clinical expertise, a sense of purpose in a holistic care environment, a positive attitude and work,life balance are important determinants of resilience in aged care nurses. Conclusions:, Resilience in nurses in residential aged care facilities is enhanced when they are able to maintain long-term, meaningful relationships with residents. Collegial support that provides opportunities to debrief and validate experiences as well as the use of humour to defuse stress promotes well-being and builds resilience in the workplace. [source] Health workforce crisis: How to achieve a work,life balanceAUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF RURAL HEALTH, Issue 2 2008Sarah Eckermann No abstract is available for this article. [source] Choices Within Collective Labour Agreements à la Carte in the NetherlandsBRITISH JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, Issue 1 2006Lei Delsen In recent years European employers, unions and governments have developed initiatives that offer employees the right to exchange certain items within an agreed package of employment conditions. So far, the available evidence on the use of such ,cafeteria systems' is largely based on survey data rather than on actual choices. We analyse the actual choices made by the employees of Radboud University Nijmegen in the years 2002,2004. The results cast doubt on the efficiency and the effectiveness of employee choices within collective agreements, contradict the unions' push for working time reduction and question wage moderation and policies on work,life balance. [source] ,High-performance' Management Practices, Working Hours and Work,Life BalanceBRITISH JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, Issue 2 2003Michael White The effects of selected high-performance practices and working hours on work,life balance are analysed with data from national surveys of British employees in 1992 and 2000. Alongside long hours, which are a constant source of negative job-to-home spillover, certain ,high-performance' practices have become more strongly related to negative spillover during this period. Surprisingly, dual-earner couples are not especially liable to spillover , if anything, less so than single-earner couples. Additionally, the presence of young children has become less important over time. Overall, the results suggest a conflict between high-performance practices and work-life balance policies. [source] Childlessness and Women Managers: ,Choice', Context and DiscoursesGENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 4 2006Glenice J. Wood Childlessness is increasing and might reflect acceptance of diversity, scope for individual choice and a creative ,social imaginary' about being feminine without being a mother. Childlessness also appears to have a contextual manifestation arising from the recognition that the long-hours work culture in many organizations does not support appropriate parenting. A qualitative study of Australian managers reveals the contradictory discourses of childlessness around enlightened equality, maternalism, an elusive, ideal ,work,life balance' and individualism. The article explores a contextually nuanced, dynamic, generative theory of agency which does not hinge on the mother,child dyad, in explaining women managers' choices to remain childless. [source] Working to live or living to work?HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, Issue 4 2004Work/life balance early in the career 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. [source] | ||||||||||||||||