1st Edition

Work-Life Balance in Times of Recession, Austerity and Beyond

    218 Pages
    by Routledge

    218 Pages
    by Routledge

    This book reflects the enormous interest in work-life balance and current pressing concerns about the impacts of austerity more broadly. It draws on contemporary research and practitioner experiences to explore how work-life balance and related workplace and social policy fare in turbulent economic times and the implications for employees, employers and wider societies. Authors consider workplace trends, practices and employment relations and the impacts on work, care and well-being of diverse workers. A guiding theme throughout the book is a triple agenda of supporting employee work-life balance, workplace effectiveness and social justice. The final chapters present case studies of innovative processes and organizational practices for addressing the triple agenda, note the important role of social policy context and discuss the challenge of extending debates on work-life balance to include a social justice dimension.

    This book will be of interest to academics and postgraduate students of organisational psychology, sociology, human resource management, management and business studies, law and social policy, as well as employers, managers, HR managers, trade unions, and policy makers.

    1. Working Time Trends and Work-Life Balance in Europe since the Onset of the Great Recession

    Colette Fagan and Greet Vermeylen

    2. Work-Life Balance, Health and Well-Being in Times of Austerity

    Gail Kinman and Almuth McDowall

    3. Employer Support for Work-Life Balance in Recession: Findings for Britain from the Workplace Employment Relations Survey

    Lucy Stokes and Stephen Wood

    4. Work-Life Balance and Austerity: Implications of New Ways of Working in British Public Sector Organisations

    Clare Lyonette, Deirdre Anderson, Suzan Lewis, Nicola Payne and Stephen Wood

    5. Regulating Work and Care Relationships in a Time of Austerity: A Legal Perspective

    Nicole Busby and Grace James

    6. Trade Unions and Work-Life Balance: The Impact of the Great Recession in France and the UK

    Susan Milner

    7. Work-Life Balance and Class: In Search of Working-Class Work-Lives.

    Tracey Warren

    8. Self-Employment in Times of Economic Crisis: Work-Life Challenges

    Laura den Dulk, Anne Annink and Bram Peper

    9. The Physical Workplace and Work-Life Balance: Perspectives from Practice

    Ziona Strelitz

    10. Revisiting the Dual Agenda: Why Companies Miss the Point if they Retract Flexible Work Arrangements during Bad Times

    Hyosun Kim, Lotte Bailyn and Deborah M. Kolb

    11. Towards a Triple Agenda for Work-Life Balance Beyond Recession and Austerity

    Deirdre Anderson, Jonathan Swan and Suzan Lewis

    Biography

    Suzan Lewis is Professor of Organizational Psychology at Middlesex University, London, UK.

    Deirdre Anderson is a Senior Lecturer in Organizational Behaviour at Cranfield University School of Management, UK.

    Clare Lyonette is a Principal Research Fellow at the Warwick Institute for Employment Research (IER), UK.

    Nicola Payne is a Health Psychologist and Associate Professor in Psychology at Middlesex University, UK.

    Stephen Wood is Professor of Management, School of Business, University of Leicester, UK.

    "Overall this book clearly presents the many reservations from diverse stakeholders regarding WLB and challenges us to reconsider and reconcile the implied gender neutrality, fairness and social justice footings of the WLB discourse during austerity. I highly recommend this volume in its ability to query issues of autonomy, negotiated working times and workplaces, whose agenda WLB truly is, and how its approaches, mantras and practices have been hijacked in ways that perpetuate the neoliberal agenda fostering austerity."

    Judie M Gannon, Oxford Brookes University, UK, Work employment and society