All of work? All of life? Reconceptualising work‐life balance for the 21st century

Abstract

This paper argues that the study of work‐life balance to date has, in the main, adopted a restricted conception of both “work” and “life”, which does not take account of recent developments in life worlds, working arrangements and employment relationships. “Life” has hitherto been viewed as largely comprising caring activities for dependent children, whereas “work” has been premised largely on a traditional model of work, characterised by full‐time, permanent employment with one employer and a conventional understanding of what work involves. This means that extant research and theory only provides a partial view of the work‐life needs and experiences of the workforce. In the paper, we propose extending conceptions of both work and life to incorporate different life worlds and social groups and different working arrangements and employment relationships.

Work–Life Balance: Weighing the Importance of Work–Family and Work–Health Balance

“…In their review, Chang et al [7] found that the WLB was studied specifically, not in the form of the WFB, in only 9% and 26% of the quantitative and qualitative studies reviewed, respectively. As a result, the knowledge acquired over time about the predictors and consequences of the balance with work is based mainly on the work-family balance [1,10].…”

“…The term work-life balance (WLB) has gained increasing popularity in the public discourse [1]. It is a term that is commonly used in companies, especially large ones, and it is often said to be at the core of their corporate welfare, e.g., [2][3][4].…”

“…It is a term that is commonly used in companies, especially large ones, and it is often said to be at the core of their corporate welfare, e.g., [2][3][4]. However, academic knowledge around the WLB concept is not as solid and extensive as the widespread use of the term would suggest [1]. Researchers have argued that WLB theoretical development has not kept pace with the popularity of the concept [5,6].…”

“…In their review, Chang et al [7] found that the WLB was studied specifically, not in the form of the WFB, in only 9% and 26% of the quantitative and qualitative studies reviewed, respectively. As a result, the knowledge acquired over time about the predictors and consequences of the balance with work is based mainly on the work-family balance [1,10].Different types of the work-family balance have been studied in the literature. A general classification distinguished four types of influence that can occur between work and family based on their direction and valence [19].…”

Examining the link between flexible working arrangement bundles and employee work effort

“…Therefore, it is possible that the hypothesized relationships may be stronger or weaker under certain conditions. One crucial reason that such practices are used differently among employees is their family responsibilities (Allen, Johnson, Kiburz, & Shockley, 2013;Higgins, Duxbury, & Johnson, 2000;Kelliher, Richardson, & Boiarintseva, 2018;Ortega, 2009;Wood, de Menezes, & Lasaosa, 2003). For example, L. Golden (2009) suggests that married employees and employees with young children make greater use of FWAs, especially for childcare reasons.…”