Business travellers' connections to home: ICTs supporting work‐life balance

Abstract

This paper examines the role of information communication technology in enabling connections to home for work-related travellers. Although digital connectivity for work-related tasks are well researched, the use of digital technology for home communication is under-researched. The study draws on a qualitative study of UK-based organisations and business travellers to explore how these travellers use ICTs for personal use while 'on the move'. The findings reveal that organisations are supportive of work-life balance for employees, but fail to consider specific needs of those whose work takes them away from home. For business travellers, insights are gained into practices around connecting to home and the value of this virtual presence for relationships with family while absent and work-life balance. The study identifies and discusses practice occurring around three activities; checking in, maintaining relationships with home and sharing experiences.

Why the paradigm of work–family conflict is no longer sustainable: Towards more empowering social imaginaries to understand women's identities

“…Different measures have been implemented to reduce work-family conflict, especially among women employees. These measures have included various changes in practices and processes, such as: (i) changes in working conditions (Russell, O'Connell, & McGinnity, 2009); (ii) changes in organizational culture (Coronel, Moreno, & Carrasco, 2010); (iii) changes in leadership and management practices (Todd & Binns, 2013); (iv) changes in systems of sanctions and rewards (Daverth, Cassell, & Hyde, 2016); and (v) changes in technological infrastructure (Ladkin, Willis, Jain, Clayton, & Marouda, 2016). All these changes have relied on an understanding of work-family conflict as a phenomenon that gives rise to specific challenges for organizational wellbeing.…”

Social Media, Work and Nonwork Interface: A Qualitative Inquiry

“…The majority of existing studies focus solely on social media use at work or work‐related ICT usage at home; however, an employee who has devoted extensive time to social media use at home, has disengaged from their family due to social media addiction and will not perform at work the same as employees without such an addiction. Another example is an immigrant employee who manages to socialize with distant family and friends through social media in an affordable manner, or who receives social support through social media during nonwork time and manages to overcome typical challenges faced by similar employees (e.g., Ladkin, Willis, Jain, Clayton, & Marouda, 2016). Therefore, we suggest future researchers become simultaneously mindful of the interface between social media and both work and nonwork domains so they can address conflicts that might arise from employees’ engagement with social media and reinforce social media‐to‐nonwork or work enrichment mechanisms.…”

The ‘digital glimpse’ as imagining home

“…As a project we had also made a commitment to include a range of professions/social class, but despite significant efforts to recruit people from sectors such as road haulage, we had a slightly less diverse sample than desired. Participants were recruited through employers involved in an earlier part of the research (see: Ladkin et al, 2016Ladkin et al, , 2017, social network contact, adverts placed on websites such as 'Netmums', and press releases put out by the participating universities. There was some indication that involving family members may have put off some potential participants.…”

“…The thematic analysis was conducted using the NVivo software package. A set of initial starting themes were identified from the existing literature and a previous phase of the Family Rituals 2.0 project, which had explored these issues from the employers' perspectives (see: Ladkin et al, 2016Ladkin et al, , 2017. The initial set of broad themes against which the data were coded were:…”

“…However, fewer employers consider how work-related travel impacts on work life balance, with the notable exception of the military, where such long-distance relationships are carefully orchestrated (Greene et al 2010;Ladkin et al 2016Ladkin et al , 2017. Work related travel puts the concept of co-presence under tension between the needs of co-presence for work and the needs for co-presence for personal life.…”