Work–life Balance: Is it Now a Problem for Management?

Abstract

In Western Australia (WA) there is substantial interest by public sector management in work–life balance (WLB) as a strategy to address labour supply problems. This article considers whether the positioning of WLB as a problem for management provides the opportunity for change resulting in an improved quality of working life in the public sector. We report on the implementation of WLB policies in four WA public sector agencies and conclude that managers are ‘managing’ WLB in a limited way, and largely in an individualized manner, at a level that does not disrupt the usual way of organizing work and employment. For many managers, employees' requests to access WLB policies are perceived as being in conflict with operational goals. The findings highlight the inadequacy of much of the WLB discourse that obscures the tension between, on the one hand, the imperative for managers to implement WLB more effectively and, on the other, organizational practices and the broader social, political and economic context in which management and the organization are located.

Spillover: the empirical utilisation of the concept. An empirical review of the social scientific corpus between 2004-2014

“…The reason for this is that certain coping strategies and behaviors can be only utilized without risking careers and/or normative sanctions if the institutional and social context legitimize them. In other words, the behavioral responses and skill sets available to individuals for coping with and controlling spillover effects are often radically limited by the organizational and social context (Todd et al 2013). Furthermore, these (social and organizational) contexts might even contradict each other.…”

“…Todd and Binns (2013) studied the implementation of work-life balance policies in Western Australian public sector agencies. The authors conclude that managers typically attempt to 'manage' work-lifebalance issues.…”

The impact of team characteristics on the supervisor’s attitude towards telework: a mixed-method study

“…Allen, 2001;Hammer, Kossek, Yragui, Bodner, & Hanson, 2009;Major, Fletcher, Davis, & Germano, 2008;Thompson et al, 1999;Todd & Binns, 2013). This allows gaining a more accurate view on the attitude of the supervisors themselves, instead of on the attitude as perceived by their team members.…”

“…These theories posit that supervisors' attitudes towards telework are related to the potential disruptiveness of telework for the organization of work (work disruption theory, Powell & Mainiero, 1999) and their dependency on their team to achieve their goals (dependency theory, Bartol & Martin, 1988). Taken together, they offer a useful framework to explain supervisors' attitude as an effect of their simultaneous responsibility for possibly conflicting outcomes in terms of productivity and telework implementation (Todd & Binns, 2013).…”

Inseguridad, precariedad e inestabilidad: retrato de la inserción laboral femenina || Insecurity, precariousness and instability: portrait of female employment

“…En lo que al colectivo femenino se refiere, las dificultades para su inserción laboral vienen determinadas en gran medida por los problemas de reparto de roles sociales, y a la interacción derivada del binomio trabajo reproductivo versus trabajo productivo, siendo crecientes los estudios sobre género y equilibrio en la vida laboral (Emslie y Hunt, 2009;Schilling, 2015;Todd y Binns, 2013). Los numerosos trabajos realizados (Dueñas Fernández, Iglesias Fernández y Llorente Heras, 2013;Jacobs y Padavic, 2015;Millán Vázquez de la Torre, Santos Pita, y Pérez Naranjo, 2015;Padilla Carmona, 2001;Williams, 2013;Wirth, 2004), constatan la persistencia de una serie de barreras profesionales, tanto internas como externas, que originan su segregación laboral.…”