Work-life balance policies in high performance organisations: A comparative interview study with millennials in Dutch consultancies

Abstract

The literature on work-life balance primarily focuses on how individuals cope with high work demands. This study, however, investigates how young professionals experience the work-life balance support offered by organisations. Twenty-four millennial consultants were interviewed to explore their perceptions of work-life balance and organisational support policies in an extreme work context. Twelve consultants worked for strategy houses with an average working week of around 60 hours, while the other 12 worked for general management consultancies with average working weeks of roughly 50 hours. Our comparative findings suggest that overall work-life balance perceptions stay positive in both settings. In strategy houses, where work pressures are highest, reported policies and practices go beyond health programmes, training and coaching, which are the most common work-life balance measures. Strategy houses monitor their consultants’ work-life balance experience weekly, provide options to outsource components of the work, and offer multiple forms of compensation. These further policies are much appreciated. Despite these positive assessments, we also observe an increase of negative work-life balance experiences due to the higher work pressures at strategy houses. There is, therefore, some ambiguity in the work-life balance perceptions of consultants, who recalibrate what are ‘normal’ work demands and reframe and refocus on the bright side of work life. Such occupational ideologies indicate a ‘dirty work’ experience.

Juggling between work, studies and motherhood: The role of social support systems for the attainment of work–life balance

“…Consequently, some of the respondents were able to finish their work schedule on time and this enabled them to perform other non-work activities at home and in the university. These findings are in line with the earlier results obtained by Bouwmeester et al (2020), which reported employees who practice job sharing with colleagues in demanding times experience higher work-life satisfaction. Again, the findings are consistent with the basic tenets of the ecological systems theory that postulates that to attain a healthy well-being, individuals must rely on resources in their environment.…”

“…Such interventions when properly managed can also nurture positive psychological health amongst employees because, in addition to continuing their work from their preferred location, they get to have a life outside work. The practice of job sharing and job outsourcing has also been identified as an effective strategy to contain work pressures and job overload (Bouwmeester, Atkinson, Noury, & Ruotsalainen, 2020). Working parents have also been observed to employ active adjustment techniques such as house help, leaving the office on time, planning work schedule in consultation with the spouse, working from home/part-time (Murthy & Shastri, 2015).…”

Critical Jokes and Moral Reflection in Interviews

“…What do we know about this issue based on previous studies? The consultant literature states that consultants are asked to work on average over 60 h a week in certain settings (Alvesson & Robertson, 2006;Bouwmeester et al, 2021). Promotions only occur through high commitment, and workers can feel anxious about their current status and performance (Gill, 2015, p. 309).…”

“…When it comes to the consultantmanager relationship, there are no such consequences, and many graduates even love to start working at consultancies (Rivera, 2016). Consultancies seem somehow immune to these critical judgements, or very good at neutralizing or normalizing them (Ashforth et al, 2007;Bouwmeester et al, 2021). While consulting research has identified various stressors, disturbed work-life balance and reduced employee wellbeing (Meriläinen et al, 2004;Mühlhaus & Bouwmeester, 2016;Noury et al, 2017;O'Mahoney, 2007), pressuring management is no big issue yet, and not addressed in codes of conduct either.…”

Accentuating dirty work: Coping with psychological taint in elite management consulting

“…Alvesson and Einola, 2018;Blagoev et al, 2018;Costas and Kärreman, 2016;Stein, 2017). Indeed, consultants themselves highlight the physical and psychological stresses of their work (see Gill, 2015;Mühlhaus and Bouwmeester, 2016), the sacrifices of their work-life balance (Bouwmeester et al, 2021;Noury et al, 2017), and the consequences for their physical and mental health (O'Mahoney, 2007).…”