Work-life issues

The ILO's Conditions of Work and Employment Programme seeks to promote decent conditions of employment on the basis of international labour standards and the analysis of policy experience in its member States. One of the key aspects of working conditions that this Programme addresses is the reconciliation of work and family life. On the one hand, how can working conditions be adapted to facilitate workers' ability to fulfil their family responsibilities?

The purpose of this chapter is to reflect on the often contested meanings and understandings of WLB in a range of contexts, drawing on and integrating two streams of literature: work-family interface research and critical management and organizational studies. First, we provide an overview of the term ‘work-life balance’ and its contested definitions in the two literatures. We then theorize understandings of WLB as shaped by intersecting layers of context: global, national (noting diversity within as well as across national contexts), organizational, and temporal. Finally, we address gaps and limitations in extant research, and speak to questions about the future of work-life balance in an increasingly connected and globalized world.

The challenges of achieving work-life balance in higher education have been widely documented by previous education studies. Faculty who struggle with achieving balance between their professional and personal lives due to the demands of higher education may eventually become dissatisfied with their job in academia. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of non-tenured, tenure-track, and tenured faculty members' needs to achieve effective work-life balance in their careers. Data were collected from 213 faculty members using Qualtrics and were analyzed using grounded theory. The analysis revealed eight emergent themes to understand faculty members' work-life balance essentials. The themes included a) home responsibilities, b) family support, c) family life pressures, d) daycare/childcare, e) health issues, f) faculty support, g) work culture, and h) personal work challenges. Implications from this study can inform administrators in higher education about the work-life balance needs of their faculty members.

The management of work–life boundaries is portrayed in the literature as being a matter of individual choice. Accordingly, organizational in uence has been underestimated. The  rst objective of this article is therefore to determine whether an organizational culture of integration (e.g. expectations about taking work home) can in uence individuals’ ability to act on their personal preference for segmentation. The second objective is to determine whether a mismatch between culture and personal preferences can in uence the emotional state of employees and, if so, in what way. A study of 243 employees showed that the perception of an organizational culture of integration reduced the e ect of preference for segmentation on employees’ ability to detach themselves from work during rest periods. Further, a path analysis highlighted a moderated mediation, indicating that preference for segmentation was associated with reduced emotional exhaustion in employees by promoting a high level of psychological detachment, and this reduction was even stronger among those who perceived a weak culture of integration in their organization. This study proposes that jointly with individual preference for segmentation or integration, the norms and expectations of an organization have considerable in uence on employees’ ability to detach and recover during non-work time.

Resumen La familia es la institución privada por excelencia y, sin embargo, es objeto de intervención política. En este artículo reflexionamos acerca de los componentes ideológicos que subyacen en las políticas públicas que afectan a la familia y el significado que tienen en el contexto en que se activan. Para ello, analizamos el Plan Integral de Apoyo a la Familia 2015-2017, elaborado por el gobierno español. En la actual fase de reactivación de las políticas neoliberales, se pretende que la familia fortalezca sus funciones de protección y cuidado de sus miembros, en correspondencia con la progresiva disminución de las responsabilidades públicas por parte del Estado. En este contexto, la protección de la maternidad resulta fundamental, pues focaliza el papel de las mujeres como madres y cuidadoras. Los cambios en la agenda de la familia se corresponden, pues, con cambios en la agenda de igualdad.. Abstract Family is the private institution par excellence; however, it is subject to political intervention. In this article, we reflect on the ideological components that underlie public policies affecting the family and what they mean in the context in which they are activated. We analyze the Plan Integral de Apoyo a la Familia 2015-2017, drawn up by the Spanish government. In the current phase of reactivation of neoliberal policies, the family is intended to strengthen its functions of protection and care of its members, in line with the gradual reduction of public responsibilities by the state. In this context, maternity protection is essential, since it

This working paper is a product of a four-year research project led by Roskilde University, Denmark, entitled “Socially Innovative Knowledge Work” (SIW). The project is co-financed by the Grand Solutions Programme of the Danish Innovation Fund and explores trends in knowledge work and the implications for individual knowledge workers, workplaces, and society.

The aim of the working paper is to investigate and map research into recent trends regarding the organisation of knowledge workers in relation to the collective tackling of present-day work-life issues, notably and explicitly by focusing on their own initiatives and organising attempts. The reason for doing so is twofold: On the one hand, dominant versions of Western post-WII welfare states, labour representation and collective regulation of workplace and work-life issues have come increasingly under pressure. Accordingly, the question has emerged how present-day labour issues can be addressed in more adequate ways – i.e. whether existing collective arrangements can be supplemented, updated or even replaced with more adequate tools. On the other hand, new worker groups and labour formations apparently experiment with a range of diverging and varied organising forms that do not always fit with established modes of representation, recognition or efficiency. For us, these developments indicate the need for an updated and broad analytical perspective concerning the classification of differing forms of labour organisation – with this working paper focusing on knowledge workers and their particular contributions and taking the form of a literature review.

In order to qualify a broad selection of texts with relevant perspectives, we start out in section 2 with a discussion of various definitions of knowledge workers and differing perspectives on their inclinations towards collective organisation. Portrayed as everything from privileged elites and staunch supporters of status quo, emerging and non-conformist “creatives” and “hackers” or rather composite new middle layers with contradictory class locations – sometimes privileged, sometimes exposed to increasing insecurity and even precarisation – we nonetheless identify both shared and particular work-life concerns for knowledge workers as distinct from and in common with other worker groups. This is then combined with a historical perspective, drawing on pioneering labour scholars Sidney and Beatrice Webb and their thoughts on the classification and appropriateness of different types of worker organisation in the beginning of the twentieth century. On this basis a tentative typology is set up which is then used to identify presumably relevant new labour formations among knowledge workers.

With the above analytical framework in place, section 3 is where we present and unfold 26 academic texts published 2000-2020, selected due to their focus on recent examples of knowledge worker self-organisation – notably covering diverse industries such as tech, culture and higher education and actively including cases not only from Europe and North America but also Asia and the Middle East. This is done first in the form of a ‘literature walkthrough’, describing in relative detail the 35 named knowledge worker initiatives contained in the articles. Then an analysis of the literature is carried out, focusing on a) definitions and conceptualisation, b) typologisation and c) efficiency with regard to the different initiatives identified in the literature.

Finally, in section 4, conclusions are presented as follows, both in relation to theoretical findings and practical implications:

Conclusions regarding knowledge workers:

Definitions:
● Hardly a homogenous group
● Not per se against collective organisation/unionisation, cf. 35 named examples
● Can have shared work-life concerns with other workers, but also particular and professional concerns
● Can organise collectively due to work-life concerns if consistent with their social and professional identity

Typologisation:
● Collective organisation can take a diversity of forms and base itself on different logics, with none necessarily being more legitimate or relevant than the others
● Contemporary forms appear as varied as 100 years ago (i.e. including both trade unions, mutual aid networks, worker owned enterprises and other forms), confirming the overall validity of our tentative typology and leading us to a refined version
● The proliferation of new mutualist arrangements and labour market intermediaries (notably aimed at freelancers and independent workers) indicate a certain innovative potential in this area, but also the need for further studies and conceptualisation

Efficiency
● For knowledge workers, the most effective and practicable combination of methods are not necessarily the traditional methods typically associated with the Webbs and classical trade unionism (collective bargaining, mutual insurance end legal enactment)
● While classical trade unionism has not necessarily peaked or reached a supposed limit, the diversity of experiments and knowledge worker self-organisation at least indicate a certain mismatch between new groups of knowledge workers and certain established unions.
● When new worker groups and established unions work together, they can obtain more than when relations are more strained
● When new worker groups engage in collective organisation, they also construct new (and formerly lacking) ‘memories of organisation’, potentially inspiring others to join them
● Not all new forms of collective organisation are equally efficient

Like much of the industrialised world, Australia’s population is ageing, the implications of which are twofold: increasing demand for publicly funded services and a decline in the supply of prime working‑age people. In grappling with the challenges of a diminishing workforce, the Australian Government is currently relying on its migration programs to provide both the much‑needed labour and skills for the resource boom and also to stimulate the economy through population growth. However, there may be another, not yet fully considered solution to the upcoming demographic problem. This paper investigates how the grandchildren of the baby boomers, termed here the Thank God You’re Here generation (Gen TGYH), might impact on Australia’s predicted workforce shortage. This generation of workers will enter the labour force as the last of the baby boomers reach retirement age, and will not only be bigger in size than preceding generations (Y, X and Baby Boomers), but also potentially be better educated than the retiring generation. This paper will also canvas the opportunities for both Gen TGYH and employers as well as the challenges for policymakers and governments in maximising the opportunity provided by this generation in the Australian economy. Youth surge.