Books

NEW BOOK

The Myth of Work-Life Balance: The Challenge of Our Time for Men, Women and Societies
Richenda Gambles, Suzan Lewis, Rhona Rapoport

February 2006

ISBN: 0-470-09461-3 paperback

Many regard the ways in which paid work can be combined or ‘balanced’ with other parts of life as an individual concern and a small, rather self-indulgent problem in today’s world. Some feel that worrying about a lack of time or energy for family relationships or friendships is a luxury or secondary issue when compared with economic growth or development. In the business world and among many Governments around the world, the importance of paid work and the primacy of economic competitiveness, whatever the personal costs, is almost accepted wisdom. Profits and short term efficiency gains are often placed before social issues of care or human dignity.

But what about the impact this has on men and women’s well being, or the long-term sustainability of people, families, society or even the economy? Drawing from interviews and group meetings in seven diverse countries – India, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, the UK and USA – this book explores the multiple difficulties in combining paid work with other parts of life and the frustrations people experience in diverse settings. There is a myth that ‘work-life balance’ can be achieved through quick fixes rather than challenging the place of paid work in people’s lives and the way work actually gets done. As well as exploring contemporary problems, this book attempts to seed hope and new ways of thinking about one of the key challenges of our time.

Working and Caring over the Twentieth Century

Julia Brannen, Peter Moss and Ann Mooney
Palgrave Macmillan, September 2004 ISBN 1-4039-2059-1
Click here to see the publisher's details.

Increased longevity and better health are changing the nature of family life. In the context of changes in the world of work, increased divorce and a declining welfare state, multi-generation or 'beanpole families' are a potential resource for family support. Focusing on four-generation families and the two central careers of the life course-employment and care - Working and Caring over the Twentieth Century explores this question. Based upon new research that employed biographical methods, itmaps in detail from 1910 to the late 1990s the lives of men and women as great-grandparents, grandparents and parents. The book provides unique insights into processes of change and continuity in family lives and the ways in which differentgenerations of men and women make sense of their lives.

Case Studies of Workplace Change

These case studies a ddress the dual agenda of workplace effectiveness and supporting employees' work-life needs.

Click here to link to the book Suzan Lewis and Cary L Cooper 2005 Work-Life Integration. Case Studies of Organisational Change. Wiley

Composed of real-life case studies from a range of organisations, Work-Life Integration explores what organisations can do to achieve win-win outcomes. In this innovative work, Suzan Lewis and Cary Cooper argue that there are no real quick fixes and that work-life policies are not sufficient for long-term sustainable changes unless accompanied by broader changes in organisational cultures and pratices. They focus on the processes of change and organisational learning, and use the case study examples to illustrate how these processes can work in different types of organisations. Work-Life Integration provides unique insights by exploring not only what companies have done right, but also the problems encountered and the lessons learned on the way.

The Profitable and Flexible Workplace.

A guide to implementing flexible working practices in professional services.

Click here to link to the free briefing or Click here to link to the guide itself (Sept 2004)

There is much evidence that work-life policies alone do not bring about changes in culture and practice. It is the change process that is all-important.   Based on systematic research on flexible working among Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, this publication provides a detailed guide to the change process and how to make change happen.   It includes useful tools and checklists as well as case studies illustrating helpful practices and barriers to change

Young Europeans, Work and Family: Futures in Transition

Editors:
Julia Brannen, Suzan Lewis, Ann Nilsen, Janet Smithson
Publication date:
November 2001
Publisher:
Routledge ISBN 0-415-24846-9

Based on qualitative research carried out with young men and women aged 18 to 30 in five countries across Europe, Young Europeans, Work and Family examines young people's pathways to adulthood, and their perspectives on and expectations of the future. It looks at young people from a range of social classes and at various phases in the life course: training, higher education, insecure work and steady jobs, including those in higher and lower status employment. The study was carried out by a cross-disciplinary team of researchers from Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and the UK, countries which represent a variety of economic profiles and welfare state regimes.

At a time when the proportion of young people in most Europeans populations is declining, this book poses key questions:

• What do young people expect from work as labour markets restructure?
• Under what conditions do they expect to become parents?
• Do they expect to combine parenthood and employment?
• Are young people aware of the gendered realities of employment and the care of children?
• Do young people feel a sense of entitlement to support from the state, employers and trade unions?
• How do young people orientate themselves to time and the future?
• How do young people without family responsibilities but with different levels of resources make the shift to adulthood?

Young Europeans, Work and Family also engages with the key theoretical debate of agency and structure. It addresses specific sociological debates notably the concept of time and processes of individualization, and psychological debates concerning the changing psychological contract and sense of entitlement to formal support.