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PurposeThe purpose of this explorative study is to investigate through the lens of gender the role of career shocks in career advancement experiences in academia. By taking a contextual approach, this study increases understanding of the role of the academic career script as a potential boundary for career shock implications.Design/methodology/approachThe authors studied career advancement experiences of a cohort of 75 men and women associate professors in the Netherlands via biographical interviews and conducted theoretically informed inductive analysis.FindingsThe analysis revealed the ambiguities and contradictions in the role of most career shocks in career advancement experiences. Failure to fit the majority of career shocks into the “rigid” academic career script generates discretionary latitude in handling shocks. These shocks pose unique barriers – and to a lesser extent unique benefits – to women's perceived opportunities for career advancement.Practical implicationsAcademic organizations should focus on cultivating more inclusive work environments with respect to career shocks. The 75 diverse biographies offer leverage to challenge traditional notions of academic career advancement.Originality/valueThis paper extends “structure and agency” literature on career building by showing how career shock implications are inherently contextual in the academic setting. Gendered support provisions for handling career shocks offer a novel explanation for the numerical minority of women in academic leadership.

Attention to shaping the direction of one’s career according to personal needs and preferences is growing. However, there is limited understanding how contextual antecedents affect career authenticity. Moreover, little is known about whether antecedents of career authenticity operate in the same way for men compared to women and if the impact of these antecedents differs per position. In this study, we contribute to these gaps in the literature by analysing the role of five antecedents of career authenticity in the academic context. Our analysis is based on a cross-sectional survey collected among a sample of 398 academics working in The Netherlands. It shows that justice in promotion practices is the most important contextual antecedent in explaining career authenticity in academia. After analysing the data using multi-group Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), we found that some antecedents relate differently to career authenticity for men compared to women. Our data also showed how most antecedents operate differently per academic rank. These insights show that higher education institutes can boost their academics’ career authenticity but should tailor such actions to academics of different genders and in different positions.

Enhanced communication technologies increasingly allow us to work anytime and anywhere. Many organizations have moved from traditional offices to flexible workplaces in which employees are allowed to vary their work hours and work at different locations both outside and inside the office. So far, findings are inconclusive regarding the effects of teleworking and few studies have examined its use by employees. Our study, which addresses the pre-COVID-19 context, is based on COR theory and explores how employees working in a Dutch public sector organization ( N = 873) use teleworking and what the consequences of this are for individual perceived performance. With respect to teleworking, we focus on time spent working from home and time spent working elsewhere. To test hypotheses, we conducted SEM in AMOS using a two-step approach. Mediation analysis showed that the paths from teleworking to performance via autonomy and work-life balance satisfaction were significant for working from home.

The 8th International Community, Work and Family conference took place in Malta at the Valletta campus of the University of Malta between the 23rd to the 25th May 2019. In a pre-COVID-19 world with no traveling restrictions, the conference brought together over 100 experts, academics, and students from a broad range of countries and disciplines to focus on the theme of Community, Work and Family in Diverse Contexts and Changing Times.\ud \ud The research presented during the conference highlights some of the challenges that communities, organizations and families are facing in the twenty-first century across diverse and rapidly changing contexts. The topics presented spanned from broad studies that analyze the work-life interface of well-studied groups such as fathers and mothers, to other clusters that are generally less well-researched such as the police and the military, migrants, solo entrepreneurs, the LGBTIQ community, and those who work with people with special needs.\ud \ud The recurrent theme of the gendered division of labor and work-life measures was discussed by various researchers, as were the issues of flexible work, family policy, and the impact of technology. It was refreshing to note that various researchers focused on the issue of community as a source of support, whilst others explored how peer, supervisor and management support impacts work-life issues. Overall, the conference provided a diverse and rich range of scholarly material upon which to develop this special issue for Community, Work & Family. [...]

Statushouders vormen een kwetsbare groep op de arbeidsmarkt. De bereidheid van werkgevers is cruciaal voor de arbeidsmarktparticipatie van statushouders. Dit onderzoek gaat na waarom sommige werkgevers een statushouder in dienst nemen en anderen niet. De combinatie van interviews en een vignettenstudie laat zien dat naast kenmerken van statushouders ook organisatiekenmerken en de institutionele context een rol spelen. Wanneer de statushouder de taal spreekt en een relevante opleiding heeft gevolgd in het herkomstland, zijn werkgevers in dit onderzoek eerder geneigd de statushouder in dienst te nemen. Motivatie en gezondheid vormen hierbij noodzakelijke voorwaarden. Daarnaast zijn organisatiekenmerken van belang: kleine organisaties, organisaties met moeilijk vervulbare vacatures en organisaties met aandacht voor diversiteit lijken eerder geneigd een statushouder in dienst te nemen. De bevindingen laten tevens zien dat capaciteit op de werkvloer om de statushouder te begeleiden van belang is alsmede intern draagvlak voor deze beslissing. Tot slot speelt de institutionele context een rol. Wanneer werkgevers andere werkgevers kennen met een statushouder in dienst, lijken zij eerder geneigd om zelf een statushouder in dienst te nemen. Sociaal beleid vanuit de gemeente heeft een stimulerende werking bij het aannemen van een statushouder.

This article systematically reviews 35 empirical articles on the topic of networks and career advancement into academic leadership positions. Our objectives in this systematic review are to clarify (a) the functions that networks fulfil, (b) the outcomes of these functions in terms of career advancement and (c) whether networks are likely to result in more or less career advancement for women compared to men. Four databases were searched using the PRISMA (preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses) approach to select eligible studies published between 1990 and 2019. We distinguish three different functions that networks may fulfil: operational, developmental and strategic. Mixed results are found for the operational and developmental network functions, while the results suggest that the strategic function contributes to career advancement, particularly for men. The reason for this can be found in the masculine academic context. Our findings implicate that a solution involving equal network opportunities needs to be taken up by the academic community as a whole. To further develop the research field, we call for (a) more consistent conceptualisation, (b) more attention to the multiple functions of networks and networking behaviour and (c) more advanced study designs.

There has been a substantial growth in academic interest in how the wellbeing of people is affected by community, work and family and their intersections. This integrated perspective on wellbeing i...

This article investigates the relationship between the skill profile of the employees (i.e.the percentage of employees in highly skilled jobs) and the provision offlexible work-ing hours in the workplace (i.e. the proportion of employees entitled to adapt, withincertain limits, the time when they begin orfinish their daily work according to theirpersonal needs or wishes). Analyses draw on the 2009 European Company Survey,conducted on a representative sample (N= 26,640) of European establishments in29 countries. Multilevel mixed-effects linear regressions are used to study to whatextent both workplace-level and national-level variables affect this relationship. Find-ings suggest a strong, positive and non-linear relationship between the variables underscrutiny, which is moderated, at national level, by both unemployment and tradeunion density rates.

The Netherlands is characterized by extensive national work–life regulations relative to the United States. Yet, Dutch employees do not always take advantage of existing work–life policies. Individual and focus group interviews with employees and managers in three (public and private) Dutch organizations identified how employee and managerial communication contributed to acquired rules concerning work–life policies and the interpretation of allocative and authoritative resources for policy enactment. Analyses revealed differences in employees’ and managers’ resistance to policy, the binds and dilemmas experienced, and the coordination of agreements and actions to complete workloads. There are also differences between public and private contexts in the enactment of national and organizational policies, revealing how national (e.g., gender) and organizational (e.g., concertive control) mechanisms play out in employee and managerial communication that determine the use of work–life policies.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of self-employed work characteristics (consumer orientation, innovativeness, number of employees, motivation, and entrepreneurial phase) on work-life balance (WLB) satisfaction.Design/methodology/approachThe job demands and resources approach is applied to test whether self-employed work characteristics are evaluated as job demands or resources for WLB. The Global Entrepreneurship Data (2013) offer a unique opportunity to conduct multilevel analysis among a sample of self-employed workers in 51 countries (N=11,458). Besides work characteristics, this paper tests whether country context might explain variation in WLB among the self-employed.FindingsThe results of this study reveal that there is a negative relation between being exposed to excessive stress and running a consumer-oriented business and WLB. Being motivated out of opportunity is positively related to WLB. In addition, the results indicate that country context matters. A higher human development index and more gender equality are negatively related to WLB, possibly because of higher social expectations and personal responsibility. The ease of doing business in a country was positively related to the WLB of self-employed workers.Social implicationsFor some workers self-employment might be a way to combine work and responsibilities in other life domains, but this does not seem to be valid in all cases.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to current literature on the WLB of self-employed workers by showing how work characteristics can be evaluated as job demands or resources. Including work characteristics in future research might be a solution for acknowledging the heterogeneity among self-employed workers.

Based on data from the 2004 and 2010 European Social Survey, this multidisciplinary and cross-national comparative study investigates the relationship between financial hardship and subjective well-being among 9,755 self-employed individuals from 31 European countries. It also aims to identify potential mitigating factors in this relationship on both the individual and the country level. Multilevel regression analyses reveal a strong relationship between financial hardship and impaired well-being, explaining about 36% of variance in well-being between conditions (countries and time periods) and 8% of variance between individuals. In other words, economic conditions matter significantly. Additionally, education and social trust act as important buffering factors for individuals, and the relationship between financial hardship and impaired well-being is somewhat weaker for self-employed persons living in countries with a more supportive social policy in the form of unemployment allowance. Entrepreneurs can hence mitigate the consequences of financial hardship by protecting social resources, and policymakers can be advised to invest in education and social security.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to map and understand work-family state support for the self-employed compared to employees across European countries.Design/methodology/approach– To map state work-family support policies for the self-employed, an overview of public childcare, maternity, paternity, and parental leave arrangements across European countries is created based on databases, local government web sites, and local experts’ country notes. Secondary data analyses are conducted in order to compare support for the self-employed to support for employees and across countries. Differences across countries are analysed from a welfare state regime perspective, which explicates assumptions about the role of the government in providing work-family state support and which is often used in research on work-family support for employees.Findings– Results show that, in general, the self-employed receive less work-family state support than employees or none at all. The extensiveness of work-family state support varies widely across European countries. Patterns of welfare states regimes, which explain variation in work-family support for employees, can also be found in the context of self-employment.Practical implications– Findings result in practical suggestions for policy makers at the European and national level to monitor policy compliance considering maternity leave for the self-employed, to increase childcare support, and to rethink the European Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan.Originality/value– Work-family state support for the growing number of self-employed has never been mapped before, although this is a very topical issue for (European) policy makers. This paper offers a starting point to contextualise and understand the way self-employed experience the work-family interface in different country contexts.

Het doel van dit artikel is om een overzicht te geven van wat we tot nu toe weten over de ervaren werk-privebalans van verschillende typen zelfstandig ondernemers in verschillende landen. De bevindingen in dit artikel zijn grotendeels gebaseerd op een proefschrift met zes afzonderlijke, recent gepubliceerde studies die allemaal een landenvergelijkend-onderzoek-ontwerp hebben. Deze zes studies bestaan uit een literatuurstudie, een overzichtsstudie van de overheidssteun in Europese landen voor de werk-privebalans van ondernemers, een drietal kwantitatieve, empirische studies op basis van de European Social Survey (2004 en 2010) en de Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (2013) en een kwalitatieve-interview-studie (2016) onder vijftig zelfstandige professionals in drie landen (Nederland, Spanje en Zweden) (Annink, 2017). De bevindingen laten zien dat het van belang is om de heterogeniteit van zelfstandig ondernemers in ogenschouw te nemen. Kenmerken van het werk en het bedrijf beinvloeden de ervaren werk-privebalans. In het bijzonder noodgedwongen ondernemerschap en veel contact met klanten beinvloeden de balans negatief. Ook het beleid, de economische situatie en culturele aspecten in een land hebben invloed op de ervaren werk-privebalans van zelfstandig ondernemers.

Summary Changes in top managers’ considerations around work-life arrangements during the economic crisisIn this article we ask the question how the considerations of top managers regarding organizational work-life policies have changed during the recent time of economic crisis and how these changes can be understood from the organizational context. The result of the comparison of semi-structured interviews held in 2008 and again in 2011 show that top managers have become more cost-aware during the economic crisis. Considerations of top managers around work-life policies tend to focus more on consequences for the organization, rather than on employee needs. At the same time we see that work-life policies are increasingly perceived by the top managers as integral part of their organizational policies. Top managers combine this sense of increased integration of work-life arrangements with their increased focus on consequences for the organization by setting conditions for the use of policies by employees ensuring that it will not harm the organization.

Summary This study focuses on nation-level drivers of organizations’ adoption of leaves/childcare and flexible work arrangements (FWA) beyond what is mandated by the state. It is one of the first studies to examine interaction effects between nation-level and organization-level variables. Drawing on institutional theory and work-life research, we focus on three nation-level variables: state support for combining work and family life (original measure including statutory parental leave, public childcare and the entitlement to extend or reduce working hours), cultural centrality of work (measure derived from the World Value Survey, a large project led by Inglehart and colleagues that measures values in more than 50 countries) and male unemployment rate. We test the interactions of these variables with organizational size, sector and proportion of female employees using a data set of 19,516 organizations in 19 European countries (Establishment Survey on Working Time and Work-Life Balance 2004–2005). State support for combining work and family life was positively associated with the adoption of leaves/childcare and FWA; cultural centrality of work was negatively associated with leaves/childcare and FWA; male unemployment rate was not significantly associated with any. Public sector and large organizations were more sensitive to state support, cultural centrality of work and male unemployment than private sector and small organizations. In contrast, organizations employing a greater proportion of female employees were less sensitive to state support. These findings illustrate that organizational policies are influenced by the national contexts in which they are embedded, although some organizations are more sensitive to these contexts than others.

Summary Greater attention is needed in the management and work–life fields to how variation in cross-national contexts and assumptions operating at the individual, organizational and national levels influence work–life policies, practices, processes, and outcomes for individuals, families, businesses, and society. This article presents a review of cross-national studies, based on cultural (e.g. Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, Hofstede and GLOBE) and institutional frameworks (e.g. Esping-Andersen, isomorphism and comparative institutionalism). We outline a research agenda to extend each of these approaches and bridge them. We also discuss the findings and contributions of the papers selected for this special issue; in particular, these papers conceptualize national context as dynamic rather than static and as heterogeneous rather than homogeneous. In addition, they extend important conversations in the field, push its boundaries by analyzing the stakes for developing countries, and offer conceptual and methodological avenues for comparative work–life research.

This article studies the relevance of different types of support for satisfaction with work life balance. More specifically, it investigates the relevance of state, instrumental and emotional workplace and family support, based on a survey of 7867 service-sector workers in eight European countries. The article starts by mapping available state, workplace and family support in order to determine which source dominates in which country and whether these sources match Esping-Andersen’s welfare regime typology. The impact of the different support sources is then examined. Findings indicate that support for employee work-life balance satisfaction has a direct and moderating effect. Finally, results show that emotional support and instrumental support in the workplace have a complementary relationship. Whereas emotional family support has a positive impact on work-life balance satisfaction, instrumental family support does not.

Managers are key actors shaping employees’ capabilities to utilize work–life policies. However, most research on managers’ implementation of these policies has been conducted in liberal welfare states and ignores the impact of institutional context. In this study, we situate managers within specific workplace and national layers of context. We investigated how managers in financial organizations in the Netherlands, UK, and Slovenia talk about the utilization of work–life policies. Managers’ discourses stressed disruption and dependency considerations in these case studies, as in the US research. However, a further management discourse of the moral case or right thing to do also emerged. The lack of resources for replacing staff on leave creates disruption and reduces managers capability to support the use of work–life policies, even when they are statutory or if managers are inclined be supportive (dependency or moral argument). This is likely to impact on parents' capabilities.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose an “extended conceptualization of the business case” including both organizational characteristics and institutional conditions to analyse employer involvement in extra statutory childcare and leave arrangements. Special attention is given to Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries.Design/methodology/approachThe (multi‐level) multinomial regression analyses included company‐level data on human‐resource practices of 2,865 firms nested in 19 countries, representing all European welfare state regimes.FindingsThe extended business case appeared fruitful in order to explain variations in employer involvement. Particularly, state support was found to be negatively related to employer involvement. In the liberal regime, employer involvement was high, but variations across organizations were significant. In CEE‐countries, employer involvement was lowest, and did not vary by organizational business‐case factors.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper used data from a cross‐sectional survey. To capture the long‐term trends, dynamics and nuances in employer involvement within and across various institutional contexts, a longitudinal in depth study is needed.Practical implicationsWhile state support in many CEE countries is declining, the analyses showed that employers will not automatically step in by providing additional work‐family arrangements. Social partners could use institutional pressure to stimulate a balance between state support and employer involvement.Originality/valueThe extended business‐case perspective contributes to the theory on the institutional embeddedness of decision making of employers. Moreover, it adds to the knowledge on employer involvement in institutional contexts which have hardly been studied before.

What factors shape managerial attitudes towards the utilization of work-life policies? The influence of disruptiveness (Powell and Mainiero 1999) and dependency (Klein, Berman and Dickson 2000) arguments on managerial attitudes is examined using a vignette design. In this study, managers in four financial firms in the UK and the Netherlands were asked to judge hypothetical requests from employees to utilize work-life policies. Findings indicate that managers are mainly interested in the performance of their department or work unit, and work-life policies are often seen as disruptive. However, when the least disruptive request is considered (short-term leave), we find that dependency arguments also play an important role and managers are more likely to respond to their employees' personal and family needs.

Contains fulltext : 64635.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) In the present study, we examined the associations among work-home culture (WHC), the utilization of work-home arrangements (WHAs), and work-home interference (WHI) among 638 workers from a Dutch financial consultancy firm. We (a) developed a typology of WHC, (b) examined whether the utilization of 6 WHAs differed for various types of WHC, (c) determined whether various types of WHC and the utilization of WHAs were related to WHI, and (d) studied these associations for subgroups of workers. Results showed that WHCs can be characterized by 2 dimensions, i.e., support and hindrance. More supportive and less hindering WHCs were not associated with a higher utilization of WHAs, but did covary with lower levels of WHI.

Home-based telework is one of the arrangements organizations can introduce to facilitate a better balance between employees’ professional and private lives. This article focuses on the question of under what conditions managers grant a subordinate’s request to telework and what role national cultures play herein. By looking into managers’ willingness to delegate power and to trust home-based teleworkers we try to explain the slow adoption of home-based telework and the reported differences across Northern and Southern European countries. In doing so we will make use of Hofstede’s writings on national cultures and of the propositions made by the telework literature on how to mitigate the potential trust problem associated with distance working. The purpose of the article is to develop new hypotheses regarding factors that influence managerial decision-making concerning telework and how these interact with national cultures. To test the hypotheses, a cross-national vignette study is proposed.

textabstractAim: The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of work alienation on organizational commitment, work effort and work-to-family enrichment. Background: There is substantial research on the effects of work alienation on passive job performance, such as organizational commitment. However, studies analyzing work alienation on active performance, such as work effort, and outside work, such as work-to-family enrichment, are scarce. Method: Two dimensions of work alienation are considered: powerlessness and meaninglessness. Hypotheses are tested using surveys collected among a national sample of midwives in the Netherlands (respondents: 790, response rate 61%). Results: Findings indicate that work alienation (powerlessness and meaninglessness) influence organizational commitment, work effort and – to a lesser extent - work-to-family enrichment. High work meaninglessness, in particular, has negative effects on these outcomes. Conclusion: When people feel that they have no influence in their work (hence, when they feel ‘powerless’) and especially when the feel that their work is not worthwhile (when they feel ‘meaningless’), this has substantial negative effects. Implications for nursing management: Managers should increase the meaningfulness people attach to their work, thereby maintaining a high-quality workforce. Possible strategies include: 1.Improving person-job fit, 2. Developing high-quality relationships, 3. Better communicating the results people help deliver.

Focuses on how government policy regarding work‐family arrangements affects the labour market position of women and men in the European Union. Discusses the statutory provisions of three different work‐family arrangements: leave arrangements, child care and part‐time work. Finds that the development of work‐family arrangements differs between member states, although these differences can be placed in a typology of welfare state regimes. To determine whether there is more equality between men and women in countries with a more extensive government policy, uses four indicators: the gender‐related development index of the Human Development Report, female labour participation, wage differences between men and women and segregation in the labour market. Suggests from a review of the indicators that there is a positive relation between the presence of statutory work‐family arrangements and gender equality in the labour market. Notes, however, that occupational segregation is less affected by work‐family arrangements. Concludes that a relation between the use of work‐family facilities and the persistence of segregation seems plausible. Argues that if work‐family arrangements are only available to women or if men do not use the existing facilities, inequality in the labour market will be maintained rather than reduced.

This article examines the level of support for the integration of paid work and personal life (work–life balance [WLB] support) in public sector organizations in Europe. Data of the Establishment Survey on Working Time and Work-Life Balance 2004-2005 (ESWT) is used to analyze the supportiveness of public sector organizations within and between countries. So far, little attention has been paid to variation within the public sector and whether and to what degree this is related to institutional and economic drivers. The results suggest that institutional pressure is the most important driver for public sector organizations to offer WLB support to their employees: State support in a country has a positive relationship with WLB support in public organizations, in particular for public administration organizations. Little evidence for the relevance of economic drivers was found despite the introduction of new public management (NPM)-style reforms in the public sector.

This study aims to increase our knowledge of the work-life balance (WLB) of self-employed workers, a changing but often neglected group in work–family research. A growing number of women are starting their own business in order to combine paid work and family life. This interview study (N=24) examines how self-employed women with children feel they manage paid work and other life domains in the Netherlands. Autonomy appeared to be an important resource, allowing them to combine their work more easily with childcare, household duties, and social and personal life. However, the degree and nature of that autonomy and the ability to use it varied among the self-employed in this study owing to work-related factors such as sector, work location, employees, and years of experience. Another important resource leading to greater satisfaction with the WLB was the ability to define and reflect on personal goals in work and other life domains.

This article analyses the effect of working conditions on the health of hospital employees across Europe. Hospital employees often have demanding jobs that increase their stress levels and, consequently, their risk of health problems. Work control – typified by employee autonomy and working time flexibility – helps them cope with high levels of work stress. Researchers have traditionally studied the relationship between working conditions, coping strategies and occupational health from an individual perspective. We argue that the individual work–health relationship is closely connected with the social and institutional context. This study explores how work stress and work control influence the health of hospital employees and aims to understand cross-country differences in this respect. Using data on over 1500 hospital employees who participated in the study ‘Quality of work and life in a changing Europe’ ( 2007 ) in eight European countries, we used ordinal regression analyses to test a range of hypotheses. The results show that work stress has a negative effect on the health of hospital employees, while work control is not found to have any effect on their health. Comparative analyses reveal that the effects of working conditions on health vary across European countries. While working overtime is more closely related to poorer health in Eastern European countries, we found evidence of a positive relationship between job autonomy and health in Western Europe only, indicating that circumstances in the working environment have differing effects on employee health in Eastern and Western Europe.

In spite of an abundance of literature on the quality of work and the quality of life, we still know little about the relationship between the individual’s ability to balance working with other areas of life and overall life satisfaction. In particular, we have only limited knowledge of how work organizations, the working environment and the broader societal context affect this relationship. Paid employment is an important determinant of a high quality of life in Europe (Clark, 2001a, 2005). Working not only gives people an adequate amount of money to make ends meet, but it also offers them a clear time structure, a sense of identity, social status and integration, and opportunities for personal development (Gallie, 2002, 2007). However, with demands rising both at work and in the home (see Chapter 2), managing the interface between work and other life domains is becoming increasingly complex and difficult. As a result, people may feel less satisfied with their work-life balance and this, in turn, may affect their quality of life (Parasuraman et al., 1992; Rice et al., 1992; et al., 1999). There are signs that the ability to balance working with other life domains is becoming an important issue for individuals’ quality of life in Europe, and that its relevance to overall life satisfaction grows along with a country’s economic prosperity and welfare provisions (Szucs et al., 2008; Drobnic et al., 2010). The EU Social Agenda and the Lisbon Strategy have identified the compatibility of work and family life as a core value, one that is believed to have major influence on quality of life (European Foundation for Living and Working Conditions, 2005). It is therefore important to study both the relationship between working life and private life and the sources of work-life balance and well-being from a comparative European perspective.

This concluding chapter summarizes the main findings of our study, which had three aims. The first was to increase our knowledge of the quality of life and work of European women and men from an international comparative perspective and to explore how the two are interrelated, based on both workplace and family factors. How do service sector workers in eight countries evaluate the quality of their work and life? To what extent are their experiences shaped by job and household demands and resources, mediating factors such as satisfaction with work-life balance, work engagement and work-home interference and enrichment, and the workplace and country context? Secondly, we wanted to investigate the characteristics of a healthy organization, where work is organized in a socially as well as an economically sustainable manner. Thirdly, we looked at how public and organizational policies and future challenges impact on the quality of work and life of European women and men. The study draws on multiple methods and in this chapter we reflect on the research methods and theoretical approach used. We follow this with a discussion of future challenges regarding the quality of work and life in Europe and end by suggesting directions for future research.

How do European service sector workers evaluate their quality of work and life nowadays? Europeanization and globalization are bringing about major shifts in the economy, but we know little about how this is affecting the well-being of Europe’s citizens. This chapter presents a range of subjective indicators for the quality of work and life as reported by service sector employees in eight European countries. In addition, it provides background information on the organizational context. The countries involved are at different stages of economic development and have differing welfare systems, as explained in Chapter 3. Four organizations were surveyed in each country: one bank or insurance company, one public hospital, one retail organization and one IT or telecom company.

Chapter 2 discusses the theoretical framework of this study, which explores the quality of work and life in eight European countries. Unlike many previous quality of life studies, our study looks at multiple life domains and the way they impact on one another. The rise of dual-earner families and the increase in the number of qualified women entering the labour market are forcing more people to combine paid work and care responsibilities or other life activities. Consequently, people increasingly need to adapt their working life to their private and family life and vice versa. Life becomes more complicated when trying to juggle two jobs, children’s school timetables and hobbies, and a social life. In addition, increased flexibility and advanced technology — for example, flexible working hours, e-mail and mobile phones — affect the permeability of work and family boundaries (Kossek et al., 2005). As a result, the work and household domains increasingly interact with and influence each other. Any analysis of the quality of life of workers must consider both domains as well as people’s ability to successfully manage their work and private life. Problems or conflicts between work and family life can have negative impacts on health and well-being (for example, OECD, 2001).

In de afgelopen decennia groeit de belangstelling voor de integratie van werk en priveleven. De overheid biedt met de wet Arbeid en Zorg (2000), de wet Aanpassing Arbeidsduur (2001), de wet Kinderopvang (2005), en de levensloopregeling (2006) basisvoorzieningen aan, die werkgevers kunnen aanvullen. Werkgevers introduceren in toenemende mate flexibele werktijden, thuiswerken en verlofregelingen. Sommige werkgevers doen dit meer dan anderen. Onderzoek wijst uit dat vooral grote bedrijven en de publieke sector voorop lopen als het gaat om de introductie van aanvullend werk-privebeleid (voorzieningen en regelingen die de afstemming tussen werk en priveleven ondersteunen) (Den Dulk, 2001; Bekker et al., 2006).

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to contribute to two related contemporary debates on the changing views of the employment relation and on the adoption of telework as a new work practice by analyzing line managers' general telework‐attitude formation processes, and possible outcomes in concrete request situations, mirroring managers' views of the employment relationship.Design/methodology/approachThis multi‐method study among 65 managers in six financial‐sector organizations comprises two parts. The interview part focuses on managers' arguments for or against telework in their departments, and how these are weighed in the telework‐attitude formation process. In the vignette study, managers assess their attitudes towards specific, hypothetical, but realistic telework requests of fictive employees in their departments.FindingsCombining the results of both studies, it is shown that the governance view dominates. Some managers, however, consider telework an “idiosyncratic deal.” Particularly in telework‐request situations, also the exchange view enters into the managers' perceptual frames. In order to decrease managers' ambivalence towards telework, the human resource management (HRM)‐system needs to be internally consistent and based on a view of the employment relationship which stresses commitment and trust as guiding principles, rather than control and coordination.Originality/valueEmploying a “configurational approach to strategic HRM,” this paper focuses on the importance of the “embeddedness” of telework practices in larger HRM‐systems in general, and the role of cultural obstacles in particular. Telework arguments are considered the HR principles guiding the telework‐attitude formation process, and mirroring managers' views of the employment relationship as part of their workforce philosophies.

In this paper we focus on the implementation and management of work-life policies in the workplace and the key role of managers in this context. We review the existing literature, enabling us to set a research agenda focused on explaining managerial attitudes and behavior toward work-life policies in different organizational and national contexts. The evidence found in several studies suggests that managers often receive mixed messages about the implementation of work-life policies because these policies are not embedded in the workplace; managers are often unaware of such policies and lack training in them, leading to inconsistency in implementation and short-term thinking rather than a long-term perspective that cherishes human capital. Our review points to the need for more research allowing a full understanding of managerial attitudes and behaviour in different organizational and national contexts. Although a few interesting studies do exist, research in the field is still in its infancy. More research is needed, in particular systematic studies with well-developed theoretical frameworks.

In Nederlandse arbeidsorganisaties worden deeltijdwerk, flexibele begin- en eindtijden en thuiswerken vaak als oplossingen gezien voor de ‘combinatieproblemen’ van werknemers. Het is echter denkbaar dat dergelijke tijd-ruimtelijke flexibiliteit onder zogenoemde ‘nieuwe arbeidscondities’, waarbij het werk wordt gekenmerkt door autonomie, projectgericht werken, resultaatmanagement en strikte deadlines, de afstemming tussen werk en privé juist kan bemoeilijken en werkgerelateerde stress in de privésfeer kan vergroten. De vraag is dan ook of flexibiliteit ook voor de categorie ‘nieuwe werknemers’ tot een betere werk-privé-balans leidt. Op basis van gegevens van 807 Nederlandse werknemers verzameld in 2003 wordt geconcludeerd dat tijd-ruimtelijke flexibiliteit voor werknemers inderdaad effectief is, en dat dit evenzeer geldt voor ‘nieuwe werknemers’. Over het algemeen blijken werknemers met een kleinere deeltijdbaan (12-24 uur per week) een betere balans te ervaren. Zeggenschap over begin- en eindtijden blijkt positief bij te dragen aan de werk-privé-balans van vrouwelijke werknemers. De werk-privé-balans van thuiswerkers en werknemers met grotere deeltijdbanen was niet aantoonbaar beter dan die van andere werknemers. In de afsluitende paragraaf wordt teruggegrepen op de huidige discussies rondom tijd-ruimtelijke flexibiliteit en ‘nieuwe arbeidscondities’ en worden beleidsimplicaties besproken.

The aim of this qualitative study of 31 Dutch couples is to help us understand why the division of paid and unpaid work between women and men remains stubbornly unequal, despite women’s gains in the workplace and rising educational levels. This study expands on other research by documenting daily implicit and explicit decision-making about the division of paid and domestic work by couples during a unique period of their lives: the formative years of their relationship, until they are expecting their first child. Our findings indicate that in general, these Dutch couples do not look explicitly at their division of paid and domestic work, and that this often perpetuates a gendered division of work. More explicit decision-making occurs when couples have a very strong preference for equal sharing, or when the partners disagree or feel frustrated with their current situation. One important finding of this study is that even the couples who prefer to divide the work equally often end up following traditional patterns. This has to do with the decision-making strategies they apply, which seem to be grounded in ambivalent feelings about roles and responsibilities and often romanticizing relationships. Such ambivalence functions as a barrier to more effective decision-making processes. Data from this study seems to suggest that couples wanting to share household responsibilities should, as a minimum, engage in explicit decision-making until they have developed egalitarian routines.

Whether or not Europeans are able to achieve a healthy work/life balance is due, at least in part, to the effects of social policies in the different nations. In the comparative literature on European social policy, the differences between various welfare regimes is an important and recurring theme. Europe is made up of a diverse collection of nations and there are wide variations in social policy across the European Union. The Esping-Andersen typology of welfare regimes still provides a convenient starting point for analysing the implications of social policy for the everyday lives of people. In this well-known typology, a distinction is made between the liberal, the corporatist and the social-democratic regime.

Contains fulltext : 54904.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) This study examined the associations of work–home culture with (a) demographic and organizational characteristics, (b) the use of work–home arrangements, and (c) negative and positive work–home interaction, among 1,179 employees from one public and two private organizations. Substantial support was found for a 2-factor structure of a work–home culture measure differentiating between “support” (employees’ perceptions of organization's, supervisors’, and colleagues’ responsiveness to work–family issues and to the use of work–home arrangements) and “hindrance” (employees’ perceptions of career consequences and time demands that may prevent them from using work–home arrangements). This 2-factor structure appeared to be invariant across organizations, gender, and parental status. Significant relationships with organizational characteristics, the use of work–home arrangements, and work–home interaction supported the validity of these two cultural dimensions. It is concluded that if employers want to minimize work–home interference, to optimize positive work–home interaction, and to boost the use of work–home arrangements, they should create a work–home culture that is characterized by high support and low hindrance. 18 p.