Work Life Interface

In today’s globalised world economy, it is becoming increasingly pressing to shine a light on the interface of work and private life. In order to fully understand the issue we must take an inclusive view and not limit our understanding to Western perspectives. This contributed volume encompasses research and perspectives from the global south, including Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and South America. In doing so, this collection fills a gap in existing literature to give a broader view of the topic. Divided by geographic territory into three sections, the book combines original research, case studies and interviews as well as comparative studies. Chapters cover a wide range of emerging issues including gender and work-life balance; the role of culture; men and household work and work and family balance, to name a few. Crucially, the book offers critical perspectives and understanding of work-life interface/balance/conflict as a collection of conceptual, theoretical, and empirical studies that draws on qualitative and mixed methodologies. Bringing a unique contribution to the field, this book is a useful resource for students, academics, managers and policy makers.

What are the effects of conflict between home and work? Does work stress affect those who live with you? In the rapidly changing modern work environment, time pressures seem ever increasing and new technology allows work to be conducted any time and anywhere. These are just two of the factors that make it more and more difficult for working men and women to integrate work and home life. Consequently, there is a need for flexible and innovative solutions to manage the work-home interface. Work-Life Balance: A Psychological Perspective presents up-to-date information on work-home issues, including the latest research findings. The book’s emphasis is strongly psychological, with a focus on practical solutions, and includes chapters which deal with psychological issues such as the conflict between work and family, how work stresses may affect partners, and recovery from work. It also includes sections on legal issues, as well as examples of initiatives being implemented by leading employers. Contributors are drawn from the leading researchers in their fields and reflect the international character of the current challenges facing employers and employees. Its practical focus and innovative approach make this an essential book for managers, HR professionals and organizational psychologists, as well as students in these disciplines. The theoretical basis and research focus mean the book will also be invaluable for researchers investigating workplace issues.

The book presents the latest studies on the work–life balance of millennial (also known as Generation Y) building professionals in Singapore and South Korea. Its main goal is to compare and contrast the workplace attitudes of millennials, and to provide guidelines that help supervisors in the construction industry manage their employees’ expectations regarding work–life balance. Accordingly, it explains and links various principles regarding work–life conflicts, work–life enrichments and the work–life interface. Furthermore, the book introduces readers to coping strategies, a dimension that has not yet been explored substantially and has the potential to contribute significantly to the study and understanding of work–life balance. The book makes recommendations for the top management on assigning a capable leader to drive the changes in the organization, and on empowering the leader to implement effective strategies for promoting work–life balance, especially for the millennials who are now playing an increasing central role in the global construction sector.

Work-life balance isn’t about where or how you spend your time. At least not solely. It’s about where and how you use and replenish your energy. Work matters. Life matters. Work-life matters. As we start to navigate life during and after the pandemic, employers and employees are increasingly re-evaluating how work can be made more sustainable and more fulfilling. Many employees - particularly Gen X and Gen Z - are seeking a new psychological contract with their employers. Putting these trends into context and offering practical solutions, this book takes a deep dive into why work matters as part of a healthy and fulfilling life. The authors present a new and different way of thinking about the matter of balance, arguing that there is no hard divide between ‘work’ and life’ because ‘work’ takes place entirely within ‘life’ and you can’t balance two things when one is a subset of the other. To achieve the balance required for a healthy existence, we need to recognise that there are activities in all parts of work-life that drain our energy and others that give us a buzz. Rather than trying to solve the drain of hard work by living it large at the weekend – or compensating for an unfulfilling home life by working like a demon, we need to create balance at work and balance at home. Now is a golden opportunity to re-examine the world of work and job-craft to make them more satisfying, less draining and more energising. The ideas in this book provide a practical guide to help that process.

Based on a sweeping, ten country study, The Work-Family Interface in Global Context comprises the most comprehensive and rigorous cross-cultural study of the work-family interface to date. Just as work-family conflict is associated with negative consequences for workers, organizations, and societies, so too can the work and family domains interact positively to enhance or enrich one another. Drawing on qualitative, quantitative, and policy-based data, chapters in this collection explore the influence of culture on the work-family interface in order to help researchers and managers understand the applicability of work-family models in a variety of contexts and further conceptualize work-family interactions through the development of a more universal knowledge. Members of the Project 3535 Team: Karen Korabik, University of Guelph, Canada. Zeynep Aycan, Koç University, Turkey. Roya Ayman, Illinois Institute of Technology, USA. Artiawati, University of Surabaya, Indonesia. Anne Bardoel, Monash University, Australia. Anat Drach-Zahavy, University of Haifa, Israel. Leslie B. Hammer, Portland State University, USA. Ting-Pang Huang, Soochow University, Taiwan. Donna S. Lero, University of Guelph, Canada. Tripti Pande-Desai, New Delhi Institute of Management, India. Steven Poelmans, EADA Business School, Spain. Ujvala Rajadhyaksha, Governors State University, USA. Anit Somech, University of Haifa, Israel. Li Zhang, Harbin Institute of Technology, China.

With contributions from thirty authors from fifteen countries, this is a 'white book' for international work-family research and practice. The authors offer a bold look at the future and provide guidelines for future research, focusing on applied, international work-family research.

Based on a thorough review of the research on work-life balance, Sirgy and Lee identify a set of personal interventions that selected employees commonly use to increase their work-life balance and life satisfaction. Personal interventions of work-life balance involve five behavior-based strategies and four cognition-based strategies. The behavior-based strategies are engaging in multiple roles and domains, increasing role enrichment, engaging in behavior-based compensation, managing role conflict, and creating role balance. The cognition-based strategies are segmenting roles and domains, integrating roles and domains, engaging in value-based compensation, and applying whole-life perspective in decision-making. This volume provides HR managers and HR consultants with pedagogical material designed to help them develop in-house workshops, seminars, and curricula for their employees to improve their work-life balance by using the personal interventions described in the book.

Despite calls for a renewal of family values and the proliferation of corporate work-family programs, the goal of achieving a healthy balance between the demands of work and a satisfying family life remains elusive. Dr. Parasuraman, Dr. Greenhaus, and the contributors to this well-balanced and thoughtful volume examine this increasingly prevalent social dilemma from a stakeholder perspective. They see work-family tensions as a multifaceted social issue, and they examine the nature and consequences of these tensions from the viewpoints of individuals, employers, consultants, counseling professionals, and other service providers. Their inclusion of legal, cultural, international, and research perspectives and recognition of the unique concerns of vulnerable groups, such as nonexempt employees and ethnic minorities, add to the breadth of coverage. Academics in the social and behavioral sciences, executive decision-makers in government and business, human resource professionals, and employed men and women interested in achieving work-life balance will find this volume insightful, stimulating, and useful. The editors have arranged their book into five parts and 21 chapters. Part I provides a broad overview of the environmental factors impacting work and family. It then identifies the critical issues and challenges facing individuals, families, and employees in managing the complex interdependencies between work and family roles. In Part II they provide a view of the issues from the vantage point of specific stakeholders. Part III concentrates on the role of culture in shaping ideology, policies, and practices concerning work and family and the relationships among them. Part IV examines the impact of career development programs on employees and their families. It also discusses the effectiveness of alternative career tracks, various usages of work-family benefits by women and men, and the roles employers and employees can play in legitimizing alternative career paths. Part V concludes the book by examining the cultural barriers to achieving more effective integration of work and family, and by analyzing the appropriate role of key stakeholders in addressing work-family problems.