Work-life 'balance', recession and the gendered limits to learning and innovation (or, why it pays employers to care)

• Autores: Al James
• Localización: Gender Work & Organization, ISSN-e 1468-0432, Vol. 21, Nº. 3, 2014, págs. 273-294
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • The everyday challenges faced by workers �struggling to juggle� competing commitments of paid work, home and family remain stubbornly persistent and highly gendered. Reinforcing these problems, many employers regard work�life balance (WLB) provision as too costly. In response, this paper explores the learning and innovation advantages that can result from WLB provision in knowledge-intensive firms, as part of a WLB �mutual gains� research agenda. These synergies are explored through a case study of IT workers and firms in two high-tech regional economies � Dublin, Ireland and Cambridge, UK � prior to (2006�8) and subsequent to (2010) the economic downturn. The results suggest that by making available the kinds of WLB arrangements identified by workers as offering meaningful reductions in gendered work�life conflicts, employers can also enhance the learning and innovation processes within and between firms, which are widely recognized as fundamental for firms' long-term sustainable competitive advantage.