First Published in 2007. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

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.

In today's fast-paced world where things are rapidly changing and one technology is beating another, companies are also in the race of getting better than each other. In such a situation, the professional life and the personal life of the individuals and all the employees is mixed, and nowadays, people do not have time for their personal life. For any individual, it is important to work, but at the same time, it is equally important to have a personal time in which the individuals can spend time with their family and friends. Due to the rising competition among different companies, the employees are getting higher workload, and as a result, most of the employees are stressed out. It is significant to understand the importance of a work-life balance of an individual or an employee so it does not affect the mental and physical health of the employees of a company.

First Published in 2007. Lee, McCann and Messenger trace the theoretical background of the concept of working time before examining recent trends in working time laws in developing countries and countries in transition. The study then shifts its focus to developments in selected countries, considering both broad trends in working time at a national level and the structure and dynamics underlying these trends. The authors provide a remarkable set of policy suggestions that preserve health and safety, are ?family- friendly?, promote gender equality, enhance productivity and facilitate workers? choice and influence over their working hours. This book will be of great interest to policy-makers engaged with working conditions or health and safety, labour market experts, trade union leaders and workers? organizations, as well as academics and researchers in the fields of industrial relations, labour economics and labour law.

At the core of all societies and economies are human beings deploying their energies and talents in productive activities - that is, at work. The law governing human productive activity is a large part of what determines outcomes in terms of social justice, material wellbeing, and the sustainability of both. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that work is heavily regulated. This Handbook examines the 'law of work', a term that includes legislation setting employment standards, collective labour law, workplace discrimination law, the law regulating the contract of employment, and international labour law. It covers the regulation of relations between employer and employee, as well as labour unions, but also discussions on the contested boundaries and efforts to expand the scope of some laws regulating work beyond the traditional boundaries. Written by a team of experts in the field of labour law, the Handbook offers a comprehensive review and analysis, both theoretical and critical. It includes 60 chapters, divided into four parts. Part A establishes the fundamentals, including the historical development of the law of work, why it is needed, the conceptual building blocks, and the unsettled boundaries. Part B considers the core concerns of the law of work, including the contract of employment doctrines, main protections in employment legislation, the regulation of collective relations, discrimination, and human rights. Part C looks at the international and transnational dimension of the law of work. The final Part examines overarching themes, including discussion of recent developments such as gig work, online work, artificial intelligence at work, sustainable development, amongst others.

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.

This book reflects the enormous interest in work-life balance and current pressing concerns about the impacts of austerity more broadly. It draws on contemporary research and practitioner experiences to explore how work-life balance and related workplace and social policy fare in turbulent economic times and the implications for employees, employers and wider societies. Authors consider workplace trends, practices and employment relations and the impacts on work, care and well-being of diverse workers. A guiding theme throughout the book is a triple agenda of supporting employee work-life balance, workplace effectiveness and social justice. The final chapters present case studies of innovative processes and organizational practices for addressing the triple agenda, note the important role of social policy context and discuss the challenge of extending debates on work-life balance to include a social justice dimension. This book will be of interest to academics and postgraduate students of organisational psychology, sociology, human resource management, management and business studies, law and social policy, as well as employers, managers, HR managers, trade unions, and policy makers.

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.

Something's about to break, and if we don't change direction soon, it's going to be us. It doesn't matter in which industry or where, too many of us are overworked, disengaged and apprehensive about the future of work. In his life-affirming new book, best-selling author and entrepreneur Tim Duggan argues that we approach work and life the wrong way around. Fuelled by a powerful realignment that's questioning the way we traditionally think about and interact with our workplaces, Work Backwards takes us on a journey around the world from America's top universities to the streets of Helsinki, from museums in Mexico to Sydney's golden beaches to explore how and why we work. You'll discover: Why reversing your thinking can have such an oversized impact The three things you need to live a full life right now How to easily reset your life-work balance How to use tools like remote, hybrid and flexible work properly Why this is right moment to experiment with work Expert guidance from the world's leading work and happiness researchers A new army of people who are rethinking their relationship with work Learn valuable, practical tools to work better and live a fulfilled and meaningful life that takes advantage of this once-in-a-generations opportunity to reverse your thinking and reclaim your life back from work.