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Public sector austerity cuts in the UK and the changing discourse of work-life balance

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Lewis, Susan, Anderson, Deirdre, Lyonette, Clare, Payne, Nicola and Wood, Stephen (2017) Public sector austerity cuts in the UK and the changing discourse of work-life balance. Work, Employment And Society, 31 (4). pp. 586-604. doi:10.1177/0950017016638994 ISSN 0950-0170.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0950017016638994

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Abstract

The relative importance of economic and other motives for employers to provide support for work- life balance (WLB) is debated within different literatures. However, discourses of WLB can be sensitive to changing economic contexts. This article draws on in-depth interviews with senior HR professionals in British public sector organisations to examine shifting discourses of WLB in an austerity context. Three main discourses were identified: WLB practices as organisationally embedded amid financial pressures, WLB practices as a strategy for managing financial pressures and WLB as a personal responsibility. Despite a discourse of mutual benefits to employee and employer underpinning all three discourses, there is a distinct shift towards greater emphasis on economic rather than institutional interests of employers during austerity, accompanied by discursive processes of fixing, stretching, shrinking and bending understandings of WLB. The reconstructed meaning of WLB raises concerns about its continued relevance to its original espoused purpose.

Item Type: Journal Article
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
Divisions: Faculty of Social Sciences > Institute for Employment Research
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): Work-life balance, Human capital
Journal or Publication Title: Work, Employment And Society
Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd.
ISSN: 0950-0170
Official Date: 1 August 2017
Dates:
DateEvent
1 August 2017Published
1 May 2016Available
19 February 2016Accepted
Volume: 31
Number: 4
Number of Pages: 19
Page Range: pp. 586-604
DOI: 10.1177/0950017016638994
Status: Peer Reviewed
Publication Status: Published
Access rights to Published version: Open Access (Creative Commons)
Date of first compliant deposit: 3 March 2016
Date of first compliant Open Access: 28 June 2016

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