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

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dc.contributor.authorLewis, Suzan
dc.contributor.authorAnderson, Deirdre A.
dc.contributor.authorLyonette, Clare
dc.contributor.authorPayne, Nicola
dc.contributor.authorWood, Stephen
dc.date.accessioned2019-12-16T16:01:26Z
dc.date.available2019-12-16T16:01:26Z
dc.date.issued2016-05-01
dc.description.abstractThe 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 human resources professionals in British public sector organizations to examine shifting discourses of WLB in an austerity context. Three main discourses were identified: WLB practices as organizationally 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.en_UK
dc.identifier.citationLewis S, Anderson DA, Lyonette C, et al., (2017) Public sector austerity cuts in Britain and the changing discourse of work-life balance. Work, Employment and Society, Volume 31, Issue 4, August 2017, pp. 586-604en_UK
dc.identifier.cris15472186
dc.identifier.issn0950-0170
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1177/0950017016638994
dc.identifier.urihttp://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/14845
dc.language.isoenen_UK
dc.publisherSAGEen_UK
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/*
dc.subjectausterityen_UK
dc.subjectdiscourseen_UK
dc.subjectflexible workingen_UK
dc.subjecthuman resource managementen_UK
dc.subjectwork–life balance (WLB)en_UK
dc.titlePublic sector austerity cuts in Britain and the changing discourse of work-life balanceen_UK
dc.typeArticleen_UK

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