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Both research and policy on balancing work and family life have tended to focus on mothers' lives. There has been a general lack of comparative research to the complex intersection between old and new forms of masculinity; and between fatherhood, work-life balance, gender relations and children's well-being. As a result, men's fathering roles and their struggle with work-life balance have often been neglected. These cultural challenges should be better theorized within family and social policy research. This volume examines how fathers fulfill their roles both within the family and at work and what institutional support could be of most benefit to them in combining these roles.

This volume explores the potential of employing a relational paradigm for the purposes of interdisciplinary exchange. Bringing together scholars from the social sciences, philosophy and theology, it seeks to bridge the gap between subject areas by focusing on real phenomena.Although these phenomena are studied by different disciplines, the editors demonstrate that it is also possible to study them from a common relational perspective that connects the different languages, theories and perspectives which characterize each discipline, by going beyond their differences to the core of reality itself. As an experimental collection that highlights the potential that exists for cross-disciplinary work, this volume will appeal to scholars across a range of field concerned with critical realist approaches to research, collaborative work across subjects and the manner in which disciplines can offer one another new insights.

Parents around the globe are facing the common challenges of balancing family and work. And the need has never been more urgent for organizations to recognize how having a family impacts an employees creativity, productivity and performance. Here is a useful guide to help leaders implement country-sensitive work-family policies and create family-responsible environments in which employees can carry out their work and still be fully engaged with their families. In nine chapters, Balancing Work and Family: Reviews and addresses the unique cultural, social, political and economic climates in the United States, Latin America, North America, Europe, Asia and Africa; Provides practical recommendations based on solid international research; Presents theory as well as vivid accounts of employee experiences from different geographical regions and cultural backgrounds; Shares examples and business cases illustrating best practices from companies in these regions. The books perspective is truly global, with chapters written by international authors. It brings together a diverse team including an academic expert who has conducted rigorous studies on work family conflict, a lawyer who addresses the legal environment in some countries and a practitioner with hands-on experience with real employers and employees. Each chapter presents an overview of the factors in a specific region impacting work-family integration, the main challenges to individuals and organizations, solutions companies have implemented and many examples of the processes companies use to foster family-responsible cultures. The authors make a strong case that it is the job organizational leaders not HR professionals to direct change in this important area.

In this multidisciplinary collection of essays, forty-eight social scientists from seven countries examine changes in the organization of work and their impact on people at various stages of the life course.

This book explores the effects of shift work and non standard working hours on family and social life. It features analysis and case studies from an international body of researchers from Europe, the Americas and Australia. It includes contributions from Germany, the United States, the Netherlands, Croatia, Italy, Poland, Australia, and Brazil, that fully examine this increasingly prevalent, and global, issue. The book starts by introducing the problems of work-family linkages, shift work and non-standard work hours. Next, it details the consequences of specific features of shift schedules, such as decreased opportunities for social participation, family problems and negative effects on partners and children as well as the impact of working time arrangements on work-family conflict over time. The book then looks at the consequences of shift work and non-standard work hours on family members and the workers themselves, including the sleep and daytime functioning of adolescent family members and the ways that non-standard work schedules intersect with the particular challenges and stresses of family responsibilities and strategies that workers use to manage these challenges in sectors where non-standard schedules are the norm. Last, the book considers the role of individual differences in understanding problems of work-family relationships, including a consideration of safety and health at work from the perspective of gender and an examination of the moderating role of chronotype and circadian type characteristics on work-family conflict and work-family facilitation among male shift workers.

Examining the debate on quality of jobs in Europe, this book focuses on the work-life balance-a central element of the EU agenda. It addresses tensions between work and private life, examining job quality, job security, working conditions and time-use patterns of individuals and households as well as institutional contexts.

Work Time is a sociological overview of a complex web of relations that shapes much of our experience of work and life yet often goes without critical examination. Cynthia Negrey examines work time past and present, exploring structural economic change and the gender division of labor to ask: what are the historical, cultural, public policy, and business sources of current work-time practices? Topics addressed include work-time reduction in the US culminating in the 40-hour statute of 1938, recent trends in annual and weekly hours, overtime, part-time work, temporary employment, work-family integration, and international comparisons. She focuses on the US in a global context and explores how a new political economy of work time is taking shape. This book brings together existing knowledge from sociology, anthropology, history, labor economics, and family studies to answer its central question and will change the way upper-level students think about the time we devote to work.

Looks at the three main components of work-family policy packages - childcare services, flexible working patterns and entitlements to leave from work in order to care - across EU15 Member States, with comparative reference to the US. This work also provides an examination of developments in the UK.

Parenthood can be one of the most fulfilling, altering, and challenging life events. This book is set within the background of the reality of many parents’ return-to-work experience, the task of re-engaging with work and maintaining a job or a career, and the difficulties that parenthood poses for balancing the demands of a new family with the demands of work. It helps us understand this reality, give voice to new parents, and offer relief in the knowledge that we know a lot about these challenges and, most importantly, how we can start to address them. The book brings together a number of internationally recognized experts from research, practice, and policy to explore the issues and offer evidence-based solutions around return-to-work after having children. It takes a balanced approach to theory and practice to cover topics such as equality, stereotypes, work-family conflict, training and development, and workplace culture, among others, whilst integrating research and policy, and illustrating learnings with case studies from parents and examples from countries that lead the way. It will appeal to parents, researchers, and employers in any sector or economy across the world. Ultimately, it will help develop ways for new parents to re-engage with work successfully while maintaining their work-family well-being.