Organisational greed pressurises family life
31 July 2009
New book
Work, Families and Organisations in Transition: European perspectives
Edited by Suzan Lewis, Julia Brannen and Ann Nilsen (Policy Press)
Work, Families and Organisations in Transition: European perspectives analyses how parents working in the finance and public sectors in 7 European Union (EU) countries balance their work and family lives.
Editors Suzan Lewis (Middlesex University Business School), Julia Brannen (Institute of Education, London) and Ann Nilsen (University of Bergen) have found growing similarities in the pressures exerted in both sectors on working parents and family life. The EU-funded study was carried out at the height of the short-term profiteering which drove financial organisations and the efficiency drives which dominated the public sector.
Even though juggling work and family life is a struggle, most Europeans expect to do this at some time in their lives. While many countries and organisations offer flexible working arrangements, parents are often deterred from taking these up.
The spread of global capitalism and hierarchical management structures are making many employers demand more of their workers. At the same time, society is expecting more of parents, for example in supporting their children's education.
Professor Lewis says: "Our study shows that work-life policies are sorely needed, but even where they exist, they are often undermined by global forces.
"Work intensification and constant change fuel such a sense of insecurity that many parents dare not ask to change their hours or take time off for fear they are seen not to be pulling their weight."
Professor Brannen adds: "Parents in some workplaces do not feel entitled to take up employer-led or public policies. In others, parents are poorly supported by their managers, while the managers lack the resources to cover what happens when parents need to work flexibly or take time off when their children are ill.
"Many parents do not know which policies their employers provide, and managers are constrained by bureaucratic procedures. Living in strong welfare states, such as those of Scandinavia, does not guarantee an easy life for working parents, some of whom refrain from taking advantage of the generous rights to which they are entitled."
The book also shows that working mothers still bear the brunt of family responsibilities.
Professor Nilsen says: "Although rights and entitlements are in theory equally available to mothers and fathers, it is typically mothers who expect – and whom employers expect – to take advantage of them. In most of the seven countries we studied, policies for fathers are sidelined.
"It is vitally important that the recession does not erode parental rights and entitlements further."
Work, families and organisations in transition: European perspectives is published by Policy Press.
Notes for editors
For a review copy, please email jessica.hughes@bristol.ac.uk.
Work, Families and Organisations in Transition: European perspectives, edited by Suzan Lewis, Julia Brannen and Ann Nilsen, published by Policy Press, ISBN 978 1 84742 220 0, is available from:
Marston Book Services
PO Box 269, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4YN
Tel: +44 (0)1235 465 500
Email: direct.orders@marston.co.uk
Cost: £52.00, hardback only.
The 7 countries studied are Bulgaria, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK.
Suzan Lewis is professor of organisational psychology at Middlesex University Business School, London. Julia Brannen is professor of sociology of the family at the Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education, London. Ann Nilsen is professor of sociology at the University of Bergen, Norway.
The Institute of Education is a college of the University of London, specialising in teaching, research and consultancy in education and related areas of social science and professional practice. Last year's Research Assessment Exercise judged almost two-thirds of the work submitted by the IOE was internationally significant, and 35 per cent was regarded as "world leading".