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The purpose of this paper is to explore the experience of work‐life balance amongst senior managers, with particular emphasis on the cause of imbalances. The research is set in a call centre in Ireland at a time when the economy was moving from growth to recession.

A single case study approach is taken. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with all eight members of senior management in Ireland and with five members of senior management based in five sites across Europe. In addition, company documentation was used.

The overall findings of this study point towards the effect the economy has on the promotion and adoption of work‐life balance initiatives. The findings also show that it is not possible to measure work‐life balance in an absolute way, because personal circumstances influence the way this is perceived. Whilst managers with caring responsibilities have obvious work‐life conflicts, the findings show that some childless managers do also, but cannot find a legitimate justification for addressing their needs. Finally, the findings show that long hours and presenteeism do form “part of the job” when accepting a role at a higher level. However, modern technology has helped this to some extent by allowing senior managers to be accessible instead of having to be present in the office.

The paper provides new insights into aspects of managerial work which impact on work‐life balance – in particular the pressure to “choose” to work long hours, the role of technology, the negative impact of traveling time, and the need for more cultural support for a better work‐life balance for managers.

In efforts to improve employee recruitment and retention and enhance productivity and morale, organizations have implemented policies and practices (e.g. flextime, telework to address employee work-life concerns). However, there is mixed evidence regarding their effectiveness. The purpose of this paper is to complement work-life policies, initiatives aimed at empowering employees with the knowledge and skills to manage multiple life roles may be valuable. Little information is available regarding the nature or effectiveness of such initiatives. Through an in-depth analysis of one initiative, Total Leadership, the authors provide insights that can be used in the selection, design, implementation, and evaluation of work-life empowerment efforts.

The authors use a mixed methods approach to explore the experiences of 316 participants in the Total Leadership program. Self-assessments (pre and post) were analyzed using quantitative methods (e.g. Cohen’s d-value). Inductive and iterative qualitative methods were employed to understand the types of experiments participants created as part of the program.

The authors found that participants reported significant increases in satisfaction and performance in all domains of life (work, home, community, and self). Further, the authors identified nine types of experiments that individuals used to enhance performance in all life domains. Implications for management development specialists are provided.

This study provides unique and valuable insight for those interested in supporting employee work-life development, leadership, and performance in all domains of life. It represents one of the first efforts to provide evidence-based guidance for the design and implementation of such initiatives.

The past few decades has seen the proliferation of “family-friendly” policies incorporated into the workplace to promote the recruitment and retention of women for whom time to take care of families and elders has been primary. Despite the increase of women in high-level professions, many organizations have cultures that still do not support work-life integration. We propose a paradigmatic shift from family-friendly policy development and solutions focused on compliance transactions – to what we call “strategic organizational development and transformational change.” We take the argument one step further and suggest three powerful organization intervention strategies to build the culture's capacity to accomplish the business strategy, while weaving work-life integration into the DNA of the 24/7 culture.

This retrospective analysis of the development of work‐family‐life and flexibility initiatives at Royal Bank Financial Group (RBFG) examines the factors that lead to success. Using internal and external research, quantitative and qualitative measures and benchmarking, RBFG has continued to build upon its original business case, dispelled myths and obtained buy‐in from stakeholders. Employees and managers have consistently reported positive results from work‐family‐life initiatives such as dependent care programs, flexible work arrangements and manager tools, training and supports. A chronological profile of the initiatives and highlights from several studies, including RBFG’s two Impact Assessments on Flexible Work Arrangements, are presented within a historical context.

This study aims to provide insight on how work–life initiatives impact employees. Using corporate volunteer programs as an example, the authors examine the role of coworker social influence in shaping the reactions of both employee participants and non-participants of the program. The paper further identifies several factors that may moderate these relationships.

The authors surveyed employees before and after the implementation of a new corporate work–life initiative. 99 employees provided data pre and post. OLS regression and hierarchical linear modeling were used to test hypothesized relationships.

Even in the context of low participation, work–life initiatives engendered positive organization-related perceptions among employees. These positive outcomes were due in part to coworkers' sharing of their volunteer experiences and were most prominent for employees in positions that afforded flexibility, and employees who reported close ties with coworkers.

The study deepens our understanding of employee reactions to work–life programs and underlines the importance of these programs even when employee participation is low. The role of coworker influence as a determinant of employee reactions suggests there may be value in purposefully fostering participants' sharing of volunteer experiences in the workplace.

This study takes a unique approach to examining the role of coworker influence in shaping employee reactions to corporate initiatives.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an in‐depth country perspective on work‐life balance issues in India.

A qualitative approach is used that includes case studies of work‐life interventions offered by a sample of Indian organizations. Primary and secondary data were gathered through interviews with HR managers and from company web sites.

Commonly offered work‐life interventions by Indian companies address issues of gender equality, flexibility, stress reduction, health awareness and childcare.

Sample of organizations in the study is purposive in nature and HR policies of smaller companies in the informal sector are not included. Future research needs to consider how India's unequal economic development across the organized and unorganized sectors may affect effectiveness of work‐life interventions.

Based on India's socio‐cultural realities additional work‐life interventions are suggested in the areas of elder care, employee training and commuting.

Organizational work‐life interventions in India are varied and disparate and have focused mainly on the formal sector. There is no overarching government policy addressing work and family issues across different sectors. Implicit gendering of governmental policies and work‐life initiatives covertly reifies patriarchal structures that make such interventions necessary in the first place.

The paper exclusively brings out connections between India's socio‐economic context and work‐family issues of employees, which no other study has achieved before.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the resilience of a national-level initiative (Improving Working Lives (IWL)) in the face of local-level initiative (Turnaround) in an NHS hospital and compare to Bach and Kessler’s (2012) model of public service employment relations.

Case study research consisting of 23 in-depth semi-structured interviews from a range of participants.

The principles behind IWL were almost entirely sacrificed in order to meet the financial objectives of Turnaround. This indicates the primacy of localised upstream performance management initiatives over the national-level downstream employee relations initiatives that form the basis of the NHS’ claim to model employer aspiration.

The case study was conducted between 2007 and 2009. While the case study falls under previous government regime, the dualised system of national-level agreements combined with localised performance management – and the continued existence of both Turnaround and IWL – makes the results relevant at the time of writing.

Some studies (e.g. Skinner et al., 2004) indicated a perception that IWL was not trusted by NHS staff. The present study offers reasons as to why this may be the case.

This article uses evidence from a piece of action research conducted in the UK hospitality industry to explore the effectiveness of work‐life balance initiatives in helping women progress to senior management. It explores the main barriers to women's progression and highlights the long hours associated with managerial roles as a major problem. The article shows that the business case which underpins diversity management and a voluntary approach to work‐life balance may only deliver positive benefits to women when the labour market is tight, and, even then, the benefits for women in management are far from demonstrated. A stronger equal opportunities approach is also shown to be problematic as it draws attention to women's “difference” to men and their need for special treatment. Given the contingent nature of the business case, it is argued that a strong floor of rights is still needed to protect the most vulnerable employees, especially in an industry where trade unions have virtually no “voice”. It is further argued that more work needs to be done with male managers in order to humanise the workplace for men and women who wish to lead rounded lives.

The aim of this paper is to examine the gendered nature of work‐life policies in and the work‐life conflicts of managers in a multinational corporation in Hungary.

The research is based on 30 qualitative interviews with male and female managers at junior, middle and senior management levels located in Unilevers Eastern European headquarters in Budapest.

The results show that while legislative measures for family‐leave related policies are being encouraged in the EU, this is not the case with employer organizations in transition states, yet this is an important aspect of gender and employment policy as accession states begin to redesign their programmes to fall in line with EU guidelines. The research reveals that attempts to introduce family‐friendly policies still create gendered effects and gendered dilemmas for individual managers. The results reveal that men and women have different perceptions of work‐life balance and adopt different coping strategies to manage work and family commitments. Overall it is found that work‐life balance is constructed as an individual, rather than a corporate responsibility and this also creates gendered inequalities.

The study focuses on one organisation in a transition context and so results cannot be generalised.

The paper aims to contribute to the limited knowledge that currently exists on work‐life initiatives in a transition context and attempts to clarify how gender equality measures can be understood and further developed within the Hungarian context.

This article critically investigates a management-led experiment to institute a four-day work week with stated intentions of improving productivity and worker wellbeing. The article analyses the framing and implementation of the reduced work hours (RWH) trial, the responses of employees and the outcomes and implications of the trial. It raises concerns regarding the managerial appropriation of employee aspirations for more autonomy over time and improved work life.

We conducted a qualitative case study of a medium-sized company operating in the financial services sector in New Zealand. Focus groups and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 45 employees.

Our study finds that the promise of a four-day week attracted employee favour and individualised benefits. However, entrenched managerialist practices of performance measurement, monitoring and productivity pressures were intensified. Pro-social and collective interests evident in labour-led campaigns were absent. We urge greater critical scrutiny into seemingly advantageous “business case” initiatives for reduced work hours.

Little is known about what happens to concern for social and employee interests entailed in reduced working hours initiatives when a management-led initiative is implemented. Indeed, the majority of research focuses on the macro-level rather than interrogating the “black box” of firms. Our inquiry contributes to these debates by asking, how does a management-led RWH initiative affect employees?