Work-life balance, time and money: identifying the work-life balance priorities of working class workers
This chapter provides an overview of the relative roles played by time and money in debates around work-life balance. It shows how time trumps money in dominant understandings of what ‘work-life’ means and in what parts of our lives are presumed to be in need of balance. Working ‘too many’ hours is...
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| Format: | Article |
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Kluwer
2017
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40675/ |
| _version_ | 1848796113120788480 |
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| author | Warren, Tracey |
| author_facet | Warren, Tracey |
| author_sort | Warren, Tracey |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This chapter provides an overview of the relative roles played by time and money in debates around work-life balance. It shows how time trumps money in dominant understandings of what ‘work-life’ means and in what parts of our lives are presumed to be in need of balance. Working ‘too many’ hours is seen to be the major challenge for achieving a work-life balance. This is an incomplete account. It is largely about the work-lives of the middle classes and it neglects the priorities of working class workers.
The chapter first recaps on the centrality of time within academic work-life debate. It demonstrates how a time-dominant conceptualisation of work-life balance has determined the ways in which balance/imbalance is measured and, similarly, how it shapes policy discourse and development. A serious limitation of this too heavily time-based understanding of work-life balance is that it prioritises the concerns and needs of middle class workers. The study of work-life balance became largely about the problems arising from a ‘time-squeeze’, and potential solutions to it, because it is rooted in analyses of middle class working lives. Accordingly, the work-life needs of working class workers have been neglected by academics and policy makers. Having enough time is indeed core to a balanced work-life. Yet it is not the only ingredient and nor is it one that dominates the narratives of the working class, for whom financial hardship is a serious threat to work-life balancing.
If we are to take the work-life needs of working class workers seriously too, it is essential to widen out our understanding of work-life balance in academic debate and policy formulation. It is time for researchers, employers, worker representatives and policy makers to co-produce a more holistic and inclusive work-life balance agenda. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:42:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-40675 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:42:49Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Kluwer |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-406752020-05-04T18:35:17Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40675/ Work-life balance, time and money: identifying the work-life balance priorities of working class workers Warren, Tracey This chapter provides an overview of the relative roles played by time and money in debates around work-life balance. It shows how time trumps money in dominant understandings of what ‘work-life’ means and in what parts of our lives are presumed to be in need of balance. Working ‘too many’ hours is seen to be the major challenge for achieving a work-life balance. This is an incomplete account. It is largely about the work-lives of the middle classes and it neglects the priorities of working class workers. The chapter first recaps on the centrality of time within academic work-life debate. It demonstrates how a time-dominant conceptualisation of work-life balance has determined the ways in which balance/imbalance is measured and, similarly, how it shapes policy discourse and development. A serious limitation of this too heavily time-based understanding of work-life balance is that it prioritises the concerns and needs of middle class workers. The study of work-life balance became largely about the problems arising from a ‘time-squeeze’, and potential solutions to it, because it is rooted in analyses of middle class working lives. Accordingly, the work-life needs of working class workers have been neglected by academics and policy makers. Having enough time is indeed core to a balanced work-life. Yet it is not the only ingredient and nor is it one that dominates the narratives of the working class, for whom financial hardship is a serious threat to work-life balancing. If we are to take the work-life needs of working class workers seriously too, it is essential to widen out our understanding of work-life balance in academic debate and policy formulation. It is time for researchers, employers, worker representatives and policy makers to co-produce a more holistic and inclusive work-life balance agenda. Kluwer 2017-02-10 Article PeerReviewed Warren, Tracey (2017) Work-life balance, time and money: identifying the work-life balance priorities of working class workers. Bulletin of Comparative Labour Relations . ISSN 0770-3724 (In Press) |
| spellingShingle | Warren, Tracey Work-life balance, time and money: identifying the work-life balance priorities of working class workers |
| title | Work-life balance, time and money: identifying the work-life balance priorities of working class workers |
| title_full | Work-life balance, time and money: identifying the work-life balance priorities of working class workers |
| title_fullStr | Work-life balance, time and money: identifying the work-life balance priorities of working class workers |
| title_full_unstemmed | Work-life balance, time and money: identifying the work-life balance priorities of working class workers |
| title_short | Work-life balance, time and money: identifying the work-life balance priorities of working class workers |
| title_sort | work-life balance, time and money: identifying the work-life balance priorities of working class workers |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40675/ |