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Contribution to Book
Introduction to Work-life Balance
Workplace Well-being: Building Positive and Psychologically Healthy Workplaces (2014)
  • Leslie B. Hammer, Portland State University
  • Caitlin A. Demsky, Portland State University
Abstract
Scholars have demonstrated, based on several decades of research, that work–life balance is a critical component of psychologically healthy workplaces (Hammer & Zimmerman, 2011). In 1977, while Rosabeth Moss Kanter wrote about “the myth of separate worlds,” employees and organizations began to face the undeniable connections between work and nonwork (Kanter, 1977). Employees were choosing organizations that provided more family-supportive policies, and eventually, employers began to implement workplace supports that were attractive to prospective employees. In the 1980s, scholars started to examine workplace and family characteristics that contributed to work–family conflict (e.g., Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985), and companies, such as IBM, developed new initiatives to support employees, leading to an increased focus on healthy organizational practices. By 1990, the health of workers and the health of organizations were addressed in several seminal articles contributing to the emphasis of work–life balance in the development of healthy workplaces (e.g., Ilgen, 1990; Zedeck, 1992). The present chapter briefly reviews work–life balance constructs, theoretical frameworks, antecedents and outcomes of work–family conflict, work–family conflict and health, and work–family balance best practices.
Disciplines
Publication Date
2014
Editor
Arla E Day; Kevin Kelloway; Joseph J Jr Hurrell
Publisher
John Wiley & Sons
Citation Information
Leslie B. Hammer and Caitlin A. Demsky. "Introduction to Work-life Balance" West Sussex, EnglandWorkplace Well-being: Building Positive and Psychologically Healthy Workplaces (2014)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/leslie_hammer/19/