Worklife Balance: The Agency and Capabilities Gap

316 Pages·2013·1.16 MB·English

by  Barbara Hobson

Worklife Balance
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Worklife Balance
The Agency and Capabilities Gap
Edited by B arbara Hobson
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Acknowledgements

First, I want to acknowledge the excellent team of researchers who were
involved in the making of this book; over the last four years we have met and
grappled with how to develop models that fi t our approach to the capabilities
framework and then apply them in our research on gender, social policy and
employment. This bore fruit in the innovative ways in which the capabilities
approach has been integrated throughout the chapters in this book. Denis
Bouget and Bruno Palier, coordinators for the FP6, Network of Excellence,
Reconciling Work and Welfare (RECWOWE), were crucial for the evolution
of this book. They brought us together along with a vast network of outstand-
ing researchers. The cross-cutting dimensions of this book are mirrored in the
four overlapping strands in the RECWOWE project: fl exibility and security,
family, work and welfare regimes, quality of jobs, and the future of welfare.
Our capabilities survey was initially conducted in two cities, Stockholm and
Budapest. It was a collaborative effort; Judit Takács stood at the helm of the
Budapest team. Then the dedicated group of Japanese scholars, led by Mieko
Takahashi, took the initiative to get funding for the project and replicate the
survey in Osaka. Their important contribution extended the scope of this
book beyond the European context. I also had a wonderful team of research-
ers in Stockholm. Special thanks go to my collaborator and colleague in the
Sociological Department, Susanne Fahlén, whose contributions are innumer-
able: conceptual and empirical, including the unique coding system that she
created for the capabilities survey and the elegant diagrams in the book. For
his heroic contribution during the last year, I am indebted to Christopher
Grönberg, my research assistant, for data analysis and for getting this book
ready for publication. For their comments on the Introduction and Conclu-
sion, I express my gratitude to Jane Lewis, Livia Oláh, and Sony Michel as well
Sonja Drobnič , Colette Fagan, and Aleksandra Kanjuo-Mrč ela from our team.
I want to underscore the important role of Adam Swallow, our editor at
Oxford University Press for his support and enthusiasm for this book and his
recognition of the value of this interdisciplinary endeavor. I also thank Aimee
Wright for guiding the manuscript through the production process. Eleanor
Rapier from Stockholm did an excellent job in the initial copyediting of sev-
eral chapters. For her important contribution in copyediting a book with this
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Acknowledgements
complexity and with so many authors, we express our gratitude to Caroline
McPherson from OUP. We also are grateful to the three anonymous reviewers
who provided us with comments and caveats for revision of the book.
The research funding came from different sources, mainly the European
Commission, FP6 Network of Excellence, RECWOWE, <h ttp://recwowe.vita-
mib.com/ >. Two researchers in this the book also were supported through a
European Science Foundation Grant; myself, through the Swedish Research
Council, and Laura Den Dulk through the Netherlands Foundation for
Scientifi c Research. Some of the research and data used in this book was
funded through the Fifth framework project, Gender, Parenthood, and the
Changing European Workplace; Susan Lewis was the coordinator and others
in this book were participants.
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Contents

List of Figures ix
List of Tables xi
Notes on Contributors xiii
1 . Introduction: capabilities and agency for worklife balance—
a multidimensional framework 1
Barbara Hobson
Part I . The Individual/Household and the Agency and Capabilities
Gap: Policy Frameworks, Norms, and Work Organizational Cultures
2 . The agency gap: policies, norms, and working time capabilities
across welfare states 35
Susanne   Fahlén
3 . A sense of entitlement? Agency and capabilities in Sweden and
Hungary 57
Barbara Hobson , Susanne Fahlén , and Judit Takács
4 . Worklife balance in Japan: new policies, old practices 92
Mieko Takahashi , Saori Kamano , Tomoko Matsuda , Setsuko Onode ,
and K yoko Yoshizumi
5 . Agency freedom for worklife balance in Germany and Spain 126
Sonja Drobnič and Margarita León
Part II . The Firm Level and the Agency and Capabilities Gap: Policies,
Managers, and Work Organization
6 . Workplace worklife balance support from a capabilities perspective 153
Laura den Dulk , Sandra Groeneveld , and Bram Peper
7 . Working time capabilities at the workplace: individual adjustment
options between full-time and part-time working in European fi rms 174
Colette Fagan and Pierre Walthery
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Contents
8 . Capabilities for worklife balance: managerial attitudes and
employee practices in the Dutch, British, and Slovenian banking
sector 206
Bram Peper , Laura den Dulk , Nevenka Č ernigoj Sadar , Suzan Lewis ,
Janet Smithson , and Anneke van Doorne-Huiskes
9 . Capabilities for worklife balance in the context of increasing work
intensity and precariousness in the service sector and the IT
industry in a transitional economy 238
Aleksandra Kanjuo Mrč ecla and Nevenka Č ernigoj Sadar
10. Conclusion 266
Barbara Hobson
Index 287

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List of Figures

1.1 Capabilities and conversion factors 14
2.1 Proportions stating that it is important/very important, when choosing
a job, that the work allows them to combine work and family life 44
2.2 Proportions of mothers and fathers working more than 40 hours a week 45
2.3 Average actual weekly working hours (overtime include) and average
capability hours 47
2.4 Interactions between actual working hours and capability hours 50
3.1 Converting entitlements into a sense of entitlement 58
3.2 Family-friendly working conditions: proportion of employees having
working time set by the employer or the employee 79
4.1 The workplace organization nexus in agency and worklife balance 94
4.2 Employment rates by age group in Japan, 1990–2010 96
4.3 Gap between actual and ideal time allocation to work, family, and self 116
6.1 Percentage of organizations in the high capabilities cluster 166
6.2 Percentage of organizations in the high capabilities cluster by size 167
6.3 Percentage of organizations in the low and high capabilities cluster by
proportion of women 167
7.1 Prevalence of part-time work in European establishments in 2005 185
7.2 Prevalence of working time reversibility in European establishments 186
7.3 Proportion of part-time employees in European establishments: trends
2005–09 1 98
9.1 Flexible forms of employment in Slovenia and Europe in 2008 240
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