Institute for Employment Research » IER News & blogs (tag [work-life balance])

Harnessing growth sectors for poverty reduction

Tue, 25 Apr 2017 10:29:18 GMT

Two further reports have been published by Professor Anne Green, Paul Sissons (Coventry University) and Neil Lee (LSE) from an ESRC-funded project on Harnessing Growth Sectors for Poverty Reduction.

The first report on employment entry finds that there is potential for using a well-targeted, sector-focused approach to increase employment entry and help reduce poverty. Social care and the hospitality industry offer opportunities for sector-specific training programmes for people who find it difficult to access employment. But because these sectors are characterised by low pay policies need to promote career progression as well as job entry. The construction sector is also well placed to provide employment and training opportunities for local residents, and the government could encourage this through procurement and planning policies. There is also growing interest in the potential role of social enterprises in providing local jobs – especially with regard to repairs and maintenance of social housing. Sector-focused work experience is an important way of getting young people and unemployed adults skilled up for work.

The second report examines aspects of job quality. It finds that while job quality should be a critical issue for policymakers there is a lack of empirical evidence from approaches seeking to enhance job quality. Pay and job security are important elements of job quality, as are flexible employment practices that enable people to balance work and caring responsibilities. Trade unions can play an important role in improving job quality outcomes. Where there is evidence from sector-focused approaches to job quality these have sought to link changes in employment conditions with service improvements for employers; utilised procurement as an opportunity to shape job quality; or sought to encourage changes in business models as a precursor to improving job quality. There is a need to pilot and trial different approaches to improving job quality in different sectors and for different types of employment.

Upcoming roundtable event - ICT skills and online platforms for social inclusion

Wed, 09 Nov 2016 12:27:41 GMT

IER's Dr Sally-Anne Barnes and Professor Anne Green in collaboration with Professor Leela Damodaran from Loughborough University will be hosting a free roundtable event to identify the role of online platforms in providing opportunities for a better work-life balance in terms of new modes of working and new types of community engagement.The event to be held at the University of Warwick on 28 November (12-5pm) is being funded by the EPSRC Balance Network.

If you would like to attend please contact Lynne Marston. Places are limited and will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis.

New book on work-life balance in austerity and beyond

Mon, 03 Oct 2016 09:23:45 GMT

Dr Clare Lyonette is the co-author of a new book which has just been published by Routledge, including chapters from academics and practitioners on the impact of the recession and austerity policies in work-life balance policies and practices, particularly how they affect our ability to achieve the triple agenda of individuals' work-life balance and wellbeing, workplace effectiveness and social justice.

A chapter co-authored by Clare highlights recent research on flexible working arrangements and how they are being used by public sector organisations in the UK to manage austerity. It also discusses some implications of these developments in 'new ways of working'

Lewis, S., Anderson, D., Lyonette, C., Payne, N. and Wood, S. (2016) Work-Life Balance in Times of Recession, Austerity and Beyond. London and New York: Routledge.

IER welcomes Dr Zaiton Hassan

Thu, 28 Jan 2016 12:51:37 GMT

IER would like to welcome Dr Zaiton Hassan from the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak who will be visiting IER from February. Zaiton is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Cognitive Sciences and Human Development at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. Whilst at IER, Dr Hassan will be completing her book on Work-Life Balance in Malaysia and working with IER staff with similar interests.

Forthcoming seminar 'Prolonging working life through ICT: the role of crowdsourcing'

Wed, 20 Jan 2016 15:16:05 GMT

IER is hosting an EPSRC funded Balance Network seminar on'Prolonging working life through ICT: the role of crowdsourcing'. The one day seminar will explore how crowdsourcing has changed the boundary between work and home, enabling older people to remain part of the labour force and perhaps achieve a new work-life balance. The interactive seminar will be held on 3 March at the University of Warwick. Click here to register your interest.

Wealthier men less likely to help partners with housework

Wed, 04 Feb 2015 19:35:35 GMT

Men on lower incomes are more likely to help their partners with housework than higher-earners, although women are still by far doing the most around the home, no matter how many hours they work or how much they are paid.While the burden of keeping the home clean is starting to be shared more equally between couples, signs of a class divide are beginning to emerge, a researcher from the University of Warwick has found.

“There’s a stark difference in couples’ attitudes towards gender equality depending on how much they are earning,” explained Dr Clare Lyonette, from the Institute for Employment Research, who led the study.

“It seems men on lower incomes are happily picking up the dusters, filling the dishwasher and generally starting to do their bit. Times are changing and they acknowledge there’s now a need for more equality in the home.

“But there’s a different attitude when it comes to higher earners. We found that while men in these households do also recognise the need to help their partners, they remain reluctant to lift a finger and appear to simply throw money at the issue by hiring a cleaner instead.

“And although men in general are starting to make themselves more useful around the house, regardless of income, the age old theory remains the same – women, on the whole, are doing the most.”

Dr Lyonette’s findings in Sharing the load? Partners’ relative earnings and the division of domestic labour have just been published in the February 2015 edition of the British Sociological Association’s Work, employment and society journal. It is available to download for free here.

She interviewed a number of partnered men and women for the project, all of whom had at least one child under the age of 14.

“There’s certainly a fairer division of household labour between couples than in the past but inequality still exists and that’s perpetuated, in part, by the so-called ‘myth of male incompetence’,” added Dr Lyonette.

“This is a belief by some women – and our study shows it’s still rife – that men are unable to complete housework to an acceptable standard.

“Women know their contribution to the household should be fairly reflected in the sharing of housework and are often frustrated by their lack of success in changing the situation – but their frustrations are to some extent mollified by the idea that men are inept at domestic chores.”

One participant in the survey told the researcher: “I think they do it on purpose, men, don’t they? Using the cleaner, he’ll just clean around things, then all of a sudden you’ll move the sofa and you’re like, ‘What is that under there?’ … or he says, ‘Don’t clean upstairs now because no one goes up there bar us, you don’t need to hoover’ is his argument’.”

Dr Lyonette concluded: “Men from lower-income families certainly seem to be starting to do their bit around the home. But at the same time, until all men are willing to take on more domestic tasks, so allowing women to take on greater responsibility within the workplace, any hoped-for progress in gender equality is likely to stall.”

IER Welcomes Chariklea Tzanakou to IER

Wed, 02 Jul 2014 10:38:49 GMT

We are delighted to announce the arrival of Dr Charoula Tzanakou who has joined IER as Research Fellow on the ESRC-funded Precarious Pathways to Employment of Young People (#Paths2Work). Since completing her PhD at Warwick in 2012, Dr Tzanakou has worked at the Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (SKOPE) Research Centre at the University of Oxford and at the IER. In September 2013, Charoula was appointed as Research Fellow to work with Professor Alison Rodger, in the Faculty of Analytical Sciences, on an ESRC-funded project on the under-representation and low retention of women in academic science careers.

Maternal Employment in Britain and the US

Tue, 15 May 2012 14:24:01 GMT

Work by IER's Dr Clare Lyonette has been featured in an article on the University of Warwick's Knowledge Centre. The article reports on findings from recent research on the differences in couples' decisions to work while children are still young.

The article reflects findings from research undertaken for Dr Lyonette's prizewinning BSA Sage Prize for Excellence paper - ‘We both need to work’: maternal employment, childcare and health care in Britain and the USA - co-authored by Gayle Kaufman and Rosemary Crompton, which was published in Work, Employment and Society 25: 34-50.

Dr Clare Lyonette and Dr Michael Orton shortlisted for SAGE prize

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 14:41:26 GMT

Two articles from IER staff, Dr Michael Orton and Dr. Clare Lyonette, have been shortlisted for this year’s SAGE Prize for Innovation and Excellence, the winner of which will be announced at the BSA conference in April 2012. The prize is awarded annually to one paper in each of the BSA’s four prestigious journals: Cultural Sociology; Sociological Research Online; Sociology; and Work, Employment and Society.

The prize is awarded to the paper published in the previous year’s volume judged to represent innovation or excellence in the field. The IER nominations both appeared in Work, Employment and Society in the previous year and will be considered alongside three other short-listed articles. To find out more about the articles by Clare and Michael, see:

Clare Lyonette, Gayle Kaufman and Rosemary Crompton ‘We both need to work’: maternal employment, childcare and health care in Britain and the USA, Work, Employment and Society 25: 34-50.

Michael Orton Flourishing Lives: the capabilities approach as a framework for new thinking about employment, work and welfare in the 21st century, Work, Employment and Society 25: 352-60.

Terence Hogarth to give keynote speech at Work:Life Balance Breakfast Briefing

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 10:45:35 GMT

Terence Hogarth, Principal Research Fellow at the Warwick Institute for Employment Research, is keynote speaker at the Work:life Balance Breakfast Briefing, hosted by Midlands law firm Challinors, at Conference Aston, Birmingham on Thursday 12^thJanuary 2012, from 7.30am to 9.00am.