Work and Life: All in the Balance
People are border-crossers who make daily transitions between two worlds –the world of work and the world of private life.
Work and life: all in the balance
- Has the biggest experiment on remote working, forced by the Covid-19 pandemic, helped to rediscover our work-life balance or has it disrupted it?
- Does technology enable work-life balance or make work all-pervasive?
- Will flexible working become the new normal?
Crossing the borders
People are border-crossers who make daily transitions between two worlds –the world of work and the world of private life.
Borders:
Physical
Temporal
Psychological
People shape these worlds, mould the borders between them and determine the border-crosser’s relationship to that world and its members. Though people shape their environment they are, in turn, shaped by them (Work/Private Life Border Theory, Clark,2000)
Technology: empowering or enslaving?
Advantages
- Work remotely
- Work anywhereWork on the go
- Work at own pace
Disadvantages
- Temporal, physical and psychological barriers are completely blurred
- Work is always with us
Should we have the right to disconnect?
France introduced legislation in 2016 dubbed the “right to disconnect“ which requires companies with more than 50 workers to draw up a charter of good conduct, setting out the hours when staff are not supposed to send or answer emails.
In 2014, the German vehicle-maker Daimler set up an optional service for workers going on holiday; instead of sending an out-of-office reply, they could opt to have all new emails automatically deleted while they were away.
(Source: French workers get ‘right to disconnect’ from emails out of hours, BBC 31 December 2016)
More flexible working, better work-life balance?
- More home-working: greater autonomy, productivity less sickness absences
- Less commuting: the UK Office for National Statistics has found that: “commuters have lower life satisfaction…lower level of happiness and higher anxiety on average than non-commuters”
- Reduced working hours to fit different needs, life cycles and demographic
- Four days working week back on the agenda?
- Socially sustainable work: consider the impact of the organization of work for the individual, for communities for the wider society
Professor Simonetta Manfredi.
More in Education
Keble College renews Platinum Membership with B4
Keble College has renewed its Platinum Membership with B4, reaffirming its commitment to supporting and engaging with Oxfordshire’s dynamic business community. As a long-standing and highly valued partner, Keble continues to play an important role in bringing together business leaders through exceptional events hosted in its iconic setting.
Local MP Charlie Maynard visits Abingdon & Witney College’s Witney campus
Abingdon & Witney College welcomed local MP Charlie Maynard to its Witney campus on 27th March, where he met with Principal and Chief Executive Jacqui Canton and Deputy Principal Jo Milsom, and toured a number of teaching areas. The visit formed part of ongoing discussions about skills, education, and the needs of young people and employers across West Oxfordshire.
The University of Oxford Joins B4
The University of Oxford has recognised B4, one of Oxfordshire’s leading business-to-business networks in B4’s 20th anniversary year by becoming a Platinum Member. The partnership highlights the strength of B4’s community which includes some of Oxfordshire’s most respected organisations.
From this author
Olympics 2024: Getting the balance right in sports nutrition
As the countdown to the Olympics gets underway, the focus for athletes is on getting fitter, faster, and stronger, but at what cost? Qualified sports nutritionist Clare Shaw, a Senior Sports Lecturer at Oxford Brookes University, and a practitioner on the Sport and Exercise Nutrition register (SENr), is researching the impact of low energy availability in athletes for her PhD. Here she discusses her research and offers tips for balancing energy intake and output.
Oxford Brookes University to showcase cutting-edge AI research at free week-long...
Oxford Brookes University will be showcasing the most recent developments and breakthroughs in artificial intelligence research at its annual Festival of AI this week. The festival runs from today until 7 June and includes a series of free workshops that will explore how AI can revolutionise schools, business and society.
Local business leaders in Oxfordshire tell Chancellor: Keep graduate visa route...
Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (OxLEP) has joined university and business leaders to warn the government against watering down or scrapping the graduate visa route.