The thesis explores the factors affecting the availability and utilization of work-life balance programs in Canadian workplaces and how employee involvement and participation programs can help employees balance their work and life. The introductory chapter provides background information on the importance of balancing work and life. It outlines chapters two, three, and four and reveals the overarching theme that unites them. Chapter Two explores how business strategy affects the availability of work-life balance programs. This chapter uses the 2003 and 2004 Canadian Workplace and Employee Survey to demonstrate that product leadership business strategy is positively related to the likelihood of adopting work-life balance programs (i.e. employee assistance programs, fitness and recreation centers). Cost leadership strategy is shown to be negatively correlated to the adoption of these programs. This study also finds that high performance work systems mediate the relationship between business strategy and employer responsiveness to work-life balance issues. Chapter Three investigates how a company’s family-friendly culture affects the likelihood of an employee’s use of parental leave. Using a national representative and linked employer and employee survey, this study finds that a long-hour organizational culture, which is revealed through managers’ work hours, discourages new parents from taking parental leave. This study also finds that when managers work long hours, it has a greater negative effect on the probability of male employees taking parental leave than female employees. Chapter Four discusses how participation in decision making (PDM) can help employees balance the demands from work and life. Using Karasek’s (1979) job demand-job control model, this study finds that PDM can reduce work-life conflict, but the reduction only works for employees who work long hours. For those employees who work short hours, PDM increases their work-life conflict. Chapter Five summarizes the empirical results. Implications for employers, labour unions, and policy makers are discussed.

The Labour Supply of Unpaid Caregivers in Canada, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Meredith Lenore Lilly, Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, 2008. As medical care increasingly shifts from the hospital to the home, responsibility for care has also shifted from the state and paid care, to the family and unpaid care. Unpaid caregivers are family members and friends who provide homecare services to recipients in their place of residence without financial compensation, as a result of their close personal relationships. This research tests the multiple hypotheses that unpaid caregiving has an impact on (1) the probability of labour force participation (LFP); (2) hours of labour force work; and (3) earnings by caregivers in Canada. We analyzed the 1996 and 2002 General Social Surveys, applying multivariate probit, logistic, and OLS regression analyses to four equations: 1) the probability of labour force participation; 2) the hourly wage; 3) weekly hours of labour market work; and 4) the probability of being an unpaid caregiver. Results indicate that unpaid caregiving was negatively associated with labour force participation; however, the impact on hours of labour market work and wages was uncertain. Women and men caregivers were impacted differently: only caregiving men in 1996 had significantly lower wages than non-caregivers, and only women in 1996 worked significantly fewer hours in the labour market. When caregiving was defined broadly, only men in 1996 were significantly less likely to be employed than non-caregivers. Yet when we controlled for caregiving intensity in 2002, both male and female primary caregivers were much less likely to be in the labour force than non-caregivers, while secondary caregivers were no less likely to be employed than non-caregivers. We conclude that when caregiving responsibilities are relatively small, individuals seem able to balance both caregiving with employment. Yet when caregiving commitments become heavy, it becomes increasingly difficult to balance employment with caregiving. We make a number of policy recommendations ranging from improving caregiver access to financial supports, formal care and respite services, particularly for primary caregivers. We also encourage the development of workplace legislation and caregiver friendly workplaces for the majority of caregivers who remain in the labour market.

The thesis explores the factors affecting the availability and utilization of work-life balance programs in Canadian workplaces and how employee involvement and participation programs can help employees balance their work and life. The introductory chapter provides background information on the importance of balancing work and life. It outlines chapters two, three, and four and reveals the overarching theme that unites them. Chapter Two explores how business strategy affects the availability of work-life balance programs. This chapter uses the 2003 and 2004 Canadian Workplace and Employee Survey to demonstrate that product leadership business strategy is positively related to the likelihood of adopting work-life balance programs (i.e. employee assistance programs, fitness and recreation centers). Cost leadership strategy is shown to be negatively correlated to the adoption of these programs. This study also finds that high performance work systems mediate the relationship between business strategy and employer responsiveness to work-life balance issues. Chapter Three investigates how a company’s family-friendly culture affects the likelihood of an employee’s use of parental leave. Using a national representative and linked employer and employee survey, this study finds that a long-hour organizational culture, which is revealed through managers’ work hours, discourages new parents from taking parental leave. This study also finds that when managers work long hours, it has a greater negative effect on the probability of male employees taking parental leave than female employees. Chapter Four discusses how participation in decision making (PDM) can help employees balance the demands from work and life. Using Karasek’s (1979) job demand-job control model, this study finds that PDM can reduce work-life conflict, but the reduction only works for employees who work long hours. For those employees who work short hours, PDM increases their work-life conflict. Chapter Five summarizes the empirical results. Implications for employers, labour unions, and policy makers are discussed.

Introduction: La participation sociale "optimale" peut se définir comme une congruence parfaite entre les attentes de l'individu et sa réalité. La conciliation travail-famille fait appel à l'équilibre des différentes sphéres de vie du travailler. On peut alors s'interroger sur la perception de l'optimalité qu'ont les professionnels de la réadaptation quant à leur propre niveau de participation, conciliant plusieurs sphéres de vie et les facteurs qui influencent cette participation. But: Explorer la perception de l'optimalité de la participation sociale chez des professionnels de la réadaptation et les facteurs identifiés par ces derniers comme l'influençant. Méthode: Étude qualitative d'orientation phénoménologique auprés de treize professionnels de la réadaptation à l'aide d'un guide d'entrevue composé de questions ouvertes. Les données recueillies ont été enregistrées sur bande audio et transcrites intégralement (verbatim) suivi d'une analyse de contenu. Résultats: Les participants, majoritairement des femmes (12/13) étaient âgés de 31 à 44 ans et avaient entre un et trois enfants dont l'âge variait de 7 mois à 12 ans. L'optimalité de la participation est perçue comme: la possibilité (ou non) d'accomplir ses activités significatives tout en prenant en charge ses différentes responsabilités. Parmi les cinq facteurs environnementaux perçus comme ayant une influence (l'aspect financier, le soutien du conjoint, le temps, la flexibilité des horaires au travail et la structure familiale) la structure familiale apparait comme déterminante du possible et influence ainsi grandement les attentes individuelles.Conclusion: La conciliation travail-famille est un phénomène complexe qui gagne à être étudié dans sa globalité plutôt qu'en silo. / Introduction: Optimal social participation, which is the ultimate goal targeted by rehabilitation professionals for their clients, can be defined as perfect congruence between an individual's expectations and reality. Work-family dynamic requires balance between the different spheres of a worker's life. This raises questions about the perception that rehabilitation professionals have regarding their own optimal social participation, reconciling various life spheres, and the factors influence this participation. Purpose: To explore the perception of rehabilitation professionals regarding their optimal social participation, and the factors they identify as influencing this participation. Method: Qualitative study with a phenomenological orientation among 13 rehabilitation professionals using an interview guide consisting of open questions. The data was audio-recorded and transcribed in full (verbatim) followed by content analysis. Results: Participation were mostly women (12/13) aged 31 to 44 years having one to three children aged from 7 months to 12 years old. Optimality of participation is perceived as the ability (or not) to carry out important activities while fulfilling one's various responsibilities. Of the five environmental factors perceived to have an influence (financial aspects, spousal support, time, flexible work schedule, and family organization), family organization appears to be a determinant of possibility and thus greatly influences individual expectations. Conclusion: Work-life balance is a complex phenomenon that should be studied holistically rather in a siloed mode.

L’invecchiamento della popolazione in atto, l’entrata in massa della donna nel mercato del lavoro, verificata negli ultimi anni, l’aumento delle aspettative di vita e l’allungamento dell’età pensionabile con la Riforma Fornero-Monti, contribuiscono al mutamento della morfologia della famiglia, dei contesti lavorativi e della società nel complesso rendendo palese l’esigenza di comprendere meglio le dinamiche che questi cambiamenti comportano. Nonostante l’invecchiamento delle lavoratrici rappresenti un cambiamento importante, non ci sono ancora molti studi che hanno analizzato questo fenomeno. Il presente studio ha avuto l’obiettivo di comprendere e far luce sulle caratteristiche delle lavoratrici over 50, in particolar modo conoscere le peculiarità delle loro relazioni familiari/extra-lavorative e lavorative attraverso il concetto sociologico di Capitale sociale ritenuto di estrema importanza per comprendere il potenziale delle lavoratrici. La ricerca ha coinvolto, attraverso la compilazione di un questionario, 4962 lavoratrici tra i 50 e i 69 anni di 18 aziende associate a Valore D, su tutto il territorio italiano. Dallo studio emerge che le lavoratrici hanno ancora un buon livello di potenziale e che il CSF e CSL possono rivestire un ruolo importante come risorsa nella vita delle donne in questa fase di vita, ma anche per le aziende e la società stessa. / The aging of the population, the mass entry of women into the labor market, verified in recent years, the increase in life expectancy and the lengthening of the retirement age with the Fornero-Monti Reform, contributed to the change of the morphology of the family, of working contexts and of society as a whole, making clear the need to better understand the dynamics that these changes entail. Although the aging of female workers represents an important change, this phenomenon has not been analyzed yet. The present study aims to understand and shed light on the characteristics of of workers over 50, especially to know the peculiarities of their family / extra-work and work relationships through the sociological concept of Social Capital considered of extreme importance to understand the potential of female workers. The research involved 4962 workers between 50 and 69 years of 18 companies associated with Valore D, throughout Italy, who completed a questionnaire. The study shows that female workers still have a good level of potential and that the CSF and CSL can play an important important role as a resource for women in this phase of their life, but also for companies and society itself.

In contemporary society, work and home represent the two most significant domains in the life of working individuals. South Africa’s socioeconomic, political, and societal circumstances will influence employees’ experiences of work-life balance differently, compared to that of employees in other countries, suggesting that the construction of work-life balance amongst different race and cultural groups may differ. The present study used in-depth qualitative interviews with ten black women and men employed in a customer care environment, to explore their construction of work-life balance. A grounded theory approach was used to analyse the data and identify themes. This study suggests that work-life balance is a unique experience for individuals, which varies over time and in different situations. The study confirmed that attaining work-life balance is a process of balancing ever-changing experiences over time, and in different life stages. The results of this study are also discussed in relation to the relevant literature. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

S'appuyant sur les résultats de trois ans d'enquête de type ethnographique par observation-participante (Lapassade,2006; Plane 2014) auprès des Intermittents du travail- anciens actifs qualifiés qui ont opéré une rupture radicale et volontaire avec un ancien mode de vie confortable, principalement centré sur le travail pour un mode de vie d'apparence plus précaire où la quête d'une meilleure qualité de vie prime sur celle d'un travail rémunérateur et expressif-, cette recherche propose de comprendre ce qui a été rejeté dans le travail et au profit de quoi.L'approche de la psychosociologie du travail et la pratique clinique qui l'accompagne (Lhuilier et al., 2013) nous ont permis d'interpréter les données sous l'angle dialectique d'une transition professionnelle comme acte de résistance autant que de création. Ont ainsi été mis en lumière plusieurs mécanismes potentiellement nocifs dans le travail aujourd'hui, comme l'entretien d'une culture du "stimulacre" (Bouilloud, 2012) autour d'un travail rêvé épanouissant et au réel fondamentalement décevant et, d'autres, plus vitalistes, comme l'expérience d'un travail autrement par un retour à l'"artisanat" au sens large (Sennett,2010) - celui du "beau travail" qui entretient autant le corps que l'esprit -, la débrouille, la polyactivité, l'interconstruction des milieux de vie, entre autres.Cette thèse propose aussi une réflexion sur le travail de terrain du chercheur, ses dilemmes et ses enjeux / Based on the results of a 3-year field study among a population of occasional French workers named after the researcher "Intermittents du travail", this research aims at understanding what is expected from today's work and what is rejected in the way executives experience it. After achieving brillant studies and a successful career start as executives in a big company, the "Intermittents du travail" left everything to come and live on the French West Coast,attempting to design a new way of working which would grant less space to work and more space to private activities. We choose the theoretical framework of the French psychosociology of work and the clinical practical approach that underlies it (Lhuilier et al.,2013) to interpret the data. By conceiving work transitions as an intricacy between resistance and creation processes, both at micro-and macro-social levels, this approach enables us to unveil some mecanisms potentially harmful in today's work that would make top-level workers deeply unsatisfied about the true nature of a work they had dreamt of and idealized during so many years before.Furthermore, the analysis of the transition's aftermaths reveals the critical aspects of what a "good job" should consist in as appositive to the "bullshit job" (Graeber,2013)these people experienced previously: the importance of working as a craftsman in every situation- which means to be concerned by the beauty and the quality of work, both using the head and the hands (Sennette,2010)-, the art of unravelling, the capacity of balancing work activities with leisure ones and,among others

The subject of this diploma thesis is the Employer's Strategy for Employing Parents on Parental Leave. The theoretical starting points of the thesis map the area of equal opportunities policy, the concept of family policy and employment policy in the Czech Republic. In addition, the work focuses on the personal and working life of parents on parental leave, describes the development of personal and work satisfaction, the motivation of parents to return to work and the expectation of parents from the employer. The last part of the theoretical framework focuses on employers' strategy, focuses on the social responsibility of organizations in the context of the topic, the motivation of employers to employ parents, their expectations of cooperation, and examples of different approaches to employing parents in the private and public sectors. The aim of the research part of thesis is to identify the causes that prevent parents from taking part in the labor market during parental leave and to educate and broaden their qualifications and to identify opportunities that lead to facilitating access to the labor market for parents on parental leave. The research problem looks at the perspective of parents (women) employed in the private and public sectors. The problem is processed through qualitative research....

Ce travail de recherche doctorale a pour objectif de mieux comprendre le lien entre politiques d’équilibre vie professionnelle- vie personnelle et égalité femmes-hommes en entreprise. Il s’attache à comprendre comment ces dispositifs influencent la norme sexuée.En mobilisant le cadre théorique des représentations sociales, notre investigation s’appuie sur deux études de cas approfondies, avec 44 entretiens semi-directifs « outil majeur de repérage des représentations » (Abric, 2011), comme méthode principale de collecte de données. Nous avons choisi de mener ces études dans deux pays différents : la France et l’Espagne, en raison de leur approche contrastée de la question de la conciliation : plutôt traditionnelle pour la France, plutôt intrusive et individualisée pour l’Espagne.Les résultats mettent en lumière l’hétérogénéité et le caractère sexué des représentations des salariés vis-à-vis des politiques d’équilibre, celles-ci apparaissent aussi fortement liées à la figure du manager et à son style de management. La catégorisation des représentations (progressistes/ traditionnalistes/ neutres et hostiles) contribue à comprendre leur influence sur l’égalité, et fait apparaître que la prise de conscience des inégalités –plus forte chez les salariés espagnols- est une condition préalable vers une conciliation égalitaire. / This PhD research aims at better understanding the link between work life balance policies and gender equality in the workplace. The objective is to understand how these measures can influence sexual roles division at work.By referring to the theoretical framework of social perceptions, our work is based on two main case studies, with 44 semi-oriented interviews “major tool to identify perceptions”, as the main method to collect data. We chose to conduct the two case studies in two different countries: France and Spain, because of their contrasted approach towards work life balance topic: rather traditional for France, more intrusive and individualized for Spain.The results highlight the heterogeneity and the gendered character of the employees’ perceptions of work life balance policies; those ones also appear to be strongly connected to the manager behavior and its management style. The categorization of perceptions (progressist/ traditionalist/ neutral/ hostile) contributes to a better understanding of their influence on gender equality, and reveals that inequalities awareness –stronger amongst Spanish employees- is a prior condition for a more equal work life balance.

The objective of this thesis is to analyze and verify the existence of causality between employment rate, unemployment rate as independent variable and fertility rate as dependent variable. Two stated hypotheses are being verified within this thesis. First of them says that by decreasing employment rate also the fertility rate decreases. Second says that decreasing unemployment rate has an impact on growth of fertility rate. The final part of essay deals with today´s often discussed concept of work life balance which in many countries supports high economical activity of women and higher fertility simultaneously. It draws attention on positives of alternative work arrangements as well as on negatives and deficits which goes together with its practicing. In the end of the thesis different possibilities of effective work life balance management are suggested.