The aim of this thesis is to analyse how the concept of work-life balance (and reconciliation policies in general) is constructed and defined at the European Union level. In order to analyse these often implicit definitions, the European Commission's working documents from 1995 to 2016 are gathered and subjected to category and content analysis. Reconciliation policies and work-life balance are stable concepts, occurring in 152 documents over the studied 22 years period. Annual Reports on gender equality and documents connected to the European Employment Strategy are specifically analysed. Even though the "reconciliation policies are part of equality policies" argumentation is often stressed, the expressed goals are usually connected to the goals of employment policies and economic policies, with economic growth being behind this argumentation. The most represented policy areas are leave policies, mainly parental leave, and services for childcare and other dependants, usually connected to the same goal - bringing more women into the labour market.

This thesis is dedicated to women who were called "the super women" during the communist era. Their mission was to combine their profession with taking care of their children alongside of being a housewife. Even though the traditional model of the men supporting the whole family changed to more democratic model with the both man and woman supporting the family, the housekeeping and taking care of children still stayed the wive's responsibility. In the period of communism, women were "double burdened". They dedicated their lives for their families and the free time they had, which was less then what men had, mostly corresponded with the interests of children and the whole family. In this thesis I focus on how these women live nowadays. They have already retired and after losing their partner they now live alone. I also focus on how they deal with this different life situation and changes in their social roles. I work with the theoretical approaches of emancipated femininity and active aging as a way to cope with changes in social status. I chose the qualitative approach as a research method. It is implemented in this diploma thesis by analyzing thorough interviews with widowed seniors.

The aim of this diploma thesis is to analyse in detail the issue of the position of women in top management positions in the Czech Republic. The theoretical part of the thesis focus mainly on the legislation and mapping of the current situation of the issue. The thesis also examines gender, gender identity and gender mainstreaming, all of those terms are defined in detail in the text. The first part of the theses builds an important theoretical base and explains terms such as glass ceiling and the mentioned gender mainstreaming. The work also investigates the issue of equal pay and employment of women. The practical part of the thesis contains its own qualitative research that was done with specific top managers in the selected company. The aim of the practical part is to compare the theoretical concepts of the position of women on the Czech labour market with the situation in a particular Czech company. During the research are investigated both opinions of top managers on the nationwide situation as well as the situation within the company. Based on the research results, the research questions are answered and recommendations for improving the current position of women on the Czech labour market are formulated.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the role of selected companies in the area of work-life balance of employees, with a focus on the concept of corporate social responsibility. The issue of reconciliation both parts of life has recently become a topic that attracts more and more attention as there has been an incresed number of people facing struggles in this area. Therefore, in the first part of the thesis the topic of work-life balance was put into social context, subsequently into the context of public and social policy and finally also to the concept of corporate social responsibility which represents a framework through which the work-life balance issue is viewed. There are lots of actors influencing one's possibilities regarding reconciliation of work and personal life, however, employers are one of the most significant ones. The thesis thus focuses on two companies with a different scope of work-life balance policy in a form of case study. The first aim of the research that was conducted within this thesis was to provide a comprehensive view of the approaches towards work-life balance policy of the selected companies through data obtained from semi-structure interviews with relevant representatives of both companies, these data were subsequently analyzed through optics of the...

Detta examensarbete undersöker vilka konsekvenser som genereras av det flexibla arbetslivet. Det handlar framför allt om ett medarbetarperspektiv men inkluderar även ett chefsperspektiv. Studien utgörs av en fallstudie av en kommunal organisation isödra Sverige med ett fokus på yrkesrollen Human Resources (HR). Studien har en kvalitativ ansats där åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer ligger som grund för studiens resultatavsnitt. Valen av teoretiska ramverk bestod av en teoribildning om gränslöst arbete samt balans mellan arbete och privatliv. Resultatet visar att distansarbete och flexibla arbetstider resulterar i såväl negativa som positiva effekter på HRmedarbetaren. Studien synliggör att medarbetaren huvudsakligen upplever de flexibla arbetslivet som positivt. Detta delvis på grund av ökat handlingsutrymme i arbetet, mindre stress och att balansen mellan arbete och privatliv främjas. De negativa konsekvenserna visar sig emellertid i form av exempelvis risk för övertid, bristande arbetsmiljö vid hemarbete samt avsaknad av fysiska interaktioner med kollegor och chef.

Thesis (Ph.D. Commerce (Human Resource Management)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / This thesis addresses work-life conflict, a topical phenomenon for the career progression and wellbeing of women. Notwithstanding a lot of interest in the topic, as well as various endeavours after treaties and legislation to support women in the workplace it continues to be a subject of research interest since work-life balance has not been achieved yet. The current study intended to explore what the women managers in the public sector of Limpopo Province understand by work-life conflict, as well as their experiences and to proffer a framework for understanding the work-life conflict of women managers. The study highlights that numerous working women are still inundated with non-work responsibilities, which results in conflict with the expected responsibilities in the work environment. The resultant work-life conflict continues to have career-limiting effects on women. The study employed a mixed-methods design to collect data. The quantitative part of the study used questionnaires to collect data and a total of 68 usable questionnaires were returned. For the qualitative part individual interviews were conducted with a total of 16 women. Given the mixed nature of the data, the research applied two genres of analytical techniques, viz. thematic analysis and non-parametric relational analysis. The findings of the study indicate that most of the women managers in the study understand work-life conflict to mean work-to-life interference. The women managers conceptualise life-to-work interference as a normal phenomenon, which serves as a function of maintaining homeostasis in their social structure. The results further suggested that only the workplace has to be changed for them to attain work-life balance. The women managers in the study also appear to experience physical and psychological health problems due to not coping with work-life conflict. The research results deliver invaluable information that can be employed in strategies that attempt to alleviate the negative experiences of work-life conflict by women managers. This study has developed an integrative framework for understanding the work-life conflict of women managers in the public sector. None of the existing theories has propounded any integrative framework for understanding the work-life conflict of women managers in the public sector. The current findings add to the knowledge on addressing the work-life conflict of women managers by delivering context-specific recommendations of what organisations can do to attain work-life balance. Key words: work-life conflict; coping strategies; public sector; women managers; work-life balance; Integrated work-life conflict framework

Arbetsmiljö och arbetsförhållanden utgör centrala bestämningsfaktorer för individers hälsa och välbefinnande, både inom arbetslivet och utanför. Medarbetarnas hälsa, välbefinnande och arbetsprestation påverkas vidare av såväl kontextuella faktorer och arbetsförhållanden som av ledarskapet ledarskapsstil. Covid-19 pandemin som yttre påverkansfaktor har påskyndat den digitala samhällsutvecklingen vilket lett till förändrade arbetsstrukturer och arbetsvillkor, som medfört ökade möjligheter till ett flexibelt arbetsliv för individen men även ökade arbetsrelaterade krav och arbetsmiljörisker. En studie som belyser hur strukturer och förhållanden för ledarskap på arbetsplatser har påverkats och förändrats kan därav ses som relevant ur ett folkhälsovetenskapligt perspektiv. Syfte med denna studie var att undersöka hur chefer upplever att Covid-19 pandemin inverkar på deras verksamheters arbetsmiljö.  Studien empiriska data samlades in genom sex kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer med chefer vars verksamhet till följd av Covid-19 pandemin ställt om till arbete på distans. Studiens informanter rekryterades genom ett målstyrt bekvämlighetsurval. Data transkriberades ordagrant, analyserades genom en kvalitativ innehållsanalys och svaren kategoriserades i 5 underkategorier och två huvudkategorier. Resultatet påvisar att Covid-19 pandemin kan ha haft en påskyndande effekt på arbetslivets digitala utveckling vilket lett till en ökad användning av IT- baserade digitala verktyg. Vidare tydliggörs att Covid-19 pandemin inverkan på verksamheters arbetsstrukturer och arbetsmiljö vilket påverkat såväl chefernas som medarbetarnas förutsättningar för hälsa och välbefinnande. Tydlig och regelbunden kommunikation chefer och medarbetare emellan samt ökad delaktighet i beslutandeprocesser kan av studiens resultat härledas till friskfaktorer som reducerar det digitala distansarbetets uppkomna risker. / Working environment and working conditions are found among the layers in the rainbow with the determinants of health. Work-related factors have been shown to be central influencing factors on individuals' health and well-being, both within working life and beyond. Employees' health, well-being and work performance are further affected by contextual factors and working conditions as well as by leadership style. Covid-19 pandemic as an external influencing factor has accelerated the digital development of society, bringing changed work structures and working conditions, which has increased opportunities for a flexible working life for the individual but also increased work-related demands and work environment risks. A study that sheds light on how structures and conditions for leadership in workplaces have been affected and changed can therefore be seen as relevant from a public health science perspective. The purpose of this study was to investigate how managers feel that the Covid-19 pandemic affects the working environment of their operations. The empirical data study was collected through six qualitative semi-structured interviews with managers whose activities because of the Covid-19 pandemic shifted to remote work. The study's informants were recruited through a goal-oriented convenience sample. Data were transcribed verbatim, analyzed by a qualitative content analysis and the responses were categorized into 5 subcategories and two main categories. The results show that the Covid-19 pandemic may have an accelerating effect on the digital development of working life, which led to an increased use of IT-based digital tools. It is further clarified that the Covid-19 pandemic has an impact on companies' work structures and work environment, which has affected both managers' and employees' conditions for health and well-being. Clear and regular communication between managers and employees as well as increased participation in decision-making processes can be derived from the results of the study to health factors that reduce the risks of distance working.

The thesis deals with the harmonization of family and work roles of workers without the possibility of working from home during the so-called first wave of the coronavirus crisis in 2020. The goal of this thesis is to describe the harmonization possibilities of family and the work roles in the Czech Republic. Another goal of this thesis is to find out what circumstances influenced the parents without the possibility of working from home to stay at work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Last but not least, the goal was set to map the harmonization of the family and of the work roles of the parents without the possibility of working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Czech Republic. The theoretical basis of the thesis is the concept of family-work conflict in conjunction with the concept of work-life balance. These theoretical aspects were conceptualized with the issue of Covid-19, labor market conditions and the tools that make it easier to match the parental and the work roles in the Czech Republic. The research work works with primary and secondary data. The primary data was obtained through the semi-structured interviews with the affected individuals (the parents who take care of a child under the age of 10 and at the same time working in a position without the possibility of working from...

Att börja sin karriär som revisorsassistent på revisionsbyrå är eftertraktat hos många nyexaminerade studenter. De stora revisionsbyråerna i Sverige anställer årligen många nyexaminerade studenter till juniora roller så som revisorsassistent. Att anställa revisorsassistenter har därför visat sig vara enkelt men att behålla revisorsassistenter en längre period har visat sig mer problematiskt. Detta leder till att det finns en erkänt hög personalomsättning inom yrket vilket innebär att revisionsbyråerna behöver arbeta med att behålla medarbetare på byrån. Med hänsyn till problematiken är syftet med denna studie således att skapa förståelse för det arbete revisionsbyråerna vidtar för att behålla medarbetare och vad revisorsassistenterna anser betydande för att stanna inom byrån samt det förväntningsgap som finns däremellan. För att uppfylla studiens syfte och besvara forskningsfrågorna genomfördes en dokumentstudie som studerade års- och hållbarhetsredovisningar hos två av de största revisionsbyråerna i Sverige, detta för att skapa förståelse hur de arbetar med att behålla medarbetare. Utöver dokumentstudien genomfördes åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer med nuvarande samt tidigare revisiorsassistenter för att skapa förståelse för vad som är viktigt för att stanna på byrån utifrån deras perspektiv. Studiens viktigaste slutsatser är att förväntningsgapet mellan vad revisionsbyråerna arbetar med och vad revisiorsassistenterna efterfrågar till största del består av avsaknad av balans mellan privat-och arbetsliv som går hand i hand med den kultur som råder följt av mer verklighetstrogna förväntningar och i minst utsträckning utbildning och karriär. Utöver det kan studien även dra slutsatser kring varför det identifierade förväntningsgapet återfinns. Det studien har funnit är att det finns olika utgångspunkter till varför det återfinns en hög personalomsättning inom professionen mellan revisionsbyråer och revisorsassistenter. Detta leder till olika syn kring hur arbetet med att behålla medarbetare ska utformas. Utöver detta återfinns också skilda intressen mellan grupperna så som vinstintresse, resultat och balans i livet. / Starting your career as an audit associate at an auditing firm is sought after by many newly graduated students. The large auditing firms in Sweden annually employs many newly graduated students for junior roles such as audit associates. Hiring audit associates has therefore proved to be easy but retaining audit associates for a longer period has proved to be more problematic. This leads to a recognized high employee turnover in the profession, which means that the auditing firms need to work on retaining employees at the firm. Regarding the difficulties, the purpose of this study is thus to create an understanding of the work that the audit firms do to retain employees and what the audit associates consider significant for staying within the firm and the expectation gap that exists between them. In order to fulfill the purpose of this study and answer the research questions, a document study was conducted. Annual - and sustainability reports at two of the largest auditing firms in Sweden was studied, in order to create an understanding of how they work to retain employees. In addition to the document study, eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with current and former audit associates to create an understanding from their perspective and what they think is important to stay at the agency. The study's most important conclusions are that the expectation gap between what audit firms work with and what audit associates demand largely consists of work-life balance that goes hand in hand with a high-performing culture followed by more realistic expectations and to a lesser extent education and career. In addition, the study can also draw conclusions about why the identified expectation gap exists. The study has found that there is a different starting point to why there is a high employee turnover in the profession between auditing firms and auditing associates. This leads to different views on how the work of retaining employees should be constructed. In addition to this, there are also different interests between the groups, such as profit interest, results and work- life balance.

The aim of thisthesis is to describe the implementation ofequality policy between women and menin relation to quotas as a toolfor balanced representation of women andmen in leadership positions. Despite the fact thatmore than halfof university graduates are women, their representation in decision-making positions does not reflect it.Moreover, the higher post we consider the lower representationof women we find. In relation to the identified problem, it must be said, that thepolicy for equal opportunities for womenand men has shortcomings concerning implementation of equality.The starting point and support could be a quota system which is beingpushed, as well as the equality policies,by the European Union. Its applicationto the Czech environment is not easy; it faces numerous obstaclesand rejection both from public as wellas from management itself.