Public sector austerity cuts in the UK and the changing discourse of work-life balance

The relative importance of economic and other motives for employers to provide support for work- life balance (WLB) is debated within different literatures. However, discourses of WLB can be sensitive to changing economic contexts. This article draws on in-depth interviews with senior HR professionals in British public sector organisations to examine shifting discourses of WLB in an austerity context. Three main discourses were identified: WLB practices as organisationally embedded amid financial pressures, WLB practices as a strategy for managing financial pressures and WLB as a personal responsibility. Despite a discourse of mutual benefits to employee and employer underpinning all three discourses, there is a distinct shift towards greater emphasis on economic rather than institutional interests of employers during austerity, accompanied by discursive processes of fixing, stretching, shrinking and bending understandings of WLB. The reconstructed meaning of WLB raises concerns about its continued relevance to its original espoused purpose

What's in a name?: 'work and family' or 'work and life' balance policies in the UK since 1997 and the implications for the pursuit of gender equality

Since 1997, Labour has developed a wide range of policies on childcare services, care leaves and flexible working hours. In 2000, the term 'work-life balance' was introduced and has been used by Government Departments and by the academic community with very little discussion of its meaning vis à vis the use of 'family-friendly' policies, or the promotion of 'work and family balance'. We explore the introduction of the term work-life balance, the reasons for it, and its significance at the policy level, especially in terms of its implications for the pursuit of gender equality. We find that at the policy level, its use was more a matter of strategic framing than substantive change. Nevertheless, because of the UK Government's largely gender-neutral approach to the whole policy field, it is important to make explicit the tensions in the continuing use of the term work-life balance, particularly in relation to the achievement of gender equality

Universities, agglomerations and graduate human capital mobility

In this paper we examine one aspect of agglomeration, namely the geography of human capital. In some contexts, human capital may be very mobile, and understanding local agglomeration processes therefore requires us to consider inter-regional flows of human capital. In particular, here we discuss the flows of students in Great Britain from domicile into university and then the flows of graduate human capital from university into first employment. We then estimate the local/non-local pattern of these flows as a function of the characteristics of the university, of the student population, and of the local region. Our findings suggest that university attendance in Great Britain is generally associated with very significant levels of human capital mobility, and only certain types of higher education institutions play a significant employment role in their local economies