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Reflections on the integration of paid work and the rest of life

Suzan Lewis (Elizabeth Gaskell Campus, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK)
Rhona Rapoport (Institute of Family and Environmental Research, London, UK)
Richenda Gambles (Institute of Family and Environmental Research, London, UK)

Journal of Managerial Psychology

ISSN: 0268-3946

Article publication date: 1 December 2003

3040

Abstract

Despite a wealth of research and policy initiatives on “work‐family”, “work‐life balance” or what we prefer to call work‐personal life integration, societies seem stuck about how to make equitable, satisfactory and sustainable changes in the ways in which paid work can be combined with the rest of life. So what is holding back satisfactory change? And how can people move beyond this apparent deadlock in workplaces and other institutions and really go forward? This paper looks at some of the reasons why issues about work‐personal life integration have become so pressing and then reflects on implications for working towards more fundamental changes at many different levels. It highlights sticking points holding back change and argues that these could be developed into new levers for change by emphasising the need to rethink and question many deeply held – but outdated – assumptions about working practices, families, culture and personal lives.

Keywords

Citation

Lewis, S., Rapoport, R. and Gambles, R. (2003), "Reflections on the integration of paid work and the rest of life", Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 18 No. 8, pp. 824-841. https://doi.org/10.1108/02683940310511908

Publisher

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MCB UP Ltd

Copyright © 2003, MCB UP Limited

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