Telework and Work-Life Balance: Some Dimensions for Organisational Change

Ana Gálvez
María Jesús Martínez
Carmen Pérez

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DOI: 10.2190/WR.16.3-4.b

Abstract

In this article, we analyse how telework is implemented in different organisations as a way of promoting better work-life balance for workers. Through interviews with Spanish female teleworkers, we have found that in those organisations that give more organisational support and autonomy to workers, telework is an effective measure. By contrast, in those organisations that have not integrated telework into their organisational culture, where being present in the company's workplace is still all-important, conflicts and imbalance can arise in the lives of teleworkers. For this reason, we conclude that the willingness of organisations to improve the work-life balance of their staff does not depend so much on the implementation of a set of measures (including, for instance, telework), but more on changing to a genuine organisational culture that tries to implement such measures in the least discriminatory way and firmly believes that, in order to allow staff to give of their best, all aspects of their lives need to be balanced.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.