ABSTRACT
Over the past two decades the issues of work-family and work-life balance have received extensive publicity and have been subject to increasing investigation (e.g., Hogarth et al., 2000; Eby et al., 2005). Concerns about work-life balance have become salient for a number of reasons. Demographic and social changes have resulted in more women entering the workforce, working mothers becoming the norm rather than the exception. Technological advancements (e.g., cell phones, e-mail, fax) have made it easier for work demands to intrude into family and personal life. Furthermore, the move towards global competition has increased pressure on organizations and individual employees alike to be more flexible and responsive to change. Over the past couple of decades there has been an increase in the proportion of employees working long hours in many developed countries (Kodz et al., 2002). Kodz et al. found that employees frequently attribute this to increased workload (due to a range of factors including organizational changes, e-mail load and staff changes), job insecurity and long hours culture. Evidence relating to many of these issues is presented in Chapter 1. Reports of high levels of work stress and stress-related illness are commonplace and there is a perception that the workplace is becoming ever more stressful (Jones and Bright, 2001).
