ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the experiences of self-employed workers following the 2008 fi nancial crisis. It is important to consider the work-life experiences of the self-employed not only because their experiences can differ from those of employees but also because confl icts and tensions between life domains can infl uence workers’ health and well-being and the duration of self-employment (Williams, 2004; OECD, 2011). Research on work-life balance (WLB) concentrates on employees employed by large organizations (Den Dulk and Peper, 2009), although there are exceptions (see, for example, Prottas and Thompson, 2006; Nordermark et al., 2012; Johansson Sevà and Öun, 2015). It is unlikely that research fi ndings from employed workers can be generalized to the self-employed. Their work situation differs in many respects from that of employees: they tend to work longer and more irregular hours, have more fl exibility and autonomy (control over when, where and how they work) and report more job insecurity and lower levels of social support than employed workers (Taris et al., 2008; Tuttle and Garr, 2009). Unlike employees, the self-employed are not always covered by the social security system in their country (Annink et al., 2016b) and in most countries they do not have full access to public work-life policies that aim to support the ability to combine work and personal/family life (Annink et al., 2015). Although research indicates that self-employed workers may experience diffi culties combining life domains, they remain an under-researched group of workers and it is not yet clear what kind of work-life support is most helpful for them (Annink et al., 2015).
