Overview

Work-Life Advantage analyses how employer-provision of ‘family-friendly’ working arrangements - designed to help workers better reconcile work, home and family - can also enhance firms’ capacities for learning and innovation, in pursuit of long-term competitive advantage and socially inclusive growth.  Brings together major debates in labour geography, feminist geography, and regional learning in novel ways, through a focus on the shifting boundaries between work, home, and family Addresses a major gap in the scholarly research surrounding the narrow ‘business case’ for work-life balance by developing a more socially progressive, workerist ‘dual agenda’ Challenges and disrupts masculinist assumptions of the “ideal worker” and the associated labour market marginalization of workers with significant home and family commitments Based on 10 years of research with over 300 IT workers and 150 IT firms in the UK and Ireland, with important insights for professional workers and knowledge-intensive companies around the world

Full Product Details

Author:   Al James (Newcastle University, UK)
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Imprint:   Wiley-Blackwell
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.30cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.318kg
ISBN:  

9781118944837

ISBN 10:   1118944836
Pages:   248
Publication Date:   08 December 2017
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.

Table of Contents

List of Figures viii List of Tables ix Series Editor’s Preface xi Preface and Acknowledgements xii List of Abbreviations xv 1 Inclusive Regional Learning? 1 2 Recentering Regional Learning: Beyond Masculinist Geographies of Regional Advantage 16 3 Work]Life Balance and its Uncertain ‘Business Case’ 38 4 Researching Labour Geographies of Work-Life and Learning in Ireland and the UK 67 5 Juggling Work, Home and Family in the Knowledge Economy 86 6 Overcoming Work-Life Conflict and the Gendered Limits to Learning and Innovation? 117 7 Work-Life Balance, Cross-Firm Worker Mobility and Gendered Knowledge Spillovers 145 8 Conclusions: Gendered Regional Learning and Work-Life Advantage 176 References 197 Index 000

Reviews

Work-life advantage: sustaining regional learning and innovation Al James Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2017 ISBN: 978-1-118-94483-7 (paperback) 248 pp. Price: $39.95 ISBN: 978-1-118-94484-4 (hardback) 248 pp. Price: $94.95 This fascinating book offers a well-grounded and clearly stated argument that work-life balance is a crucial element in the mix of factors that sustain regional learning and innovation, making a significant contribution to the literature that has burgeoned on this topic in recent decades. In the process, it develops a profound critique of the literature on regional development as largely genderblind and overly focused on production networks to the neglect of processes of social reproduction. The book is based on extensive research around Dublin, Ireland and Cambridge, UK--including surveys of 150 employers, over 60 interviews with IT professionals and additional interviews with informants from unions, development agencies and other organisations before the crisis of 2008; supplemented by online surveys with IT workers in late 2008 and 2010. While the data were gathered during a particular era of financial boom and bust, they do not appear dated--at least partly because the IT sector suffered less than many others and more generally because issues of gendering and work-life balance in IT have been persistent across a variety of technology and other business cycles. This research is presented in three core empirical chapters. The first of these presents the core work processes in IT and the work- life conflict they create, maintaining a commendable focus on how the dynamic intersection of work practices and gendered meanings of work create varying challenges at different times. The second empirical chapter focuses more closely on policies and practices designed to reduce work-life conflict within firms. Nicely weaving together statistical and interview data, the chapter assesses the 'mutual gains' for firms and workers of various initiatives, finding that practices that workers particularly value (e.g. working from home, reduced hours) also provide benefits to firms of more diverse workforces, less fatigue and increased productivity. Perhaps, the most distinctive contribution of the book is in the final empirical chapter that extends this analysis to inter-firm relations and regional processes. Part of the analysis consists of a critique of the dominant understandings of 'zero drag' regional labour mobility as a vehicle of learning and innovation. However, James put his data to good use to go further and document how the search for work-life balance is a major motivating factor in labour mobility and how that mobility is most constrained for the women workers who are in greatest need of its potential benefits. Again, firms and regional economies as well as workers would benefit from worklife friendly mobility. This is an excellent book. It is clearly written and engaging with a commendable mix of empirical rigour and detail, passion for the issues at hand and a commitment to the importance of tackling them based on careful research. The focus on 'mutual gains' proves to be very useful because James examines the dynamics of actual and potential gains in detail rather than just relying on the phrase as a slogan. The book goes well beyond the point that there are quite generalised benefits for firms to outline the various benefits and the different conditions under which they arise-- as well as some potential benefits that are only rarely realised. The book also opens up a range of questions that it doesn't quite answer. While the focus on work-life balance is an advantage, in that it provides clear links to organisational choices and policy relevant issues, a more sustained reconstruction of regional learning theories at the end of the book would have further augmented the findings. The implications of the analysis for this literature could The Author(s) (2019). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com Journal of Economic Geography 19 (2019) pp. 539-540 doi:10.1093/jeg/lbz005 Advance Access Published on 26 February 2019 Downloaded from https: //academic.oup.com/joeg/article-abstract/19/2/539/5365501 by University of Sheffield user on 07 June 2019 be taken even further. To what extent are inter-personal networks between partner companies, for example, drivers of an 'always on' culture? More attention could also have been paid to the occupational and organisational difference in the workers' settings, disaggregating the categories of 'worker' and 'firm'. While the distinct focus on intra- and inter-firm processes yielded rich insights, this raised the question of how firms interacted with their broader regional environment and how this shaped work-life balance. The enduring puzzle of unrealised mutual gains remains--if there are gains to be made by firms (of which they are somewhat aware), then why don't they act to take advantage of them? Critically, perhaps the solutions as well as some of the problems lie at the regional level. If many workers are partly motivated by the search for work work-life balance friendly employers but employers are still not responding in large numbers to these 'market signals', then collective action at the regional level will be critical. Despite the rhetorical commitment to limitless growth, ICT firms may be willing to sacrifice a degree of growth to forego disruption of gendered practices. While the book touches on these issues, there is much more to be said (as James notes). James ends the book on a number of potential extensions of this work, rightly recognising some limits of an exclusively regional focus. Some extensions refine the focus on production and labour networks through a greater focus on inter-firm networks beyond the region--particularly because these dynamic regions are as global as they are local. How do these inter-regional ties shape firm capacities within regions and how do work-life balance practices diffuse across these transnational organisational networks? Another set of extensions beyond the regional focus, also noted by James, are in the direction of comparative analysis of different regions and analysis of how they are shaped by their political and institutional environments. The book touches on the comparative differences between Ireland and the UK without fully analysing them. This is an informative and insightful book. For those interested in gendering of economic life, this book will be a welcome addition to their stock of knowledge, adding the region to the list of deeply profoundly gendered economic institutions. For those whose focus is on regional development but who have paid little attention to gender, this is a must read. Sean O Riain Department of Sociology, National University of Ireland Maynooth sean.oriain@mu.ie 540 . Book Reviews Downloaded from https: //academic.oup.com/joeg/article-abstract/19/2/539/5365501 by University of Sheffield user on 07 June 2019

Work-life advantage: sustaining regional learning and innovation Al James Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2017 ISBN: 978-1-118-94483-7 (paperback) 248 pp. Price: $39.95 ISBN: 978-1-118-94484-4 (hardback) 248 pp. Price: $94.95 This fascinating book offers a well-grounded and clearly stated argument that work-life balance is a crucial element in the mix of factors that sustain regional learning and innovation, making a significant contribution to the literature that has burgeoned on this topic in recent decades. In the process, it develops a profound critique of the literature on regional development as largely genderblind and overly focused on production networks to the neglect of processes of social reproduction. The book is based on extensive research around Dublin, Ireland and Cambridge, UK--including surveys of 150 employers, over 60 interviews with IT professionals and additional interviews with informants from unions, development agencies and other organisations before the crisis of 2008; supplemented by online surveys with IT workers in late 2008 and 2010. While the data were gathered during a particular era of financial boom and bust, they do not appear dated--at least partly because the IT sector suffered less than many others and more generally because issues of gendering and work-life balance in IT have been persistent across a variety of technology and other business cycles. This research is presented in three core empirical chapters. The first of these presents the core work processes in IT and the work- life conflict they create, maintaining a commendable focus on how the dynamic intersection of work practices and gendered meanings of work create varying challenges at different times. The second empirical chapter focuses more closely on policies and practices designed to reduce work-life conflict within firms. Nicely weaving together statistical and interview data, the chapter assesses the 'mutual gains' for firms and workers of various initiatives, finding that practices that workers particularly value (e.g. working from home, reduced hours) also provide benefits to firms of more diverse workforces, less fatigue and increased productivity. Perhaps, the most distinctive contribution of the book is in the final empirical chapter that extends this analysis to inter-firm relations and regional processes. Part of the analysis consists of a critique of the dominant understandings of 'zero drag' regional labour mobility as a vehicle of learning and innovation. However, James put his data to good use to go further and document how the search for work-life balance is a major motivating factor in labour mobility and how that mobility is most constrained for the women workers who are in greatest need of its potential benefits. Again, firms and regional economies as well as workers would benefit from worklife friendly mobility. This is an excellent book. It is clearly written and engaging with a commendable mix of empirical rigour and detail, passion for the issues at hand and a commitment to the importance of tackling them based on careful research. The focus on 'mutual gains' proves to be very useful because James examines the dynamics of actual and potential gains in detail rather than just relying on the phrase as a slogan. The book goes well beyond the point that there are quite generalised benefits for firms to outline the various benefits and the different conditions under which they arise-- as well as some potential benefits that are only rarely realised. The book also opens up a range of questions that it doesn't quite answer. While the focus on work-life balance is an advantage, in that it provides clear links to organisational choices and policy relevant issues, a more sustained reconstruction of regional learning theories at the end of the book would have further augmented the findings. The implications of the analysis for this literature could The Author(s) (2019). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com Journal of Economic Geography 19 (2019) pp. 539-540 doi:10.1093/jeg/lbz005 Advance Access Published on 26 February 2019 Downloaded from https: //academic.oup.com/joeg/article-abstract/19/2/539/5365501 by University of Sheffield user on 07 June 2019 be taken even further. To what extent are inter-personal networks between partner companies, for example, drivers of an 'always on' culture? More attention could also have been paid to the occupational and organisational difference in the workers' settings, disaggregating the categories of 'worker' and 'firm'. While the distinct focus on intra- and inter-firm processes yielded rich insights, this raised the question of how firms interacted with their broader regional environment and how this shaped work-life balance. The enduring puzzle of unrealised mutual gains remains--if there are gains to be made by firms (of which they are somewhat aware), then why don't they act to take advantage of them? Critically, perhaps the solutions as well as some of the problems lie at the regional level. If many workers are partly motivated by the search for work work-life balance friendly employers but employers are still not responding in large numbers to these 'market signals', then collective action at the regional level will be critical. Despite the rhetorical commitment to limitless growth, ICT firms may be willing to sacrifice a degree of growth to forego disruption of gendered practices. While the book touches on these issues, there is much more to be said (as James notes). James ends the book on a number of potential extensions of this work, rightly recognising some limits of an exclusively regional focus. Some extensions refine the focus on production and labour networks through a greater focus on inter-firm networks beyond the region--particularly because these dynamic regions are as global as they are local. How do these inter-regional ties shape firm capacities within regions and how do work-life balance practices diffuse across these transnational organisational networks? Another set of extensions beyond the regional focus, also noted by James, are in the direction of comparative analysis of different regions and analysis of how they are shaped by their political and institutional environments. The book touches on the comparative differences between Ireland and the UK without fully analysing them. This is an informative and insightful book. For those interested in gendering of economic life, this book will be a welcome addition to their stock of knowledge, adding the region to the list of deeply profoundly gendered economic institutions. For those whose focus is on regional development but who have paid little attention to gender, this is a must read. Sea n O Riain Department of Sociology, National University of Ireland Maynooth sean.oriain@mu.ie 540 . Book Reviews Downloaded from https: //academic.oup.com/joeg/article-abstract/19/2/539/5365501 by University of Sheffield user on 07 June 2019

Author Information

Al James is Reader in Economic Geography at Newcastle University, UK. His research interests include gendered labour geographies of work-life and socially inclusive growth; the regional cultural economy of learning and innovation; and the hybrid economic/development geographies of India's new service economy. His work has been funded by the UK's Economic and Social Research Council, Nuffield Foundation, Arts and Humanities Research Council and Isaac Newton Trust. He has published in a wide range of leading international journals, including Progress in Human Geography, Journal of Economic Geography, Regional Studies, Geoforum, Gender Work and Organization, Gender Place and Culture, Environment and Planning A and Development and Change. From 2008–2011, he was Secretary of the RGS-IBG's Economic Geography Research Group.

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