Life After Burberry: Shifting Experiences of Work and Non-Work Life Following Redundancy

Work, Employment & Society http://wes.sagepub.com/ Life after Burberry: shifting experiences of work and non-work life following redundancy Paul Blyton and Jean Jenkins
Work Employment Society 2012 26: 26
DOI: 10.1177/0950017011426306
The online version of this article can be found at: http://wes.sagepub.com/content/26/1/26 Published by: http://www.sagepublications.com On behalf of:

British Sociological Association

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Beyond redundancy: article

Life after Burberry: shifting experiences of work and non-work life following redundancy

Work, Employment and Society
26(1) 26–41
© The Author(s) 2012
Reprints and permission: sagepub. co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0950017011426306 wes.sagepub.com Paul Blyton

Cardiff University, UK

Jean Jenkins

Cardiff University, UK

Abstract
This article sheds new light on neglected areas of recent ‘work-life’ discussions. Drawing on a study of a largely female workforce made redundant by factory relocation, the majority subsequently finding alternative employment in a variety of work settings, the results illustrate aspects of both positive and negative spillover from work to non-work life. In addition, the findings add to the growing number of studies that highlight the conditions under which part-time working detracts from, rather than contributes to, successful work-life balance. The conclusion discusses the need for a more multi-dimensional approach to work-life issues.

Citations: http://wes.sagepub.com/content/26/1/26.refs.html >> Version of Record - Feb 17, 2012 What is This? Downloaded from wes.sagepub.com at University of Bath on March 21, 2013 Email: [e-mail] Downloaded from wes.sagepub.com at University of Bath on March 21, 2013 Guest (2002: 260) has pointed out, there has been an equal tendency to explore ‘work-life conflict’ rather than examine possible positive associations within that relationship. For Guest (2002: 263), this reflects a widely held view that over the past generation the pressure of work has become a more dominant feature of many people’s McGovern et al., 2007; Perlow, 1999). Coupled with the growth in female labour market participation, particularly among women with dependent children, this is seen to increase Where the possibility for positive ‘spillover’ (Staines, 1980) between work and nonwork life has been examined, this has mainly been undertaken by social psychologists, generally approaching the issue both from an individual perspective and with the with family life (for example, Near et al., 1987). Less attention has been addressed to more aggregate levels of analysis more typically explored by sociologists, such as the influence of the work group or workplace community on life outside work (for a notable exception, see Grzywacz et al., 2007, and for earlier sociological accounts, see Horobin, 1957; Tunstall, 1962). Yet, despite the attention given to the potential for positive spillover of individual-level factors, even among psychologists the clear direction of associations between work and family, for example, Eby et al. (2005) found almost three times the number of studies focusing on the unfavourable effects of one sphere on the relationship between community and workplace in our case that resonates with Cunnison’s (1966) earlier garment factory study