Suzan Lewis & Julia Brannen 
Work, families and organisations in transition 
European perspectives

Across Europe the importance of reconciling paid work and family life is increasingly recognised by a range of diverse government regulations and organisational initiatives. At the same time, employing organisations and the nature of work are undergoing massive and rapid changes, in the context of global competition, efficiency drives, as well as social and economic transformations in emerging economies.  Work, families and organisations in transition illustrates how workplace practices and policies impact on employees’ experiences of work-life balance in contemporary shifting contexts. Based upon cross-national case studies of public and private sector workplaces carried out in Bulgaria, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK, this innovative book demonstrates the challenges that parents face as they seek to negotiate work and family boundaries. The case studies demonstrate that employed parents’ needs and experiences depend on many layers of context – global, European, national, workplace and family. This book will be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students of organisational psychology, sociology, management and business studies, human resource management, social policy, as well as employers, managers, trade unions and policy makers.

About the author

Suzan Lewis is Professor of Organisational Psychology in the Department of Human Resource Management at Middlesex University Business School. She has extensive research experience on work-personal life issues and workplace practice, culture and change in different workplace and social policy contexts. She is a founding editor of the international journal Community, Work and Family. Julia Brannen is professor of sociology of the family at Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London. Her research has focussed on gender, health, work-family life, parents, intergenerational relations, young people and children in families. She has a special interest in methodology, in particular mixed methods, and co-founded and coedits the International Journal of Social Research Methodology. Ann Nilsen is professor of sociology at the Department of Sociology, University of Bergen, Norway. Her extensive research experience is in areas of life course methodology including biographical studies, transitions in the life course and work family issues.