Work–Life Balance, Organizations and Social Sustainability: Analyzing Female Telework in Spain

Ana Gálvez, Francisco Tirado and M. Jesús Martínez
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Ana Gálvez: Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, 08018 Barcelona, Spain
Francisco Tirado: Department of Social Psychology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain
M. Jesús Martínez: Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, 08035 Barcelona, Spain

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 9, 1-21

Abstract: The concept of work–life balance has recently established itself as a key component on route maps drawn up in the pursuit of social sustainability, both on a local scale, represented by individual organizations, and on a more general one, represented by global institutions such as the United Nations. Our article analyzes telework’s use as a political tool within organizations that either boost or hinder the development of social sustainability. Additionally, we propose the notion of “life sustainability” to analyze how female teleworkers describe the link between specific work cultures and the possibility of fulfilling social sustainability goals in local work environments through the achievement of a good work–life balance. Our research was performed following a qualitative approach, drawing from a sample of 24 individual interviews and 10 focus groups with a total of 48 participants, all of which are female teleworkers with family responsibilities. Our main findings allow us to summarize the interviewees’ social perceptions into two categories, which we have dubbed ‘life sustainability ecologies’ and ‘presence-based ecologies’. We conclude by discussing female teleworkers’ claim that work–life balance is directly linked to social sustainability and that the latter goal will remain out of reach as long as the issue of balance goes unresolved.

Keywords: social sustainability; work–life balance; female teleworkers; organizational culture; life sustainability ecologies; qualitative methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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