1. The organizational level as a key factor shaping individual capabilities for WLB Organizational (firm/employer level)  Working-time policy, including compliance with state policy, or enhancement  Working-time culture – norms, habits, practice Working-time policies shaped by national framework but still variation e.g. by sector [Focus of Industrial relations, organisational studies….]  Employers use PTW for 3 main reasons: Secondary workers (cheap and flexible staffing); Optimal staffing (extended, variable hours); Retention (‘Accommodation strategy’) Individual capability emerges through articulation of organizational setting with their household-level circumstances  Material resources, norms + values, relationships + negotiations…

2. Part-time work as a means of enhancing WLB? Fagan and Walthery (2011) Social Politics Part-time employment in Europe – still largely a preserve of women  ‘individualised choice’ or ‘constrained choice’ for care duties?  Poor quality of much PTW  Many employed men + women would like to adjust from FT  PT/ PT  FT A ‘right to request’ policy is a social conversion factor which create options for individual adjustments between FT  PT with current employer in same/similar job  Superior (more secure) than job search on open market  In some legal frameworks in various forms eg NL, UK, DE, SE (parental leave), BE (career breaks)… Is PTW a widespread and familiar practice? National variation…  Emerged historically through interplay of state policy, actions of employers and unions, cultural differences in organisation of family life and gender roles [‘gender regime’]

3. The incidence of part-time work at firm level is widespread: 2/3 firms employed 1+ part-timer, and ¼ at least 20% of the workforce were part-time

4. The type of individual working-time adjustment policies operated in European establishments ‘Full reversibility’ (FT  PT) offered by 18% of all employers and 28% of employers with PT in their workforce More limited adjustment options offered by a further 40% of employers (and 49% of employers with PT in their workforce)  i.e. adjustments restricted to one direction or full reversibility restricted by skill level Question: What accounts for the variation found across European Firms?..explored using statistical modelling

5. Conclusions Individual capability to adjust between FT and PT at their workplace varies across Europe  ¼ of firms employing PT do not permit such adjustments; another ¼ of all firms have no part-timers in their workforce State policy matters – firms are more likely to permit such adjustments where regulations in place  Once firm-level characteristics controlled: full reversibility more likely in SE, BE, and to a lesser extent UK than other countries in this study Firm-level characteristics and situational features also pertinent – the workplace shapes individuals’ capability set  Sector, establishment size, TU presence, workforce gender + skill profile  Firms’ organizational WLB culture + other WT arrangements Stable/contracting workforce = fewer options for full reversibility, esp for lower skilled employees  Does not bode well in current economic recession of downsizing + restructuring (except perhaps FT  PT)  Reversibility for skilled employees more resilient than for other employees – reinforce labour market dualization

6. The organizational level as a key factor shaping individual capabilities for WLB: the role of managers At the workplace managers are key actors shaping employees' capabilities to utilize work-life policies Work-life policies, statutory and organizational, often contain an element of managers’ discretion  Managers are seldom role models in policy utilization and often seen as gatekeepers to the take up of policies

7. How do financial sector managers respond to work-life policies in practice in different welfare states? Financial sector managers in 3 countries: the Netherlands, the UK and Slovenia  Different welfare state contexts Comparative qualitative interview study (EC project TRANSITIONS)  Data collected in three financial sector organizations: BIC, PEAK and SAVA  Studying managers in different layers of context: workplace, national and global Three managerial discourses towards the utilization of work-life policies:  Disruption discourse  Dependency considerations  Ethical discourse

8. Main findings Disruption and dependency considerations used to justify negative and positive responses to requests to use work-life policies Disruption discourse strong in BIC and Peak, emerging in SAVA Dependency discourse linked to business case rationale Moral discourse linked to local cultural and institutional factors Managers capabilities to support working parents was restricted by resources issues and disruption concerns in current competitive context Dependency and moral discourses enhance capabilities to WLB Managerial responses are highly gendered: decreasing men’s capabilities for utilizing policies

9. Concluding remarks: organizational firm level and capabilities for WLB Variation in capabilities not only occur across countries but also between organizations and within organizations resulting in agency inequality to WLB At the workplace and organizational level formal work-life policies are converted into entitlements and claims: variation across firms Within organizations managers play a crucial role in the conversion of policies into entitlements Both studies indicate that the economic recession and restructuring is likely to reduce capabilities for WLB Organizations need to recognise dilemmas faced by middle managers within globalised competitive workplaces: to avoid disruption issues, changes in workplace cultures and structures are needed that support managers in positive implementation of work-life policies.