The perceived fairness of work–life balance policies: A UK case study of solo‐living managers and professionals without children

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12181
• Date: 01 April 2018
• Published date: 01 April 2018

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

The perceived fairness of work–life balance

policies: A UK case study of solo‐living managers

and professionals without children

Krystal Wilkinson

1

|Jennifer Tomlinson

2

|Jean Gardiner

3

1

Centre for People and Performance,

Manchester Metropolitan University,

Manchester, UK

2

Centre for Employment Relations Innovation

and Change, University of Leeds Business

School, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

3

Centre for Employment Relations Innovation

and Change (Associate), University of Leeds,

Leeds, UK

Correspondence

Dr Krystal Wilkinson, Manchester

Metropolitan University, Centre for People

and Performance, Manchester Metropolitan

University, All Saints Campus, Oxford Road,

Manchester M15 6BH, UK.

Email: k.wilkinson@mmu.ac.uk

Abstract

The ability to reconcile work and private life is a matter relevant to

all employees, though not all may seek “balance.”Research indicates

that organisational work–life balance policies and flexible working

arrangements often focus on the needs of working parents, with

one potential outcome being “family‐friendly backlash,”or counter-

productive work behaviour from those without caring responsibili-

ties. This paper analyses data from 36 interviews with childless

solo‐living managers and professionals, exploring perceptions of

fairness in relation to these policies. In contrast to previous studies,

despite recognising a strong family‐care orientation in employer

provisions, perceptions of unfair treatment or injustice were not

pronounced in most cases, and thus there was little evidence of

backlash/counterproductive work behaviour. The paper uses and

develops organisational justice theory to explain the findings,

emphasising the importance of situating individual justice orienta-

tions within perceived organisational policy and wider regulatory

contexts. It also emphasises the importance of evaluating fairness

of work–life balance policies and flexible working arrangements in

relation to other aspects of the employment relationship, notably

opportunities for career development and progression.

KEYWORDS

fairness, flexibleworking arrangements, legislation, organisational

justice, solo living,work–life balance

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This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and repro-

duction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2018 The Authors. Human Resource Management Journal Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Received: 19 April 2017 Revised: 7 September 2017 Accepted: 2 November 2017

DOI: 10.1111/1748-8583.12181

Hum Resour Manag J. 2018;28:325–339. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hrmj 325