Work, Life, and Family Imbalance: How to Level the Playing Field » (New Edition)

MICHELE A. PALUDI is President of Human Resource Management Solutions, which provides consulting and training services. She is also Adjunct Full Professor in the Department of Psychology at Union College and Union Graduate Collge. Paludi has published over twenty-five books, including the Praeger Guide to the Psychology of Gender (Praeger, 2003) and Understanding Workplace Violence (Praeger 2006).

PRESHA E. NEIDERMEYER is Associate Professor of Accounting and Management at West Virginia University. A member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, she has published dozens of articles and conference proceedings on ethics, accountability, and management.

Workers everywhere feel the tug-of-war between work and home: Do they go to a child's game or stay late to finish up a spreadsheet? How should they respond when a boss wants to talk about a new project just as they're leaving home to attend a religious service? How do they justify an unexpected, weeklong business trip to a spouse? Managers struggle as well. How much on time should they expect from their employees? How can they allocate work properly when many employees serve as irreplaceable caregivers to children and elderly parents? Should organizational needs prevail over family come crunch time? Welcome to the world of work in the twenty-first century, where 24/7 work obligations and always-on electronic tools ensure that work and family conflict on a daily basis. Michele Paludi and Presha Neidermeyer offer solutions by bringing together leading thinkers on the problem of balancing home and family life. Going far beyond commonplace prescriptions, their new approaches and insights for both individuals and organizations offer hope to those caught in the vise of conflicting expectations.

Work, Life, and Family Imbalance showcases the most current and innovative practices in solving the work-life crisis. These practices will shed new light on the issues and help individuals find a sane, yet productive, approach to balancing work and life. And they will help organizations promote family-friendly policies that benefit both individuals and the organization. Applying insights from the fields of management, ethics, sociology, and law, the authors go beyond traditional approaches to offer fresh thinking and methods for individuals and organizations, as well as groups with special needs: nontraditional families, academic families, and those with care-giving responsibilities. Along the way, Paludi and Neidermeyer dispel common myths and misconceptions regarding work/life balance, and they offer practical strategies for achieving balance from both the individual's and organization's point of view. Most important, the book concludes with a series of templates for developing workplace policies and training programs that promote employee well being and corporate profitability. Managers and business leaders of all stripes will find Work, Life, and Family Imbalance an invaluable aid in creating policies that keep employees and their families happy while not just maintaining but boosting the bottom line. What's more, they'll learn a few things about maintaining a productive balance in their own lives.

Preface   Janet Sigal     ix
Acknowledgments     xiii
Introduction   Michele A. Paludi   Presha E. Neidermeyer     xv
Juggling Act: Parents and Employers in the Twenty-First Century   Billie Dziech     1
Work/Life Integration: Impact on Women's Careers, Employment, and Family   Michele A. Paludi   Rebecca Vaccariello   Traci Graham   Melissa Smith   Kelsey Allen-Dicker   Hilary Kasprzak   Christa White     21
Redefining the U.S. Family and Laws to Include Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Individuals: Parents and Employers in the Twenty-First Century   Eros R. DeSouza     37
Culture and Work/Life Balance: Is There a Connection?   Presha E. Neidermeyer     51
Pregnancy Discrimination: Laboring under Assumptions in the Workplace   Julie Manning Magid     61
Finding and Keeping the Best and Brightest-Flexible Policies in a Small Workplace   Cristine Cioffi     79
Career Paths and Family in the Academy: Progress and Challenges   Bianca L. Bernstein   Nancy Felipe Russo     89
Integrating Work/Life: Resources for Employees, Employers, and Human Resource Specialists   Michele A. Paludi   Carmen A. Paludi, Jr.     121
Index     155
About the Editors and Contributors     161