{"product_id":"work-life-advantage-isbn-9781118944844","title":"Work-Life Advantage","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eWork-Life Advantage\u003c\/i\u003e analyses how employer-provision of ‘family-friendly’ working arrangements - designed to help workers better reconcile work, home and family - can also enhance firms’ capacities for learning and innovation, in pursuit of long-term competitive advantage and socially inclusive growth. \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e \u003cli\u003eBrings together major debates in labour geography, feminist geography, and regional learning in novel ways, through a focus on the shifting boundaries between work, home, and family\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eAddresses a major gap in the scholarly research surrounding the narrow ‘business case’ for work-life balance by developing a more socially progressive, workerist ‘dual agenda’\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eChallenges and disrupts masculinist assumptions of the “ideal worker” and the associated labour market marginalization of workers with significant home and family commitments\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eBased on 10 years of research with over 300 IT workers and 150 IT firms in the UK and Ireland, with important insights for professional workers and knowledge-intensive companies around the world\u003c\/li\u003e \u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003eList of Figures viii\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eList of Tables ix\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSeries Editor’s Preface xi\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePreface and Acknowledgements xii\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eList of Abbreviations xv\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e1 Inclusive Regional Learning? 1\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e2 Recentering Regional Learning: Beyond Masculinist Geographies of Regional Advantage 16\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e3 Work]Life Balance and its Uncertain ‘Business Case’ 38\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e4 Researching Labour Geographies of Work-Life and Learning in Ireland and the UK 67\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e5 Juggling Work, Home and Family in the Knowledge Economy 86\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e6 Overcoming Work-Life Conflict and the Gendered Limits to Learning and Innovation? 117\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e7 Work-Life Balance, Cross-Firm Worker Mobility and Gendered Knowledge Spillovers 145\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e8 Conclusions: Gendered Regional Learning and Work-Life Advantage 176\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eReferences 197\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIndex 226\u003c\/p\u003e   \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAl James\u003c\/strong\u003e is Reader in Economic Geography at Newcastle University, UK. His research interests include gendered labour geographies of work-life and socially inclusive growth; the regional cultural economy of learning and innovation; and the hybrid economic\/development geographies of India's new service economy. His work has been funded by the UK's Economic and Social Research Council, Nuffield Foundation, Arts and Humanities Research Council and Isaac Newton Trust. He has published in a wide range of leading international journals, including \u003cem\u003eProgress in Human Geography, Journal of Economic Geography, Regional Studies, Geoforum, Gender Work and Organization, Gender Place and Culture, Environment and Planning A \u003c\/em\u003eand \u003cem\u003eDevelopment and Change.\u003c\/em\u003e From 2008–2011, he was Secretary of the RGS-IBG's Economic Geography Research Group.     \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'Who thought the topic of work-life balance could be so interesting? Al James makes it riveting. His sometimes-poignant, sometimes heart-rending, sometimes outrageous (how can they get away with that?) stories of the collision of work-lives and every-day lives of high-tech workers in Dublin and Cambridge make for utterly compelling reading. James' ability to bring together seamlessly gender, work, corporate life, and the geography of the everyday is a great achievement. It exemplifies yet again the power of economic geography in understanding crucial issues of our present moment.'\u003cbr\u003e \u003cem\u003eTrevor Barnes, \u003c\/em\u003eProfessor of Geography, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Canada  \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'The changing nature of employment, the growing diversity of the workforce and the implications for individuals and households are the questions of our time. In this fascinating book, feminist and regional economics meet head-on as James provides insights into the implications of the growth of ''knowledge work\" for firms and for families in Cambridge and Dublin.'\u003cbr\u003e   \u003cem\u003eLinda McDowell,\u003c\/em\u003e Research Professor of Geography, University of Oxford and Honorary Professor of Geography, University of Exeter, UK  \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWork-Life Advantage\u003c\/em\u003e explores the labour geographies of regional learning and innovation in the Knowledge Economy. Its original analysis documents the everyday struggles of high tech professionals to combine competing activities of work, home and family. Crucially, it demonstrates how employer-provision of 'family friendly' working arrangements cannot only yield improvements in the lives of knowledge workers and their families, but also enhance firms' capacities for learning and innovation, and long-term competitive advantage. The book is based on 10 years of research carried out with over 300 IT professionals and 150 IT firms in the UK and Ireland.   \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e The analysis developed in this book challenges problematic, masculinist assumptions of the 'ideal worker' and stubborn workplace exclusions of workers with significant home and family commitments. It also exposes the masculinist myopia of the regional learning and innovation agenda and attendant theories of regional advantage. Bringing together major debates in labour geography, feminist geography and regional learning, this is an essential addition to academic and policy research on work-life integration and socially inclusive growth.   \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘Who thought the topic of work-life balance could be so interesting? Al James makes it riveting. His sometimes-poignant, sometimes heart-rending, sometimes outrageous (how can they get away with that?) stories of the collision of work lives and every-day lives of high-tech workers in Dublin and Cambridge make for utterly compelling reading. James’ ability to bring together seamlessly gender, work, corporate life, and the geography of the everyday is a great achievement. It exemplifies yet again the power of economic geography in understanding crucial issues of our present moment.’ \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrevor Barnes, Professor of Geography, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Canada\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e‘The changing nature of employment, the growing diversity of the workforce and the implications for individuals and households are \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ethe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e questions of our time. In this fascinating book, feminist and regional economics meet head-on as James provides insights into the implications of the growth of ‘knowledge work’ for firms and for families in Cambridge and Dublin.’\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLinda McDowell, Research Professor of Geography, University of Oxford and Honorary Professor of Geography, University of Exeter, UK\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e‘This fascinating book offers a well-grounded and clearly stated argument that work–life balance is a crucial element in the mix of factors that sustain regional learning and innovation, making a significant contribution to the literature that has burgeoned on this topic in recent decades. In the process, it develops a profound critique of the literature on regional development as largely genderblind and overly focused on production networks to the neglect of processes of social reproduction.’\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSean O´ Riain, Department of Sociology, National University of Ireland Maynooth\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJournal of Economic Geography\u003c\/i\u003e, Volume 19 Issue 2, March 2019\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wiley-Blackwell","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47990505144549,"sku":"NP9781118944844","price":98.75,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781118944844.jpg?v=1761788096","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/work-life-advantage-isbn-9781118944844","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}