The Spanish and Latin American Contribution to the Study of Work Life Balance: Keys for Intervention

e are currently in a global economic crisis that “threatens to derail the economic development achieved in many countries and to erode the faith of the people in the open International trading system” (Lamy, 2003, part 4). In this context, the question is how to generate competitive advantages that have an impact on organizational effectiveness without jeopardizing the quality of life for employees. Thus several authors in this country point to the importance of developing policies of occupational health and safety (Montero, Araque, & Rey, 2009), and within these, family-friendly policies that promote the worklife balance (WLB) of employees (Leon & Chinchilla, 2010; Urcelay, 2005). The employability survey WorldatWork of 2009 indicated that 67% of management directives in response to the decrease in turnover resulting from the crisis, planned to implement development plans for the engagement and retention of employees, compared to 33% that planned to carry out a process of downsizing. Nanderam (2010) argues that business leaders believe that, while technological improvements in organizations increase their productivity in the short term, the key factor in long term business success is the contribution of employees (Chambers, Foulon, Handfield-Jones, Hankin, & Michaels, 1998; Harter & Schmidt, 2008; Woodruffe, 2006). In this context, there has been a growing interest in the study of WLB in recent years, in both its theoretical and interventional aspects. The demographic changes resulting from the incorporation of women into the work context (Carlier, Llorente, & Grau, 2012) and technological advances (cell phones, email, etc.) have meant that job demands interfere in personal life (Pichler, 2009), hence the development of a new organizational approach concerned with promoting the reconciliation of work and non-work areas (Martínez, 2006a, 2006b). The aim of this paper is to show the main scientific contributions in the field of WLB. To this end, first, a conceptual definition of the term is presented. Next, we analyze the interest in the study of WLB over the last eight years, with particular focus on the Spanish and Latin American contributions. We end by presenting our research work in relation to this issue, considering its implications for professional practice. In particular, we pay special attention to the role of supervisor (van Daalen, Willemsen, & Sanders, 2006), given that leadership is considered one of the factors that most contribute to employees’ perceptions about their jobs (Bass, Jung, Avolio, & Berson, 2003). THE SPANISH AND LATIN AMERICAN CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF WORK LIFE BALANCE: KEYS FOR INTERVENTION