ICTU Briefing Paper LIVING TO WORK.....OR WORKING TO LIVE? THE ROLE OF MANAGERS IN CREATING WORK-LIFE BALANCE IN IRELAND EILEEN DREW AND GWEN DAVERTH Introduction The objectives of this Briefing Paper are to: • Identify how managers negotiate and understand work-life balance; • Examine the role that formal and informal policies play; and • Explore the role of managers in facilitating work-life balance within Irish organisations. Background The Irish economy is demanding more qualified workers which causes the interaction between the workplace and personal lives to become increasingly complex. One of the consequences of the Celtic Tiger’s growth is that organisations have become more and more 'time hungry'. Despite this, existing policies still reflect a prevailing ‘breadwinner’ model with a working husband and dependent 'housewife'. This has resulted in conflict for working parents and caregivers who struggle to balance responsibilities in the absence of significant institutional supports. Certain policies did emerge to enable workers to reconcile the conflict, but Drew et al. (2003) found that these arrangements were aimed almost exclusively at making the workplace ‘family- friendly’ (e.g. through facilitating part-time working). Hence the Irish uptake of flexible working arrangements has tended to be highly gendered. The fact that certain policies have been availed of almost exclusively by women has helped to solidify the belief that the relationship 1