Rethinking Work-Family

10th International Conference of Work and Family

The increase of new ways of working brought multiple changes in the workplace such as: flexible workspaces, smart time management, and the extended use of information and communication technology.  Along with it, fundamental changes have surged in the way people integrate the work and home domain. As we shift towards work arrangements with teams working remotely, at the office, in a fix schedule or with an adaptive one, we should also shift the way we think about how the work and home domain integrate in our everyday life.

In 2020, the global pandemic made millions of employees’ lockdown due to mobility restrictions. Consequently, workers with dependents, ranging from the young to the elderly in their homes, had to manage, within one unique workspace, the responsibilities of a full-time job, plus the work that came from care at home. For instance, people had to manage their professional roles with demands such as: follow-up of school, help with hygiene and chores, virtual class monitoring or being a nurse for the elderly. This led to conflict, due to burn out and stress, but it also shed some lights on the importance of rethinking work-family balance.

 As organizations return to offices, and employees adapt to new ways of remote and hybrid work, the role of work-family integration can also be updated to respond to this new context. With the increase of remote work, and hybrid working models, the absence of the barriers between the home and work domain has led to work-family balance to face a different challenge, especially for employees with kids at home. As we are designing the future of work, we believe it is also important to rethink the way we integrate the home and work sphere.

At the International Center for Work and Family, we have been talking for years about how work-family balance can provide benefits for people, organizations and society as a whole. For several years, we have conducted multiple studies that examine the potential benefits of flexible work arrangements. The 10th bi-annual International Conference of Work & Family aims to focus on individual and organizational ways to rethink work-family balance under the context of new ways of working. We want to encourage thinking on how, as we define new ways of working, we could also shift the way we think about work-family balance adapting it to the new reality.

Call for Papers: Submission Guidelines.

If you are interested in participating, please submit a 800-word paper proposal by March 15, 2023, following the instructions below. We will notify authors of acceptance by April 1, 2023. Participants in the conference who have papers accepted should submit full papers by May 15, 2023. We especially encourage theoretical and innovative empirical papers, ethnographies, lab studies, as well as quantitative and qualitative analyses.

The 10th International Conference of Work and Family will be held in-person in Barcelona. Special fees are available for academics and students that attend both the Conference of Work and Family (July 5-6) as well as the Conference of Women and Leadership (July 6-7).

IESE is a dynamic community of scholars and practitioners who will welcome you to Barcelona, a traditional and welcoming Mediterranean city. It is a city with a great number of tourist attractions and a friendly atmosphere that will offer conference participants and their families plenty of opportunities to enjoy their stay here, over and above the academic program we are preparing for you.

We look forward to welcoming you to IESE in Barcelona!