This book is about families who combine home life and income-producing work under the same roof. Based on 899 homeworking households in nine states, the analysis presents detailed information about individual worker and household characteristics; work characteristics for both business owners and wage workers; family functioning types; management behavior; and adjustment strategies used in family life, the community context, and the home-based employment experience over an extended period of time. This is the first publication of a serious longitudinal study of the phenomenon of working from home with historical considerations of how and why so many people are choosing this option. It points to the significantly positive impact at-home workers are having on their families, their neighborhoods, and their communities.

This book describes how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the way of work, the division of household labor, and family formation in Japan. One of the characteristics of Japanese employment practices is a stable employer–employment relationship and seniority-based wage system. In return, long working hours, especially for men who are called “salarymen” (salaried workers, or “company men”), are required. The pandemic has led to an expansion of telework and has reduced their working hours, which has made them return to their homes to work. In contrast, non-regular employees, who are mostly women, has become more unstable in employment and their incomes fell. This tendency has become even stronger under the pandemic. Compared with conditions in Western countries, in Japan wives have a greater responsibility for domestic chores. In the pandemic, as children's classes shifted to online and childcare support facilities were temporarily closed, the burden of housework and child-rearing increased for wives. However, husbands who worked from home shared a part of the housework, and popular home delivery services helped to reduce the burdens on wives. Japan is one of the developed countries with low fertility rates. Under the pandemic, many Japanese postponed starting a family, which further shrank the country’s birthrate. There was a remarkably significant tendency to postpone having children among economically disadvantaged and socially isolated families. This book provides a portrait of Japan’s experience regarding the notable impacts of the pandemic on work and family life.

What happens when work and family space are shared? Beach examines the lives of home-working families and describes the interaction of work and family life. Detailed focus on the family system demonstrates how space and time are utilized, how spouses and children respond, and how the family may perceive home work as an adaptive effort to integrate work and family life. Beach highlights the often overlooked role of children in contributing to this home-work style.

Despite the increasing policy interest in work-life balance issues, relatively little research has been carried out into the links between self-employment and family life. This report considers, for the first time, the extent to which new family-friendly initiatives and legislation provide adequate support for self-employed parents. Drawing on an analysis of survey material from 10,000 families with children, the report explores topical issues such as: whether self-employment offers working parents greater flexibility than other forms of employment the price of flexibility difficulties in relation to childcare differences between the experiences of self-employed mothers and fathers

Theorists in the UK have offered a new perspective through which to understand the interrelationship of the individual within the structure of the family. This volume's desire is to re-apply such thinking in the context of children’s lives in the family.

This book focuses on the causes and consequences of paid white-collar work in the home, including work that is professional, managerial, clerical, technical, and sales. It is directed to audiences concerned with both the policy issues and the research challenges reused by working at home.