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Work, health and the commodification of life's time: reframing work–life balance and the promise of a long life

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2016

SIMON BIGGS ,
MICHAEL McGANN ,
DINA BOWMAN  and
HELEN KIMBERLEY
SIMON BIGGS
Affiliation:
School of Social & Political Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia.
MICHAEL McGANN*
Affiliation:
School of Social & Political Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia.
DINA BOWMAN
Affiliation:
Research & Policy Centre, Brotherhood of St Laurence, Melbourne, Australia.
HELEN KIMBERLEY
Affiliation:
Research & Policy Centre, Brotherhood of St Laurence, Melbourne, Australia.
*
Address for correspondence: Michael McGann, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville 3010, Australia E-mail: mmcgann@unimelb.edu.au
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Abstract

How to respond to an ageing society has become an increasingly important question, for employers, workers and policy makers. Here we critically engage with that debate, arguing that future approaches to the relationship between work and age should take into account multiple influences on older worker behaviour, including the combination of economic, lifecourse and personal priorities. We consider the international consensus that has emerged about the primacy of work as the solution to what to do with a long life. We then address the uncertain nature of work as it affects older workers, and discuss the commodification of time in relation to a productivist approach to demographic ageing and the attitudes of older workers themselves. A tension is noted between pressures for continuity and discontinuity within the adult lifecourse which is often eclipsed within a policy discourse that tends to focus on continuity as a route to social legitimacy. Thinking about life-time as a meta-narrative, a tension between existential life priorities and commodification, may help to explain the ease with which ‘live longer–work longer’ policies both dominate and obscure the potential of a long life. Finally, we examine the implications for work–life balance and suggest this needs to be radically re-thought when addressing the purpose of a longer working life and the promise of a long life in general.

Keywords

ageing populationproductive ageingwork–life balancelifecourseolder workers
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 37 , Issue 7 , August 2017 , pp. 1458 - 1483
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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