Time and the Negotiation of Work–Family Boundaries

Abstract

The article reproblematizes time in relation to the concept of the ‘extended present’ by drawing upon empirical material from a methodological study of work–family boundaries, the article examines the effects of workplace change in a call centre on employees’ negotiation of these boundaries. Through detailed analysis of one of the cases discussed it shows how a female employee and her partner blur the boundaries between work and family life and how the woman concerned felt that she exercised control over time but also felt driven by it. The article sheds insight into the conditions that generate feelings of autonomy and its illusory nature. KEY WORDS • care • organizational change • time • work–family boundaries