Home-Based Employment and Family Life

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.

RAMONA K. Z. HECK is J. Thomas Clark Professor of Entrepreneurship and Personal Enterprise in the Department of Consumer Economics and Housing at Cornell University. ALMA J. OWEN is Associate Professor in the Department of Consumer Sciences and Retailing at Purdue University. BARBARA R. ROWE is Associate Professor in the Department of Consumer Sciences and Retailing at Purdue University.

Foreword by Paul Edwards and Sarah Edwards Harmonizing Family and Work by Alma J. Owen, Ramona K. Z. Heck, and Barbara R. Rowe The Changing Environment of Work by Alma J. Owen, Barbara R. Rowe, and Nancy C. Saltford with assistance of Ramona K. Z. Heck and Diane M. Masuo The Workers at Work at Home by Ramona K. Z. Heck, Rosemary Walker, and Marilyn M. Furry with the assistance of Kathryn Stafford, Mary Winter, Diane M. Masuo, Joan E. Gritzmacher, Suzanne Loker, and Elizabeth Scannell The Hidden Hum of the Home-Based Business by Rosemary Walker and Ramona K. Z. Heck with assistance of Marilyn M. Furry, Kathryn Stafford, and George W. Haynes Homeworking Families and How They Make It Work by Barbara R. Rowe and Ramona K. Z. Heck with assistance of Alma J. Owen, Kathryn Stafford, and The Community Connection by Suzanne Loker, Alma J. Owen, and Kathryn Stafford with assistance of Ramona K. Z. Heck, Barbara R. Rowe, and Elizabeth Scannell Three Years Later by Suzanne Loker, Charles B. Hennon, and Ramona K. Z. Heck with the assistance of Mary Winter, Margaret Fitzgerald, and George W. Haynes What We Know and Do Not Know About the "Home" and "Work" and the Implications of Both by Ramona K. Z. Heck, Barbara R. Rowe, and Alma J. Owen Appendix A: Research Methods Including Sample Design and Questionnaire Development by Mary Winter and Kathryn Stafford Appendix B: Annotated Bibliography from Nine-State Study References Index