an article by Tarani Chandola (University of Manchester, UK) and Cara L, Meena Kumari and Michaela Benzeval (University of Essex, UK) published in Sociology Volume 53 Issue 4 (August 2019)
Abstract
Debates around the benefits of flexible work arrangements for employee well-being are limited by a lack of empirical analyses on whether flexible working enables employees with work or family stressors to cope with their levels of stress.
This study examines whether the availability and use of different flexible work arrangements are associated with lower allostatic load (an index of chronic stress-related biomarkers) in a large representative study of UK adults. Male and female employees who made use of reduced hours working arrangements had lower levels of allostatic load.
Among women caring for two or more children aged under 15, there was a difference of almost one unit of the allostatic load index (an additional biomarker risk) between women who used reduced hours flexible work and those without such arrangements.
Reduced hours flexible work arrangements could enable women who combine work and family roles to reduce their levels of chronic stress.
Full text (PDF 22pp)
Hazel’s comment:
I would have loved to be able to work part-time when I had four young children at home but then I would not have earned enough money to be able to look after them properly! This is a dilemma many women still face today.
Showing posts with label working_hours. Show all posts
Showing posts with label working_hours. Show all posts
Wednesday, 4 September 2019
Friday, 31 May 2019
How Stockholm became the city of work-life balance
an article by Richard Orange published in the Guardian
More family time: the city is actively promoting itself as a destination for starting a family while maintaining a high-level career. Photograph: brittak/Getty Images/iStockphoto
It is 3.30pm, and the first workers begin to trickle out of the curved glass headquarters of the Stockholm IT giant Ericsson.
John Langared, a 30-year-old programmer, is hurrying to pick up his daughter from school. He has her at home every other week, so tends to alternate short hours one week with long hours the next.
Sai Kumar, originally from India, is leaving to pick up his daughter because his wife has a Swedish class. Ylva (who doesn’t want to give her surname) is “off to the gym to stay sane”, as is Sumeia Assenai, 30, who came in at 7am, so is allowed to leave early under her company’s “flex bank” system.
Continue reading
Hazel’s comment:
All very well for people with project-type work but what about shop workers, street sweepers and those that we rely on to "do" for us?
Nurses can’t simply up and leave work when the work is done – it never is anyway.
Yes, for those who can then it is good and I certainly enjoyed having a reasonable amount of flexibility in working hours when the children were young.
More family time: the city is actively promoting itself as a destination for starting a family while maintaining a high-level career. Photograph: brittak/Getty Images/iStockphoto
It is 3.30pm, and the first workers begin to trickle out of the curved glass headquarters of the Stockholm IT giant Ericsson.
John Langared, a 30-year-old programmer, is hurrying to pick up his daughter from school. He has her at home every other week, so tends to alternate short hours one week with long hours the next.
Sai Kumar, originally from India, is leaving to pick up his daughter because his wife has a Swedish class. Ylva (who doesn’t want to give her surname) is “off to the gym to stay sane”, as is Sumeia Assenai, 30, who came in at 7am, so is allowed to leave early under her company’s “flex bank” system.
Continue reading
Hazel’s comment:
All very well for people with project-type work but what about shop workers, street sweepers and those that we rely on to "do" for us?
Nurses can’t simply up and leave work when the work is done – it never is anyway.
Yes, for those who can then it is good and I certainly enjoyed having a reasonable amount of flexibility in working hours when the children were young.
Tuesday, 8 May 2018
We Asked Some Experts About the Future of Workers’ Rights in the UK
a post by Jam Collins for the Rights Info blog (Human Rights News, Views & Info)
For most of us, working is a fact of life. However, just like every other part of our lives, it comes with a specific set of protections and rights to which we’re all entitled.
From things like maximum working hours and the national minimum wage, to health and safety, mass surveillance or pensions, there are a huge number of issues which touch on our rights at work.
However, employment has changed a lot during the past few years. In the last 12 months alone we’ve started to see the true extent of the gender pay gap, as companies with more than 250 employees are forced to reveal data. We’ve seen the ongoing saga surrounding the gig economy, strikes from outsourced workers and thousands of calls to the new modern slavery hotline.
So, what is the future of work for 2018 and beyond? It’s a big question, so we spoke to some people most likely to give us some big answers…
Continue reading
For most of us, working is a fact of life. However, just like every other part of our lives, it comes with a specific set of protections and rights to which we’re all entitled.
From things like maximum working hours and the national minimum wage, to health and safety, mass surveillance or pensions, there are a huge number of issues which touch on our rights at work.
However, employment has changed a lot during the past few years. In the last 12 months alone we’ve started to see the true extent of the gender pay gap, as companies with more than 250 employees are forced to reveal data. We’ve seen the ongoing saga surrounding the gig economy, strikes from outsourced workers and thousands of calls to the new modern slavery hotline.
So, what is the future of work for 2018 and beyond? It’s a big question, so we spoke to some people most likely to give us some big answers…
Continue reading
Tuesday, 6 December 2016
Are changes in the dispersion of hours worked a cause of increased earnings inequality?
an article by Daniele Checchi (University of Milan; Irvapp-FBK and IZA), Cecilia García-Peñalosa (Aix-Marseille University and CESifo) and Lara Vivian (Aix-Marseille University) published in IZA Journal of European Labor Studies 2016 Volume 5 Article 15
Abstract
Earnings are the product of wages and hours of work; hence, the dispersion of hours can magnify or dampen a given distribution of wages. This paper examines how earnings inequality is affected by the dispersion of working hours using data for the USA, the UK, Germany, and France over the period 1989–2012.
We find that hours dispersion can account for over a third of earnings inequality in some countries and that its contribution has been growing over time.
We interpret the expansion in hours inequality in European countries as being the result of weaker union power that led to less successful bargaining concerning working hours.
JEL Classification D31 J22
Full text (HTML)
Abstract
Earnings are the product of wages and hours of work; hence, the dispersion of hours can magnify or dampen a given distribution of wages. This paper examines how earnings inequality is affected by the dispersion of working hours using data for the USA, the UK, Germany, and France over the period 1989–2012.
We find that hours dispersion can account for over a third of earnings inequality in some countries and that its contribution has been growing over time.
We interpret the expansion in hours inequality in European countries as being the result of weaker union power that led to less successful bargaining concerning working hours.
JEL Classification D31 J22
Full text (HTML)
Thursday, 5 February 2015
How do occupational norms shape mothers’ career and caring options?
an article by Tanya Carney and Anne Junor (University of New South Wales, Australia) published in JIR: The Journal of Industrial Relations Volume 56 Nuber 4 (September 2014)
Abstract
Occupationally-differentiated patterns of paid work arrangements help shape the extent to which mothers of children under the age of 16 have access to both career and caring security (stable paid jobs with career prospects that also guarantee the ongoing capacity to provide and arrange high-quality care for children). Five sets of conditions critical to mothers’ work and caring security are:
Data for 64 occupations, taken from early waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics of Australia (HILDA) Survey, were used to identify statistical norms for key aspects of each employment condition, and also the strength of these norms – that is, how flexible they were, for better or worse. These occupational norms and strengths were assumed to reflect regulatory standards or commonly accepted organisational practices. The 64 occupations could be grouped into five shapes that were associated with different concentrations of mothers.
Occupational ‘shapes’ may thus act as barriers or enablers to mothers’ labour market transitions. They may tend to exclude mothers by denying caring security; allow employment maintenance based on a trade between caring and career security; or enable full occupational integration by providing both forms of security.
The concept of shapes aids theoretical understanding of the mechanisms of occupational segregation and labour market segmentation, and may aid the targeting of regulatory interventions to improve mothers’ access to both career and caring security.
Abstract
Occupationally-differentiated patterns of paid work arrangements help shape the extent to which mothers of children under the age of 16 have access to both career and caring security (stable paid jobs with career prospects that also guarantee the ongoing capacity to provide and arrange high-quality care for children). Five sets of conditions critical to mothers’ work and caring security are:
- contracts providing two-way mobility between full-time and part-time work;
- actual hours worked;
- work scheduling;
- work location; and
- contractual security.
Data for 64 occupations, taken from early waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics of Australia (HILDA) Survey, were used to identify statistical norms for key aspects of each employment condition, and also the strength of these norms – that is, how flexible they were, for better or worse. These occupational norms and strengths were assumed to reflect regulatory standards or commonly accepted organisational practices. The 64 occupations could be grouped into five shapes that were associated with different concentrations of mothers.
Occupational ‘shapes’ may thus act as barriers or enablers to mothers’ labour market transitions. They may tend to exclude mothers by denying caring security; allow employment maintenance based on a trade between caring and career security; or enable full occupational integration by providing both forms of security.
The concept of shapes aids theoretical understanding of the mechanisms of occupational segregation and labour market segmentation, and may aid the targeting of regulatory interventions to improve mothers’ access to both career and caring security.
Tuesday, 6 August 2013
Are communications about work outside regular working hours associated with work-to-family conflict, psychological distress and sleep problems?
an article by Scott Schieman (University of Toronto, Canada) and Marisa C. Young (McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada) published in Work & Stress: An International Journal of Work, Health & Organisations Volume 27 Issue 3 (July-September 2013)
Abstract
The sending and receiving of work-related communications outside of regular work hours spans the boundary between work and non-work, and with the adoption of new communication devices it is increasing.
The aim of this study was to investigate whether such communication, which we call Work Contact for short, was associated with psychological distress and sleep problems.
Using data from the 2011 Canadian Work, Stress, and Health Study, a large national sample of working adults (N=5729), we found that Work Contact was associated with higher levels of work-to-family conflict, distress and sleep problems. In addition, with the Job Demands-Resources model as a guiding framework, we found support for the “resource hypothesis” – the positive association between Work Contact and either distress or sleep problems is weaker among workers with more job autonomy, schedule control and challenging work.
By contrast, and consistent with the “demand hypothesis”, the positive association between Work Contact and sleep problems was stronger among those with more job pressure. Elevated levels of work-to-family conflict contributed to these interaction effects. Collectively, our findings elaborate on the complex consequences of the growing phenomenon of Work Contact, and underscore the relevance of job resources, demands and the work-family interface in these processes.
Abstract
The sending and receiving of work-related communications outside of regular work hours spans the boundary between work and non-work, and with the adoption of new communication devices it is increasing.
The aim of this study was to investigate whether such communication, which we call Work Contact for short, was associated with psychological distress and sleep problems.
Using data from the 2011 Canadian Work, Stress, and Health Study, a large national sample of working adults (N=5729), we found that Work Contact was associated with higher levels of work-to-family conflict, distress and sleep problems. In addition, with the Job Demands-Resources model as a guiding framework, we found support for the “resource hypothesis” – the positive association between Work Contact and either distress or sleep problems is weaker among workers with more job autonomy, schedule control and challenging work.
By contrast, and consistent with the “demand hypothesis”, the positive association between Work Contact and sleep problems was stronger among those with more job pressure. Elevated levels of work-to-family conflict contributed to these interaction effects. Collectively, our findings elaborate on the complex consequences of the growing phenomenon of Work Contact, and underscore the relevance of job resources, demands and the work-family interface in these processes.
Wednesday, 5 June 2013
Does Part-Time Employment Widen the Gender Wage Gap? Evidence from Twelve European Countries
a paper by Eleonora Matteazzi (University of Verona, Italy) and Ariane Pailhé and Anne Solaz (INED, Paris, France) published by ECINEQ 2013 – 293 (Society for the Study of Economic Inequality) in March 2013
Abstract
One of five workers work part-time in Europe, mainly women.
This article examines the extent to which the over-representation of women in part-time employment explains the gender hourly earnings gap in twelve European countries.
Using the EU-SILC 2009 data, a double decomposition of the gender wage gap is implemented: between men and women employed full-time and between full-time and part-time working women.
The high prevalence of part-time employment plays only a minor role. The nature of part-time employment and labor market segregation are much more important factors. A large share of the gender wage gap still remains unexplained, however.
JEL Classification Codes: C31, C49, J21, J22, J24, J31, J71
Full text (PDF 49pp)
One of five workers work part-time in Europe, mainly women.
This article examines the extent to which the over-representation of women in part-time employment explains the gender hourly earnings gap in twelve European countries.
Using the EU-SILC 2009 data, a double decomposition of the gender wage gap is implemented: between men and women employed full-time and between full-time and part-time working women.
The high prevalence of part-time employment plays only a minor role. The nature of part-time employment and labor market segregation are much more important factors. A large share of the gender wage gap still remains unexplained, however.
JEL Classification Codes: C31, C49, J21, J22, J24, J31, J71
Full text (PDF 49pp)
Thursday, 26 July 2012
Going thin on top: work intensification and the neglect of personal support of senior managers
an article by David Meacheam (University of New South Wales at The Australian Defence Force Academy, Australia) published in International Journal of Work Innovation Volume 1 Number 1 (2012)
Abstract
As organisations from the early 1990s flattened, senior managers have to a large degree been asked to cope with much less by way of personal support for the execution of their duties. Personal assistants are increasingly rare, senior managers are commonly expected to perform quite menial tasks (typing and filing) that have little overall impact on their work effectiveness, and the private lives of these senior managers becomes impoverished as a result.
A series of organisational failures arising from this refusal by many organisations (government, private sector and church-based) are critically assessed. The moral implications of the failure by many organisations to support senior managers are examined, and an effort is made to generate a debate in support of this often well paid, but poorly supported part of the modern workforce.
Full text (PDF 6pp)
Abstract
As organisations from the early 1990s flattened, senior managers have to a large degree been asked to cope with much less by way of personal support for the execution of their duties. Personal assistants are increasingly rare, senior managers are commonly expected to perform quite menial tasks (typing and filing) that have little overall impact on their work effectiveness, and the private lives of these senior managers becomes impoverished as a result.
A series of organisational failures arising from this refusal by many organisations (government, private sector and church-based) are critically assessed. The moral implications of the failure by many organisations to support senior managers are examined, and an effort is made to generate a debate in support of this often well paid, but poorly supported part of the modern workforce.
Full text (PDF 6pp)
Thursday, 10 May 2012
Analyzing female labor supply — Evidence from a Dutch tax reform
an article by Nicole Bosch (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, The Hague) and Bas van der Klaauwb (VU University Amsterdam, Tinbergen Institute and CEPR, Department of Economics, VU University Amsterdam) published in Labour Economics Volume 19 Issue 3 (June 2012)
Abstract
Among OECD countries, the Netherlands has an average female labour force participation, but by far the highest rate of part-time work. This paper investigates the extent to which married women respond to financial incentives.
We exploit exogenous variation caused by a substantial Dutch tax reform in 2001.
Our main conclusion is that the positive significant effect of the tax reform on labour force participation dominates the negative insignificant effect on working hours. The latter contradicts the common empirical finding of positive wage elasticities.
Our preferred explanation is that women respond more to changes in tax allowances than to changes in marginal tax rates.
JEL classification
H24; J22; J38
Abstract
Among OECD countries, the Netherlands has an average female labour force participation, but by far the highest rate of part-time work. This paper investigates the extent to which married women respond to financial incentives.
We exploit exogenous variation caused by a substantial Dutch tax reform in 2001.
Our main conclusion is that the positive significant effect of the tax reform on labour force participation dominates the negative insignificant effect on working hours. The latter contradicts the common empirical finding of positive wage elasticities.
Our preferred explanation is that women respond more to changes in tax allowances than to changes in marginal tax rates.
JEL classification
H24; J22; J38
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