Department of Social work, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Department of Sociology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Work. 2022;73(3):843-856. doi: 10.3233/WOR-210668.
The potential of flexible scheduling to alleviate work-family tensions and replace female part-time work has not been thoroughly explored. Specifically, research has not acknowledged that employees' schedule control may be conditioned by organizational demands for availability and commitment.
We examine the links between flexibility and gendered patterns of work-family reconciliation by considering how work arrangements balance employer demands and employee control and how they relate to work-family tensions.
Using mixed-methods, we combine a survey of Swedish parents (n = 2320) with interviews of survey respondents (n = 40). First, we identify clusters of flexible work arrangements and explore differences between mothers and fathers. Second, we analyze the relationship between flexible work arrangements and work-family tensions. Finally, the qualitative data are used to explore how flexibility/lack of flexibility enter into parents' work-family tensions and negotiations.
Three types of flexible work arrangements are found. Boundaryless jobs, which combine high levels of control with high requirements for organizational flexibility, are more common among fathers and highly educated. Confined jobs have low levels of both employee- and employer-oriented flexibility, but high demands, and are common among mothers and in female-dominated workplaces. Despite higher levels of control, boundaryless jobs are not associated with less work-family conflict. In malleable jobs, control is relatively high and demands low and work-family tensions are less noticeable.
Employer- and employee-oriented flexibility go hand in hand, but work arrangements differ radically between groups. High flexibility does not alleviate work-family tensions, and part-time work remains an important work-family strategy for mothers.
灵活的工作安排在缓解工作与家庭之间的紧张关系以及替代女性兼职工作方面的潜力尚未得到充分探索。具体而言，研究尚未认识到员工的日程安排控制可能受到组织对可用性和承诺的需求的制约。
通过考虑工作安排如何平衡雇主的需求和员工的控制，以及它们如何与工作与家庭之间的紧张关系相关联，我们研究了灵活性与性别工作与家庭协调模式之间的联系。
我们使用混合方法，将瑞典父母（n=2320）的调查与调查受访者（n=40）的访谈相结合。首先，我们确定了灵活的工作安排集群，并探讨了母亲和父亲之间的差异。其次，我们分析了灵活的工作安排与工作与家庭之间的紧张关系之间的关系。最后，利用定性数据来探讨灵活性/缺乏灵活性如何进入父母的工作与家庭的紧张关系和谈判。
发现了三种类型的灵活工作安排。具有高控制水平和对组织灵活性要求高的无边界工作在父亲和高学历者中更为常见。受限工作的员工和雇主导向的灵活性都较低，但要求较高，在母亲和女性主导的工作场所中很常见。尽管控制水平较高，但无边界工作与工作与家庭冲突无关。在可塑的工作中，控制相对较高，需求较低，工作与家庭之间的紧张关系不太明显。
雇主和员工导向的灵活性相辅相成，但工作安排在群体之间存在巨大差异。高灵活性并不能缓解工作与家庭之间的紧张关系，兼职工作仍然是母亲的重要工作与家庭策略。
