scholarly journals Women’s employment patterns after childbirth and the perceived access to and use of flexitime and teleworking

2017 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heejung Chung ◽  
Mariska van der Horst
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Flexible Working ◽  
Large Household ◽  
Family Demands ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Right

This article sets out to investigate how flexitime and teleworking can help women maintain their careers after childbirth. Despite the increased number of women in the labour market in the UK, many significantly reduce their working hours or leave the labour market altogether after childbirth. Based on border and boundary management theories, we expect flexitime and teleworking can help mothers stay employed and maintain their working hours. We explore the UK case, where the right to request flexible working has been expanded quickly as a way to address work–life balance issues. The dataset used is Understanding Society (2009–2014), a large household panel survey with data on flexible work. We find some suggestive evidence that flexible working can help women stay in employment after the birth of their first child. More evidence is found that mothers using flexitime and with access to teleworking are less likely to reduce their working hours after childbirth. This contributes to our understanding of flexible working not only as a tool for work–life balance, but also as a tool to enhance and maintain individuals’ work capacities in periods of increased family demands. This has major implications for supporting mothers’ careers and enhancing gender equality in the labour market.

5. The work–life balance legislation

2019 ◽  
pp. 366-429
Author(s):  
Ian Smith ◽  
Aaron Baker ◽  
Owen Warnock
Keyword(s):  
Parental Leave ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Flexible Working ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Right ◽  
Rest Breaks ◽  
Balance Problems

This chapter addresses a number of legislative regimes creating rights that affect the balance between work and life outside of work. Specifically, the discussion focuses on the controls over working hours and rest breaks and the right to paid annual leave in the Working Time Regulations; the law on maternity, adoption, paternity, shared parental and other parental leave; and the right to request flexible working arrangements. Although not all of these rights can claim work–life balance as their original policy driver, they have come to be seen as representing a loosely coherent programme for ensuring that the process of earning a living does not preclude any worker from enjoying other aspects of life, especially family life. The chapter considers, singly, each of these work–life rights, and the policies and legislation behind them and assesses whether the law delivers effective and useful rights. Gender inequality forms a central theme of the chapter, noting that many work–life balance problems flow from unequal gender norms in the home.

scholarly journals Gender, Flexibility Stigma and the Perceived Negative Consequences of Flexible Working in the UK

2018 ◽  
Vol 151 (2) ◽  
pp. 521-545 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heejung Chung
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Working Time ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Flexible Working ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Negative Perceptions ◽  
The Uk

AbstractThis study examines the prevalence and the gender differences in the perceptions and experiences of flexibility stigma—i.e., the belief that workers who use flexible working arrangements for care purposes are less productive and less committed to the workplace. This is done by using the 4th wave of the Work-Life Balance Survey conducted in 2011 in the UK. The results show that 35% of all workers agree to the statement that those who work flexibly generate more work for others, and 32% believe that those who work flexibly have lower chances for promotion. Although at first glance, men are more likely to agree to both, once other factors are controlled for, women especially mothers are more likely to agree to the latter statement. Similarly, men are more likely to say they experienced negative outcomes due to co-workers working flexibly, while again mothers are more likely to say they experienced negative career consequences due to their own flexible working. The use of working time reducing arrangements, such as part-time, is a major reason why people experience negative career outcomes, and can partially explain why mothers are more likely to suffer from such outcomes when working flexibly. However, this relationship could be reverse, namely, the stigma towards part-time workers may be due to negative perceptions society hold towards mothers’ commitment to work and their productivity. In sum, this paper shows that flexibility stigma is gendered, in that men are more likely to discriminate against flexible workers, while women, especially mothers, are more likely to suffer from such discrimination.

scholarly journals 85 WORK-LIFE-BALANCE BENEFITS AS BRAIN DRAIN PREVENTION

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eliška Nacházelová ◽  
◽  
Alice Reissová ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Drain ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Highly Qualified ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Flexible Working Hours ◽  
Important Benefit ◽  
The Right

The contribution of highly qualified employees, not only for multinational companies, is unquestionable. Their eventual departure often has negative economic consequences, and their replacement is usually difficult and expensive. Therefore, it is important to pay increased attention to their stabilization. This article aims to find out which of the work-life balance area benefits are more important for the stabilization of IT employees in an international automotive company (n=154). With the use of the Friedman test, it was found out that the most important benefit is flexible working hours. Based on the Kruskal-Wallis test, the evaluation of the importance of individual benefits was further verified according to basic socio-economic factors (age, gender, length of employment). The right setting of benefits will give a competitive advantage in the search for new talent and at the same time serve as an effective tool against brain drain.

scholarly journals Comparative Study of Existing Employment Regulatory in Malaysia and Selected Common Law Countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Siti Hawa Mohd Kasmuri ◽  
◽  
Zulhabri Ismail ◽  
Rumaizah Mohd Nordin ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Employee Turnover ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Employee Productivity ◽  
Regulatory Requirements ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Flexible Working

There is little doubt that employment turnover has had a significant impact on employee productivity and is acknowledged to be one of the important issues, with various antecedents including minimum employment provisions. However, employee turnover can be managed through effective approaches, such as employment regulatory. This paper compares and analyses existing employment regulatory provisions in Malaysia to study the differences in terms of employment provisions and make suggestions for the future development of Malaysian employment regulatory. This study adopted a qualitative approach through content analysis of the existing employment regulatory requirements in Malaysia and selected common law countries. This paper urges that Malaysian employment requires improvement in its employment provisions. Take, for instance, the construction industry that is characterised by the practice of different working hours which affects employees’ work-life balance. Several weaknesses were identified in this study, namely flexible working arrangements, provision for leave, and other specific employment provisions which meet the industry and occupational demands. This paper recommends improvement of minimum employment regulatory that considers the work-life balance of employees. In addition, specific employment provisions that focus on the industry would benefit all beneficiaries.

scholarly journals IMPACT OF ROLE OVERLOAD AND WORKING HOURS ON WORK-LIFE BALANCE IN SERVICE INDUSTRY

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sayma Zia ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Service Industry ◽  
Graphical Representation ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Role Overload ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Correlation And Regression Analysis ◽  
Family Demands

Purpose: Main purpose of this study is to determine the hindrances found in work-life balance among genders in Service Industry. Methodology/Sampling: Data is comprised of 250 samples out of which 10 were discarded due to provided wrong information however rest of 240 were used for the analysis out of which 120 are males and the rest 120 are females. To test the reliability of constructs SPSS Software version 21.0 is used and calculated through Cronbach Alpha. Frequency test, Cross-tabulation, Graphical representation, Correlation and Regression analysis were used for data analysis. Findings: Findings shows that the organizations used in the study did not give any support to work life balance idea. These organizations promote overtime and extended working hour culture. Even male employees are unable to meet their family demands due to late sittings and found carrying stress related diseases most commonly headaches. In contrast, female employees were found in better conditions regarding fulfilling their family commitments because they are not pressurized by their employers for late sittings. Practical Implications: This study is useful for the organizations that if they implement flexible hours' policy to maintain work and family life. It will be more beneficial to the employees and employers for the better results.

9. Work–Life Balance

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Cabrelli
Keyword(s):  
Maternity Leave ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Family Responsibilities ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Flexible Working ◽  
Family Friendly ◽  
The Right ◽  
Employment Rights

This chapter analyses the statutory employment ‘family-friendly’ rights contained in the Employment Rights Act 1996 and the subordinate legislation which has a bearing on the work–life balance of employees, workers, and other individuals providing personal services. These include the protection of pregnant workers, and the statutory arrangements for maternity leave and maternity pay. It also examines family-friendly measures which seek to achieve a more equal division of family responsibilities between couples, such as the statutory rights to shared parental leave, paternity leave, adoption leave, and parental leave, as well as the right to request flexible working and right to take time off work to deal with dependants.

scholarly journals The right to request flexible working arrangements under the Work-life Balance Directive – A comparative perspective

2021 ◽  
pp. 203195252110382
Author(s):  
Lisa Waddington ◽  
Mark Bell
Keyword(s):  
Parental Leave ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Legal Provisions ◽  
Flexible Working ◽  
Time Work ◽  
The Right

The 2019 Work-life Balance Directive creates a new right for parents and carers to request flexible working arrangements for caring purposes. The significance of this innovation has been heightened by the pandemic because it includes the right to request remote working arrangements. This article undertakes a contextual and comparative analysis in order to understand better the strengths, limitations and opportunities created by the Directive. It compares the right to request flexible working arrangements to provisions found in existing Directives on parental leave and part-time work, as well as protections that may be derived from EU equality law. It looks also at examples of existing legislation in two jurisdictions, the Netherlands and Australia, in order to illustrate the options available to Member States when they implement this right within domestic law. The article concludes that the full potential of this right can only be understood when it is viewed as part of a wider range of legal provisions that assist in the reconciliation of work and family life.

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