Addressing the detrimental impacts of COVID-19 on women in the workforce: Where do we go from here?

This paper analyzes national and global statistical data and reports to investigate the status of women in the workforce subsequent to the 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, identify issues, and propose a path forward. The disproportionate adverse effects of the pandemic included higher unemployment rates among women and greater job losses within female dominated industries and women owned businesses as compared with men, and health challenges heightened by pandemic-related stresses. Further, the responsibility for compensating for the sudden removal of accessible childcare services which followed school and daycare disruptions and closings nationwide, overwhelmingly fell to women—whether they were single or married. Some analysts report that the pandemic served to reassert the unequal division of labor in the household between men and women. Researchers have posited that the pandemic’s impact will retard women’s progress in the workforce for decades if not generations. Strategies for counteracting these effects must entail targeted measures focused on promoting women’s re-entry in the workforce including: the normalization of flexible work schedules to foster a more balanced home and work-life for women, increased family leave for mothers and fathers, more quality and affordable childcare as well as more onsite childcare facilities to meet employees’ needs.

COVID-19 PANDEMIC: HOW STRESSED THE STUDENTS AND FACULTY ARE?

Objective: To assess the perceived stress levels amongst faculty and students of medicine, dentistry and allied health sciences during COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This multi-institutional descriptive study was conducted from April to June 2020. All the students and faculty from three institutes namely University College of Medicine, University College of Dentistry and Institute of Allied Health Sciences were invited to participate. Data were collected using a pre-validated Perceived Stress Scale (PSS -10). Descriptive and inferential statistics were calculated using SPSS v.21. Results: 1199 responses were obtained. Students from University College of Medicine reported higher score on the perceived stress scale (23.02+11.85) than those from University College of Dentistry (21.87+10.86) and Institute of Allied Health Sciences (21.95+11.32). The students and the faculty experienced stress ‘sometimes to fairly often’ during this pandemic. Females experienced more stress than males and there were no significant differences among students and faculty of various age groups. Conclusion: During COVID-19 pandemic, the students and the faculty from medicine, dentistry and allied health sciences institutes are moderately stressed. The medical students are more affected than the allied health students and the faculty in general. Institutions should promote resilience and mental well-being and provide for flexible work schedules.

PEMODELAN TEMPAT PEMBERIAN ASI EKSLUSIF DI LINGKUNGAN PEKERJAAN

The low coverage of breastfeeding is a threat to the growth and development of children. Some of the things that hinder exclusive breastfeeding include the low level of knowledge of mothers and families about the benefits of breastfeeding, and how to breastfeed properly. In addition, the lack of lactation counseling services and support from health workers, socio-cultural factors, the incessant marketing of formula milk, and factors of working mothers. Some things that can facilitate breastfeeding for working mothers are support from the office environment, support from superiors, coworkers, flexible work schedules, rest periods, positive work colleagues 'attitudes towards breastfeeding, working mothers' attitudes. While some things that can hinder breastfeeding are psychological stress caused by tight work time and discomfort at the time of breastfeeding. Lack of time and location of breastfeeding rooms is also recognized as one of the obstacles in breastfeeding during working hours. The counseling and assistance activities of exclusive breastfeeding are a real form of triad prevention that must be carried out by health workers, especially nurses at the community Health centers. Expressing milk is one of the solutions to keep breastfeeding at work. 5 facilities that can be provided by the workplace to keep breastfeeding, namely: a breast milk pump, a room for milking or a room for breastfeeding, rest periods for milking or for breastfeeding, there is a refrigerator for storing milk and there is support from the workplace. Mothers are committed to giving exclusive breastfeeding to their children, and for workplace institutions to provide opportunities for mothers who have children aged 0-6 months, continue to give their milk by relaxing time for the management of dairy milk.

An examination of the relationship between flexible work arrangements, work-family conflict, organizational commitment, and job performance

Summary Many employees are often faced with an inter-role conflict between work and that of a family in the U.S. However, business leaders and Human Resource Management (HRM) may not recognize the problem affecting white-collar employees. The purpose of this non-experimental quantitative study was to determine whether or not a relationship existed between employees’ use of flexible working arrangements as predictor variables (such as flexible work schedules and telecommuting) and work-family conflict and family-work conflict as covariate variables, and organizational outcomes (such as organizational commitment and job performance outcome variables). The self-reported survey data included 237 employees who have utilized flexible work arrangements in service organizations in the state of Texas. The inconclusive ANCOVA parametric data assumption resulted in further employ Kruskal-Wallis statistical analysis with less restrictive normality assumption The ANCOVA and Kruskal-Wallis analyses tests revealed a statistically significant result for employees’ use of flexible work options (a combination of flexible work schedules and telecommuting) to alleviate family-work conflict. The use of a single option (flexible work schedules or telecommuting) was statistically insignificant to employees. Despite the rigorous study, limitations are inevitable particularly for self-reported data and non-experimental study. The difficulty to determine the participants’ honesty unintentional misrepresentations reflected in the validity of the study (Hunter, 2012; Matsui et al., 2005). Nevertheless, the study provided insight information to organizational management not to overlook the use of flexible work arrangement practices to mitigate employees’ family-work conflict (Gözükara & Çolakoğlu, 2015) to achieve organizational outcomes. Future researchers should replicate this study to include flexible work arrangement users vs. non-flexible work arrangement employees in other states, regions, and industries.

Sleep time, social jetlag and intelligence: biology or work timing?

Sleep-wake patterns show substantial biological determination, but they are also subject to individual choice and societal pressure. Some evidence suggests that high IQ is associated with later sleep patterns. However, t is therefore unclear whether the relationship between IQ and later sleep is due to biological or social effects, such as timing and flexibility of working hours. We investigated the association between habitual sleep timing during work days and work-free days, working time and intelligence in a sample of 1,172 adults. We found no difference in chronotype, and the later sleep timing of high-IQ individuals on work days was fully accounted for by later work start times.Our results indicate that later sleep timing in those with higher IQs is not due to physiological differences, but rather due to later or more flexible work schedules. Later working times and the resulting lower social jetlag may be one of the reasons why higher IQ is associated with lower prospective morbidity and mortality.Statement of significanceSome evidence shows that higher intelligence is associated with sleep characteristics, but it is unclear if this is because of biological or social mechanisms. We provide evidence for a social mechanism. We found that high IQ individuals indeed sleep later, but only on working days, and this difference is fully accounted for by later work timing. Our evidence is consistent with a view that highly intelligent individuals sleep later because they can afford to, consequently experience lower social jetlag, and this may partially account for better health outcomes.

One-Dimensional Creativity: A Marcusean Critique of Work and Play in the Video Game Industry

Creativity is at the heart of the video game industry. Industry professionals, especially those producing blockbuster games for the triple-A market, speak fondly of their creative labour practices, flexible work schedules, and playful workplaces. However, a cursory glance at major triple-A franchises reveals the persistence of sequel game production and a homogeneity in genres and narratives. Herbert Marcuse’s critique of one-dimensionality may help to account for this discrepancy between the workers’ creative aspirations and the dominant homogeneity in game aesthetics. What I call ‘one-dimensional creativity’ defines the essence of triple-A game production. In the name of extolling the pleasure principle at work, one-dimensional creativity eliminates the reality principle, but only superficially. One-dimensional creativity gives game developers the opportunity to express themselves, but it is still framed by a particular technological rationality that prioritises profits over experimental art. One-dimensional creativity negates potential forms of creativity that might emerge outside the industry’s hit-driven logics. Conceptually, ‘one-dimensional creativity’ renders visible the instrumentalisation of play and the conservative design principles of triple-A game production – a production that is heavily structured with technological performance, better graphics, interactivity, and speed. Multi-dimensional video game production and aesthetics, the opposite of one-dimensional creativity, is emerging from the DIY game production scene, which is more invested in game narratives and aesthetics outside the dominant logics of one-dimensionality in triple-A game production.

Compressed lives: how “flexible” are employer-imposed compressed work schedules?

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine employee satisfaction with an employer-imposed compressed workweek (CWW) schedule within a US municipality (City). Design/methodology/approach The study utilizes an employee survey (n=779) to test factors related to employee satisfaction with the CWW, a four-day, ten-hours/day workweek (4/10 schedule). Findings Employee satisfaction with the schedule is influenced by previous 4/10 pilot experience, work schedule preference, and happiness with the 4/10 schedule’s implementation. Additionally, sick leave figures and survey results regarding informal substitute work schedules suggest that worker fatigue may limit the overall organizational value of the 4/10 schedule. Research limitations/implications The study is opportunistic in nature and therefore constrained by the City’s HR Department concerns for survey length and respondent anonymity. This meant an inability to collect demographic data or to utilize validated scales. Practical implications Analysis suggests that the potential work-life benefits of flexible work schedules may not apply equally to employer-imposed vs employee-chosen compressed work schedules. Further, CWWs engender greater fatigue despite employee satisfaction, an issue managers should consider when weighing schedule costs and benefits. Originality/value The study highlights the importance of employee choice in conceptualizing flexibility and for capturing CWW benefits, namely: an initiative’s voluntary or involuntary nature should be considered when determining whether it is likely to be beneficial for employees.