Flexible Work Arrangements: Additional Resources
Books
Autry, James. Life & Work-A Manager's Search For Meaning. New York, NY: Avon Books. 1994.
Burrus, D. & A. Freedman, Work/Family Directions. Achieving Balance: How to Handle the Stress of Work & Family Life. Boston, Work/Family Directions. 1990.
Bailyn, Lotte. Breaking The Mold: Women, Men, and Time in the New Corporate World. New York: The Free Press, 1993.
Coontz, S. The Way We Really Are-Coming To Terms With America's Changing Families. New York: Basic Books, 1997.
Crofut, Pati & Knapp, Joanna. Working Parents, Happy Kids: Strategies for Staying Connected. Anchorage, AK: Turnagain Press. 1999.
Crosby, Faye J. Juggling-The Unexpected Advantages of Balancing Career and Home for Women and Their Families. New York, NY: The Free Press. 1993.
Friedman, Stewart, and Greenhaus, Jeffery. Work and Family - Allies or Enemies? Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. 2000
Galinsky, Ellen. Ask The Children: What America's Children Really Think About Working Parents. New York, NY: William Morrow and Company. 1999.
Garey, A. Weaving Work and Motherhood. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. 1999.
Googins, B. K. Work/Family: Private Lines-Public Responses.
Westport, CT.: Auburn House, 1991.
Grollman, Earl & Sweder,Gerri. The Working Parent Dilemma: How to Balance the Responsibilities of Children and Careers. Boston, MA:Beacon Press, 1986.
Hochschild, Arlie. The Time Bind: When Work Becomes Home & Home Becomes Work. New York: Metropolitan Books, 1997.
Jackson, Maggie. Whats Happening to Home: Balancing Work, Life, and Refuge in the Information Age. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press 1988
Jones, E. Growing Teachers: Partnerships in Staff Development. Washington, DC: NAEYC, 1993.
Moen, Phyllis. Women's Two Roles: A Contemporary Dilemma.
Westport, CT: Auburn House, 1992.
Nippert-Eng, C. Home and Work: Negotiating Boundaries Through Everyday Life. University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 1996.
Orenstein, P. Flux: Women on Sex, Work, Kids, Love, and Life in a Half-changed World. New York, NY: Doubleday, 2000.
Perlow, Leslie A. Finding Time: How Corporations, Individuals and families Benefit from New Work Practices. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University. 1997.
Rayman, P. Beyond The Bottom Line. Palgrave. New York, NY. 2001.
Shellenbarger, S. Work & Family. New York, NY: Ballantine Books. 1999.
St. James, Elaine. Simplify your Life With Kids. Kansas City, Mo.: Andrew McMeel Publishing. 1997.
Tubesing, Donald A. and Nancy. Loving Seeking your Healthy balance: Do it Yourself Guide to Whole Person Well-being. Duluth, Mn.: Whole Person Press. 1991.
Williams, J. Unbending Gender: Why Family And Work Conflict.
New York, NY: Oxford University Press 2000.
Zappert, L. Getting it Right: How Working Mothers Successfully Take Up the Challenge of Life, Family, and Career. New York, NY: Pocket Books. 2001.
Flexible Schedules/Part Time Schedules
Adams, Susan M. Part-time work: Models that work. Women in Management Review, Vol. 10 (7), (1995): 21-31.
Baker, Kim and Sunny. Office on the Go. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. 1993.
Boden, Richard J. Flexible working hours, family responsibilities, and female Self-employment: Gender differences in self-employment selection. American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Vol. 58 (1), (1999): 71-83.
Catalyst. A New Approach to Flexibility: Managing the Work/Time Equation. (1998). New York, NY.
Catalyst. Flexible Work Arrangements: Establishing Options for Managers and Professionals. (1996). New York, NY.
Catalyst. Flexible Work Arrangements II: Succeeding with Part-Time Options. (1993). New York, NY.
Capowski, Genevieve. The Joy of Flex. Management Review, Vol. 85 (3), (1996): 12-18.
Duxbury, Linda E.; Higgins, Christopher A.; & Thomas, D. Roland. Work and family environments and the adoption of computer-supported supplemental work-at-home. Journal of Vocational Behavior, Vol. 49 (1996): 1-23.
Kropf, Marcia B. Flexible work options: From policy to practice. Human Resource Magazine, Vol.41 (4) (1996): 88-92.
Rose, Karol. Work/Life flexibility: A key to maximizing productivity. Compensation and Benefits Management, Vol. 14 (4) (1998): 27-32.
Shaw, Lisa. Telecommute! - Go To Work without Leaving Home. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1996.
Dual Career
Catalyst. Two Careers, One Marriage: Making it Work in the Workplace. New York, NY. 1998.
Elloy, David F. & Flynn, W. Randolph. Job Involvement and organization commitment among dual-income and single-income families: A Multiple-site study. The Journal of Social Psychology. (1998) P.93-101.
Friedman, Stewart D. and Greenhaus, Jeffery H. Work and Family Allies or Enemies: What Happens when Business Professionals Confront Life Choices. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 2001.
Holahan, Carole K. & Gilbert, Lucia A. Conflict between major life roles: Women and men in dual career couples. Human Relations. (1979). P 451-467
Orenstein, Peggy. Flux: Women on sex, work, love, kids, and life in a half changed world. Random House 2000
Raymon, Paula M. Beyond the Bottom Line. New York, NY: Palgrave. 2001.
Roehling, Patricia V. & Moen, Phyllis. Cornell Couples and Careers Study Progress Report 1999. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University. 1999.
http://www.lifecourse.cornell.edu/cci/current.html
Waite, Linda J. & Nielsen, Mark. The Rise of the Dual-Career Family: 1963-1997. (1999). Sloan Working Families Center. Chicago Ill.: University of Chicago. 1998.
Research and Policy Statistics
Abresch, Bill and Frey, William H., and Yeasting, Jonathan. America By the Numbers: A field guide to the US Population. New York, NY: The New Press. 2001.
Burggraf, Shirly P. The Feminine Economy and the Economic Man. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. 1997.
Celente, Gerald. Trends 2000: How to prepare for and profit from the changes of the 21st century. New York, NY: Time -Warner. 1997.
Gopnik, Alison, Meltzoff, Andrew, & Kuhl, Patricia. The Scientist In The Crib. What Early Learning Tells Us About the Mind. Harper Collins, New York, NY. 2001.
Judy, R.W.; D'Amico, C. Workforce 2002: Work and Workers in the 21st Century. Indianapolis, In: Hudson Institute. 1997.
Parcel Toby L.; Cornfield, Daniel B., editors. Work and Family: Research Informing Policy. Thousand Oaks, CA and London: Sage Publications. 2000.
Roehling, Patricia V. & Moen, Phyllis. Cornell Couples and Careers Study Progress Report 1999. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University. 1999.
http://www.lifecourse.cornell.edu/cci/current.html
Schor, Juliet B. The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure. New York, NY: Basic Books. 1992.
Williams, Joan. Unbending Gender: Why Family and Work Conflict and What to Do about It. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. 2000.
Wisensale, Steven. Family Leave Policy: The Political Economy of Work and Family in America. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. 2001.
Websites
http://www.bc.edu/cwf
The Boston College Center for Work and Family. The Center for Work and Family is a research organization dedicated to increasing the quality of life for working families by promoting responsive workplaces and communities. This website provides information on research projects in the area of work and family, with links to other websites and resources.
http://www.catalystwomen.org/
Catalyst is the nonprofit research and advisory organization working to advance women in business and the professions. The leading source of information on women in business for the past four decades, Catalyst has the knowledge and tools that help companies and women maximize their potential.
http://www.catalystwomen.org/press_room/press_releases/flex_work_three.htm
Catalyst for Women
Interesting studies done by Catalyst, a New-York-based research and advocacy firm for women in the workforce
http://www.cuwfa.org
The College and University Work/Family Association (CUWFA) provides leadership in facilitating the integration of work and study with family/personal life at institutions of higher learning. CUWFA provides a clearinghouse of information and supports and advocates for the development of work/life programs, policies and research in higher education.
http://www.familiesandworkinst.org/
Families and Work Institute is a non-profit organization that addresses the changing nature of work and family life. They are committed to finding research-based strategies that foster mutually supportive connections among workplaces, families, and communities.
http://www.gilgordon.com
This site consolidates a wide variety of information from around the world, and from many different perspectives, on the subjects of telecommuting, teleworking, the virtual office, and related topics. Also includes a comprehensive resource list of books and articles on these subjects.
http://www.gilgordon.com/telecommuting
Telecommuting Tools--by Gil Gordon, the leading authority on telecommuting
http://library.ahima.org/xpedio/groups/public/documents/ahima/bok1_013767.html
AHIMA (American Health Information Management Association)
Great website with sample agreements and practical information.
http://www.nationalpartnership.org
The National Partnership for Women & Families is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that uses public education and advocacy to promote fairness in the workplace, quality health care, and policies that help women and men meet the dual demands of work and family.
http://www.workfamily.com/
A clearinghouse of information on work-life issues. Visitors will find information about Work and Family Connection’s research and consulting services, profiles of family-friendly companies, and Work and Family Newsbrief, the nation’s only complete monthly digest of current work-life news.
Research Articles on Flex Work Arrangements
- Part-time Work Arrangements Have A Considerable Impact on Today’s Workplaces
- Ten Years Later Pioneers Of Flexible Work Schedules Satisfied With Career Outcome
- Catalyst Study Finds Dual-Career Couples Want Freedom and Control
Would Leave Their Companies If They Don't Get It - Flexible schedules and shift work: replacing the '9-to-5' workday?
Part-time Work Arrangements Have A Considerable Impact on Today’s Workplaces
Catalyst Study Provides New Model for Success
NEW YORK, November 19, 1997 - The wide-ranging effects of flexibility in the workplace have been revealed in a new report released by Catalyst today. Six in ten employees have direct exposure to part-time work arrangements, according to A New Approach to Flexibility: Managing the Work/Time Equation. This first examination of the effects of part-time work on the organization, managers, colleagues, and users also finds that 36 percent of women managers and 11 percent of men managers will have worked part-time at some point in their careers.
The Catalyst report focused on voluntary part?time professionals (85 percent in middle management or above) at four representative organizations: a Fortune 100 pharmaceutical company, a Fortune 100 technology company, a leading law firm, and a leading consulting firm. Catalyst surveyed over 2,000 people and found that 82 percent of those working part-time were women, of whom 89 percent have children. Only one-third of all the women in the study indicated that they would never work part-time. Part-time is defined as a reduced work schedule structured on a daily, weekly, monthly, or annual basis.
"Part-time arrangements have a considerable impact on today's workplace, with 11 percent of the women participants in our study and four percent of men currently working part-time," said Catalyst President Sheila Wellington. "Considering that women make up nearly 47 percent of the workforce and are increasingly valued as managers, it becomes a business issue for organizations to make flexible arrangements available and ensure their viability, especially given that our study demonstrates that the ripple effect of part-time affects a majority of the workforce."
Catalyst found that the success or failure of part-time work depends upon the skills of the individual, the manager, and colleagues, as well as the organization's structures and systems. Marcia Brumpt Kropf, Catalyst vice president, points out that "People are not aware of the part-time arrangements at their organizations. Even though more than 60 percent of organizations have such policies, people don't widely use them because there's a general sense that they don't work." Among the main barriers to success uncovered by the study are organizational practices like measuring performance by face-time, and the resistance of middle managers, who may bear extra burdens because of unclear policies and practices.
The productivity of part-time employees does not falter, according to the study. Over half of part-time people reported gains in their productivity, and supervisors and colleagues agreed, as did clients interviewed by Catalyst. More than half of those who went part-time indicated that their workloads did not decrease, and ten percent said they had more work. Nearly a third of those using part-time expected to be promoted.
Catalyst is the national nonprofit research and advisory organization with a dual mission: to enable women in business and the professions to achieve their maximum potential and to help employers capitalize on the talents of their female employees. Catalyst is supported by leading corporations, professional firms, and private foundations. A New Approach to Flexibility: Managing the Work/Time Equation was funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Ten Years Later Pioneers Of Flexible Work Schedules Satisfied With Career Outcome
Career advancement not out of the grasp for part-timers
NEW YORK, JULY 18, 2000—Being both a career woman on a modified/flexible schedule and a mother isn’t about having it all—it’s about "having the best of it all," according to participants in Flexible Work Arrangements III, a Catalyst study which tracks 24 women who first used flexible work arrangements more than a decade ago. All of the women now hold mid- and senior-level positions and more than half have earned promotions during the past decade. Most of these women credit the availability of part-time work schedules during critical child-rearing years as the key to maintaining career momentum.
"Findings from this report suggests that even though working mothers may reduce career involvement for a period of time—with the support of the right company—career advancement does not have to get sidelined," said Marcia Brumit Kropf, vice president of Research and Information Services. While half continue to work part time schedules, half have returned to full-time work schedules. Most of the women in this study still work for the same company where they initiated flexible work arrangements a decade ago; they average 18 years in their organizations. All of the women hold mid- and senior-level positions with titles such as Vice President, Partner, and Chief Intellectual Property Counsel.
Most of these women report being satisfied with the career tradeoffs they made in order to gain better work/life balance. In fact, 20 out of 24 say they are satisfied with their non-work lives. Nearly all of the women, part-time professionals and full-timers alike, are satisfied with their current work schedules.
By the end of the 1990s, formal and informal flexibility staked its claim on the American workplace. Most of the women (38 to 52 years old) in this study are married with two to three children, with more than half having toddlers. The birth of their first child was the driving force behind seeking part-time work schedules for most of the women.
Catalyst has found in much of its research that without the ability to set their own pace and create their own career paths, companies are at risk of losing employees that want to keep. In a 1998 Catalyst study (Women Entrepreneurs), 51% of women said a desire for flexibility was the top reason they had left their employers. In another study that same year (Two Careers, One Marriage), 83% of men and 83% of women report they have taken advantage of flexible work arrangements offered by employers. With men no longer at the margins of parenting, work/life balance is increasingly being seen as a "employee issue" and not just a "women’s issue."
"By providing continuity in their career path during the critical child-rearing years, a flexible work schedule is a key factor in helping women achieve their life goals: a challenging career, parenthood and community involvement," said Sheila Wellington, president of Catalyst. "If business holds on to talented women when they want flexibility, they can retain valued employees."
Catalyst recommends that companies implement formal policies and guidelines for flexible work arrangements. The commitment and involvement of top management is critical in creating a new culture in which reorganizing work and addressing the work/life balance needs of employees will be successful. As well, by planning for and managing maternity, providing flexibility and making high-quality, affordable child care available, companies can retain top talent, both men and women.
Catalyst is the nonprofit research and advisory organization working to advance women in business. Its dual mission is to enable professional women to achieve their maximum potential and to help employers capitalize fully on the talents of their female employees. For more information about Catalyst, visit our Web site at www.catalystwomen.org or call 212-514-7600.
Catalyst Study Finds Dual-Career Couples Want Freedom and Control
Would Leave Their Companies If They Don't Get It
NEW YORK, January 20, 1998—A two-career marriage offers couples the benefits of economic independence and career control, according to a Catalyst study released today at a press breakfast in New York City. More than two-thirds (67 percent) of the 802 male and female survey respondents agreed that having a working spouse gave them the freedom to leave their jobs if they weren’t satisfied. And men (56 percent) were almost as likely as women (65 percent) to say that having a working spouse had a positive impact on their careers. Further, most survey respondents were satisfied (women 58%; men 73%) with their ability to balance work and home responsibilities.
Representing 45 percent of the labor force, dual-career couples comprised 60 percent of all marriages in 1996. While 85 percent of respondents cited more income as a benefit of the dual-career marriage, the fact that couples valued highly the option to take career risks—change jobs, start a business, switch to a new industry—was another revealing finding of Two Careers, One Marriage, the Catalyst study. "A significant portion of the U.S. labor force finds economic independence, security, and satisfaction in the family’s second income," states Sheila Wellington, Catalyst president. "More than two-thirds of both wives and husbands reported that they would continue to work with or without the financial need to do so."
The study found little disagreement between genders on most issues. Both women and men want control over their advancement path: almost two-thirds of men and three-quarters of women want the option to customize the pace of their career advancement without harming their chances for eventual success. The most important elements of a customized career path are:
- ability to turn down advancement and be offered it in the future
- ability to move laterally for development
- ability to stay in position for longer period of time
- ability to turn down relocation and be asked in future
- ability to specialize in area of organization
Catalyst also found little difference in what men and women say they need from the workplace to balance work and family: informal flexibility when family needs necessitate—freedom to arrive late, leave early, or work from home—is the option of choice. Also highly desired were cafeteria-style benefits and family leave.
Men are somewhat more likely than women (58 percent vs. 49 percent) to classify the two careers as equal. One major gender difference did emerge: men are much more likely to say their own careers are primary (33 percent) than are women (6 percent). However, even the primary-career spouses say they make accommodations for the others’ careers: being available for emergency home/childcare during work (36 percent) or turning down relocation (13 percent).
Catalyst, the nonprofit research organization that works with business to advance women, pioneered the study of dual-career couples in 1981 with Corporations and Two-Career Families: Directions for the Future. The Catalyst study released today is based on the responses of close to one thousand dual-career earners. For this study, Catalyst conducted in-depth interviews with both members of 25 dual-career couples, comprising a roughly representative distribution in terms of age, geographic location, and presence of children. Yankelovich Partners, Inc. conducted 20-minute telephone surveys of 802 randomly selected members of dual-career marriages.
Philip Morris Companies Inc., the world’s largest producer and marketer of consumer packaged goods, sponsored Two Careers, One Marriage: Making It Work In The Workplace.
Flexible schedules and shift work: replacing the '9-to-5' workday?
By Thomas M. Beers
Traditionally, much of the American labor force has worked in a structured environment, with the work schedule following a set pattern—what many people have termed the "9-to-5" workday. Recent studies show that employers are beginning to recognize that many workers prefer schedules that allow greater flexibility in choosing the times they begin and end their workday. Consequently, increasing numbers and proportions of full-time workers in the United States are able to opt for flexible work hours, allowing workers to vary the actual times they arrive and leave the work place. For some workers, however, the nature of their jobs requires that they work a schedule other than a regular day shift, what may be termed an "alternative shift."1 Examples of such alternative shift workers are police officers, emergency room physicians, and assembly-line workers at a factory.
In contrast to the increasing proportion of workers with flexible work schedules, the incidence of shift work has not changed since the mid-1980s. If not for the sizable job gains in service occupations, the overall proportion of workers on shift work would have edged down in recent years.
Recent data on flexible work hours and shift work are from information collected in the May 1997 supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS).2 This article uses that supplement to examine both the incidence and trends in flexible work hours and alternative shift work and, also, the relationship between the jobs in which people work and the prevalence of these digressions from the more traditional "9-to-5" workday.
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Footnotes
1 Throughout this article the two terms "alternative shift" and "shift work" refer to all work schedules that do not conform to the regular daytime schedule, for which work hours typically fall between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.
2 The source of the data used in this article is the May 1997 supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS is a monthly survey of about 50,000 households, conducted by the Bureau of the Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The employment estimates for the period under study have been affected by a number of factors. Official data for 1990 and later years incorporate 1990 census-based population controls, adjusted for the estimated undercount, whereas prior data are based on 1980 census-based population controls, for which no such adjustment has been made.
In addition, data for January 1994 and forward are not strictly comparable with data for earlier years because of the introduction of a major redesign of the CPS questionnaire and collection methodology. For additional information on the redesign, see "Revisions in the Current Population Survey Effective January 1994," in the February 1994 issue of the BLS periodical Employment and Earnings.
Permission has been granted from Catalyst for distribution of these articles. They can be found at www.catalystwomen.org/press_room/releases.htm
Disclaimer: The Work/Life Resource Center does not endorse or represent any resources listed within this website as recommended by the University.