Reducing Work-Life Conflict: What Works? What Doesn't?

3.2 Alternative Work Arrangements

According to the Financial Post,¹⁴ the dictatorship of time -- the power of the 5-day, 9-to-5 schedule that determines how people organize their lives -- is eroding. Unfortunately, our data suggest that this erosion is not occurring fast enough to satisfy many public and private sector employees who both want and need greater work-time and work-location flexibility (Higgins & Duxbury, 2002). While the current needs of our society require a diversity of work schedules, the majority of Canadians employed by the largest employers work "regular" morning to late afternoon hours. In 2001, just over half (52%) of the respondents to our survey worked a "regular" work day (i.e. little to no formal flexibility with respect to arrival and departure times; no work-location flexibility); 21% worked flextime (approximately the same percent as reported in our 1992 work-family study); 13% worked a compressed work week and 14% worked "atypical" schedules. Formal job sharing and tele-work programs were rare, with only 1.3% of the sample using job share arrangements and 1% formally tele-working. These data are very similar to those obtained by Statistics Canada in its 1995 Alternative Work Arrangement Study and lead to the same conclusion: the use of flexible work arrangements in Canadian organizations is relatively low. This lack of work flexibility causes problems for employees with conflicting family demands since:

1. excessive work hours limit time with one's family;
2. the work day either starts too early or ends too late, restricting quality time with the family;
3. and work schedules often do not mesh with child care arrangements and other family activities.

Organizations that insist on regular work schedules have the same expectations of employees, regardless of family situation, and fail to recognize the impact of the work domain on the family domain. Sensitivity to family interests by employers has lagged behind the emergence of these concerns as an issue for employees. Working mothers still bear the primary burden of balancing work and family responsibilities, and are more likely to require a flexible work arrangement. Men with young children are also bringing increased expectations for work flexibility to the workplace. There is nothing inherently magical about the traditional 5-day, 40-hour work week. A number of researchers, in fact, feel that many organizations use this schedule solely as a result of tradition. Organizations have recently become interested in alternative ways to schedule work. The literature mentions nine factors that have played an instrumental role in this development:

1. an increase in the number of women participating in the workforce;
2. interest in and adoption of new lifestyles;
3. an increase in the number of single-parent and dual-provider households;
4. new relationships between work and education;
5. the aging of the workforce;
6. the growth of the service sector;
7. the pressures of unemployment and inflation;
8. a change in the way people perceive both work and leisure time;
9. and technological conditions that have created a favourable climate for computer-based work to be done at home (Johnson et al., 1999).

Despite the fact that increasing numbers of employees want flexible work arrangements, "resistance is strong and obstacles are many. Upper management is reluctant to introduce change; unions are reluctant to negotiate some arrangements (i.e. tele-work, part-time work); supervisors find it difficult to manage workers on flexible arrangements; and employees who cannot participate are often resentful of those who can" (The Bureau of National Affairs, 1989: 24).

Why should organizations consider implementing flexible work arrangements? As noted earlier, in a "sellers" market for labour, whether or not an organization offers work-arrangement flexibility could turn out to be an important factor in its ability to recruit, retain and motivate top quality staff. Other reasons for considering such an option include the fact that research has noted that work arrangement flexibility increases an employee's ability to control, predict and absorb change in both the work and family settings. Increased perceptions of control are, in turn, associated with lower levels of stress and work-life conflict, improved employee commitment and morale, increased productivity and lower absenteeism (Duxbury et al., 1992).

3.2.1 Measurement of Alternative Work Arrangements in This Study

Three questions were used in this study to determine the type of work arrangements used by participating organizations. Respondents were asked to fill in the phrase that best described how their work was arranged. They were offered the following options:

• Regular: You work a set number of hours each week, arriving and departing at the same time each day.
• Flextime: You vary your arrival and departure times around a "core" time when you should be at work.
• Compressed Work Week (CWW): You get one working day off every week or two in return for longer hours.
• Part time: You work a reduced number of hours each week.
• Job sharing: You share the same job with another on a part-time basis.
• Work-at-home/Tele-work: You spend part of your regular work week working at home. Other: Your schedule does not conform to any of the above.

To assess the extent to which employees were allowed to work from home on an informal basis (i.e. commonly referred to as "guerrilla tele-work"), we asked employees to indicate if they spent any time working at home during regular hours. Those respondents who indicated they did were asked the average number of hours per week that they engaged in such activities. Respondents who spent at least an hour a week engaged in this form of work were considered in this analysis to perform guerrilla tele-work. Finally, we asked respondents to indicate if they worked a fixed shift, a rotating shift or no shift at all. For analysis purposes, respondents who worked either a fixed shift or a rotating shift were considered shift workers.

3.2.2 Use of Alternative Work Arrangements in Canadian Firms

Data on the use of these different work arrangements are shown in Table 1. These data are very similar to those obtained by Statistics Canada in 1995, suggesting that Canadian firms look much like they did a decade ago with respect to the use of alternative work arrangements. This is unfortunate given the changes that have been observed with respect to the Canadian workforce in this same time period. So what conclusions can be drawn from these data about the use of alternative work arrangements in Canada's larger organizations?

The use of flexible work arrangements in Canada's larger organizations is relatively low

The use of flexible work arrangements in Canada is relatively low. Just over half (59%) of the respondents work a "regular" work day; 23% work flextime (approximately the same percent as reported in the 1995 Statistics Canada study); 14% work a compressed work week and 4% work part time.¹⁵ Formal job sharing and tele-work programs are rare. Only 1.3% of the sample job share; 1% formally work from home.¹⁶

Data on the use of the various work arrangements are shown in Table 2 broken down by gender, job type and dependent care status. While the use of compressed work week arrangements is not associated with job type or gender or dependent care status, the use of all the other work arrangements can be linked to these factors.

Table 1: Use of Alternative Work Arrangements

Work Arrangement	Percent Using
Regular work day	58.9
Flextime	23.1
Compressed work week (CWW)	14.2
Part time	3.9
Formal tele-work	1.1
Shift work	23.3
Guerilla tele-work	16.1

Table 2: Impact of Gender, Job Type and Dependent Care of Use of Alternative Work Arrangements

	Male				Female
Work arrangement	M/P	O	D	No D	M/P	O	D	No D
Regular work day	54.5	64.1	59.4	58.3	52.2	62.7	60.2	58.1
Flextime	32.3	18.6	27.3	26.4	27.8	16.1	17.3	22.3
Compressed work week (CWW)	12.6	16.4	12.6	14.5	13.6	13.3	14.6	14.3
Part time	0.5	0.9	0.7	0.7	6.4	5.9	7.8	5.9
Shift work	21.8	28.6	21.8	27.4	17.7	24.9	21.8	28
Guerilla tele-work	19.9	11.2	23	13.9	22.5	9.1	19	12.7

Managers and professionals more likely to work flextime arrangements

With one exception (part-time work), the use of alternative work arrangements is not associated with gender. It does, however, vary with job type. Managers and professionals are almost twice as likely as those in "other" positions to use flextime work arrangements and perform guerrilla tele-work. Those in other positions, on the other hand, are more likely than their counterparts in managerial and professional jobs to work a fixed work schedule and perform shift work. In other words, employees in management and professional positions (regardless of gender) are more likely than those in other positions to use work arrangements that offer greater work-time and work-location flexibility.

Women are more likely than men to use part-time work arrangements

Regardless of their family situation or job type, women were significantly more likely to use part-time work arrangements than men. This gender difference is consistent with what has been reported by Statistics Canada (1995). The fact that this gender difference in use of part-time work could be observed regardless of dependent care status suggests that different groups of women have different reasons for working part time. In other words, employees should not assume that women who seek to work part time are doing so because they want to/need to spend more time on child care/ elder care.

Women with responsibilities for dependent care are less likely to work flextime

Women with child and/or elder care responsibilities are less likely than any other group to use flextime arrangements. This finding is unfortunate as it suggests that many employees who have greater need for such arrangements do not have access to them. It also suggests that organizations still persist in ignoring family circumstances when designing work schedules. In other words, the "myth of separate worlds" still appears to be the operating principle in many of Canada's largest employers.

Employees with dependent care responsibilities are more likely to perform guerrilla tele-work

Men and women with dependent care responsibilities are more likely to perform guerrilla tele-work than their counterparts without dependent care. It may be that these employees use this work arrangement to get work-related tasks done when they need to stay home to look after a sick child or an elderly parent. Such an arrangement could provide a win-win solution for both employer and employee.

Employees without dependent care responsibilities are more likely to perform shift work

Employees without dependent care responsibilities are, regardless of their gender, more likely to perform shift work than their counterparts with dependent care. This is an interesting finding. It may be that employees with dependent care responsibilities try to avoid this work schedule as they perceive that such work arrangements make it more difficult for them to fulfill their caregiving commitments. Alternatively, it may be that employers are more likely to assign shift work to employees who have fewer obligations outside of work. While their motives in this regard might be altruistic, they might also perceive that such a strategy will reduce absenteeism and turnover.