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

3.3 Perceived Flexibility

One of the most problematic aspects of the issue of time is what has been termed schedule incompatibility. Since society makes certain events possible only at certain times, timing becomes important in determining the effects of working hours. Work schedule incompatibility affects members of a family and their ability to spend time together. Conflict is also caused by the clash of an employee's work schedule with events at school and the ability to access necessary services (e.g. doctor, dentist).

Work-time and work-location flexibility have the potential to balance work and family demands by increasing an employee's ability to control, predict and absorb change in work and family roles. If the organization provides flexibility for when and where work is performed, then the employee can select the most efficient hours and locale according to work style, the demands of other family members, and the scheduling of leisure activities. In many organizations, patterns of informal accommodation are evolving as a normal part of the interaction among employees. These informal accommodations are permitted by the employer but are not the result of any formal organizational policy. Instead, they are negotiated or provided on a case-by-case basis (typically they depend on who your manager is).

This section of the report is divided into two main parts. In the first section, we use data to describe how much flexibility Canadian employees perceive they have over when and where they work. Results for the total sample are examined first, followed by breakdowns of the data by gender by job type and gender by dependent care. Part two provides the analysis of the following question: Do higher levels of perceived flexibility help employees cope with work-life conflict? Analyses done using the complete measure are presented first, followed by an in-depth analysis of the relationship between each of the forms of perceived flexibility and work-life conflict.

3.3.1 How Much Flexibility Do Canadian Employees Actually Have Over Their Work Day?

Data on perceived flexibility for the total sample is summarized in Table 3. These data paint a mixed picture with respect to the amount of flexibility Canadian employees perceive they have over their work schedule and work location. While a plurality of the respondents (39%) have moderate levels of informal flexibility and one in three respondents has high flexibility (33%), a substantial percent of the sample (29%) feel that they have little control over their work day.

Table 3: Perceived Flexibility for Total Sample

	% of the sample with
	Low Flexibility	Moderate Flexibility	High Flexibility
Perceived Flexibility: Total Measure	28.6	38.7	32.7
Moderate Flexibility: Plurality Find It Easy to Engage in This Activity
Take paid day off when child is sick	26.2	20.1	53.7
To have meals with family	26.1	22.6	51.3
Take holidays when want	27.2	22.0	50.8
Interrupt work day for personal/family reasons and then return	29.2	20.0	50.8
Vary work hours	34.7	18.5	46.8
Variable Flexibility: Sample Bi-modally Distributed with Respect to This Activity
Take paid day off when elderly relative needs you	31.6	24.0	44.5
To arrange work schedule (i.e. shifts, overtime) to meet personal/family commitments	38.2	22.7	38.1
Take time off to attend course or conference	31.9	25.7	32.5
Low Flexibility: Majority Find It Difficult to Engage in This Activity
To be home when children get home from school	74.4	13.5	12.1
Spend some of regular work day working at home	70.5	13.2	16.3

Examination of the different items that make up the informal flexibility scale indicate that there is a large amount of variation in what types of informal flexibility are available to workers in this sample. The items can be divided into three broad groups:

• Low: The majority of respondents report lower levels of flexibility with respect to this item.
  
• Variable: Almost equal numbers of respondents report lower levels of flexibility with respect to this item as report high flexibility.
  
• Moderate: While a substantive proportion of the sample report that they have high flexibility with respect to this item, a significant number (one quarter to one third of the sample) say that they find it difficult to engage in this particular activity. In other words, flexibility with respect to this item is bi-modally distributed.

There are five items that can be classed as being "moderately" easy (i.e. easy for almost half the sample, hard for about 25%). Items in this grouping include: (1) take holidays when you want, (2) interrupt work for personal/family reasons and then return, (3) take a paid day off when your child is sick, (4) have meals with family, and (5) vary work hours. A number of these items (flexibility with respect to holidays, being home in time to have dinner with the family) are accommodations taken for granted by many of today's employees, regardless of family situation. Three of these items (ability to interrupt work day to deal with personal issues, paid time off to deal with sick children, vary work hours) are accommodations that more progressive companies provide their employees. The need for such accommodations has increased concomitantly with the rise in employed parents. The fact that 50% of respondents indicate that such accommodations are available to them indicates that many of the companies in our sample have introduced programs to help employees with dependent care responsibilities.

There are three items in the "variable flexibility" grouping:

• take paid day off when elderly dependent needs you (45% find difficult, 32% find easy)
• arrange work schedule to meet personal/family commitments (38% find difficult, 38% find easy)
• take time off to attend course or conference (32% find difficult, 33% find easy)

The fact that a larger proportion of the sample say that it is easy for them to take a paid day off to care for a sick child than are able to exercise the same right with respect to elder care (almost twice as many respondents indicated it was difficult for them to get paid time off to deal with elder care needs than indicated problems with respect to child care) suggests that many organizations still see work- life balance issues through a child care lens. Given our data on caregiver strain, it is important that Canadian employers expand their view and implement paid days off for elder care issues. The finding with respect to time off during regular hours to attend a course is also disturbing, as it suggests that career development is not seen as a shared responsibility in many Canadian companies (i.e. training during working hours not supported). This would suggest that employees with child care and elder care responsibilities that limit their ability to attend training activities in the evening or on weekends have a choice between:

• attending such sessions anyway (thereby increasing their work-life conflict)
• not attending, thereby jeopardizing their ability to advance

Finally, the fact that almost 40% find it difficult to arrange their work schedule to meet personal or family commitments suggests that many employers still believe in the "myth of separate worlds." While such a view might have been defensible when the typical Canadian family consisted of a male breadwinner with a wife and children at home, it is untenable today.

There are only two items (spend some of day working from home, and be home when children get home from school) in the "difficult" group. Seventy percent of the sample find it hard to work from home; 16% find it easy. These data are consistent with the informal tele-work data presented earlier (16% of the sample are able to work from home on an informal basis). They also support the idea that while organizations are prepared to offer some employees flexibility with respect to when they work, they are more reluctant to give them flexibility with respect to where that work is done. The fact that three quarters of the sample find it difficult to be home from work when their children get home from school is also not surprising given the data on work-to-family interference (i.e. Duxbury & Higgins (2003) reported that three quarters of Canadian employees experience moderate to high levels of work-to-family interference). These data also illustrate the point made earlier with respect to how scheduling conflicts (i.e. need to be in two distinct places at exactly same time) can contribute to work-life conflict.

An examination of the between-group differences in the various items in the informal flexibility measure gives us a better appreciation of who does and who does not have work-time and work-location flexibility. Complete data on the association between perceived flexibility, gender and job type and between perceived flexibility, gender and dependent care are given in Appendix C. Key differences among these groups are discussed below.

3.3.2 The Impact of Gender, Job Type and Dependent Care on Perceived Flexibility

Our data indicate that perceived flexibility is associated with gender, dependent care status and job type. Key differences are noted below. The data discussed in this section are found in Appendix C.

Men are more likely than women to report high flexibility, regardless of dependent care status.

Significant gender differences were observed in 60% of the items included in the perceived flexibility measure.²⁵ These gender differences are particularly worthy of note in that they could be observed regardless of whether or not the respondent had dependent care responsibilities.

Women were more likely than men to say that it was difficult for them to vary their work hours, work at home during the day, take their holidays when they wanted, interrupt their work day for personal reasons and then return, and take a paid day off work to care for a sick child or an elderly dependent. Men were more likely than women to say it was easy for them to accomplish all of these tasks.

Women are more likely than men to say it is difficult for them to take paid time off for dependent care

Four of the above gender differences are particularly worthy of note as they could be observed when job type is also taken into account. Women, regardless of their job type or dependent care status, were more likely than their male counterparts to say that it was difficult for them to work at home during the day, interrupt their work day for personal reasons and then return, and take a paid day off work to care for a sick child or an elderly dependent. These findings are of concern given the fact that the women in the sample were more likely than the men to have primary responsibility for child care and elder care in their families.

The men in the sample were more likely than women to say that they had moderate levels of flexibility in all but one of these areas (they were more likely than women to find it easy to vary their work hours).

Employees with dependent care responsibilities find it more difficult to arrange their schedule to meet personal/family commitments

There was only one difference in perceived flexibility that was associated with dependent care status: employees with dependent care, regardless of gender, were more likely to say that it is difficult for them to arrange their schedule to meet personal/family commitments. Men and women without dependent care responsibilities, on the other hand, were more likely than their counterparts with dependent care to say that it is easy for them to arrange their schedule to meet personal/family commitments. Mothers and females with elder care responsibilities were more likely than any other group to find such activities difficult (43% say they have little flexibility in this area). These findings are unfortunate as employees with dependent care responsibilities are likely to have a greater need for such flexibility. These data also refute the idea that mothers or women with elder care are given preferential treatment in the workplace.

Female managers and professionals have less flexibility than other employees.

Most of the gender differences in perceived flexibility go away when job type is controlled for. Those that do exist are between male managers and professionals and female managers and professionals. No gender differences were observed in perceived flexibility for employees in other jobs. Female managers and professionals were more likely than their male counterparts to find it difficult to vary their work hours, take their holidays when they want, take time off for a course, or arrange their schedule to meet personal or family commitments. Furthermore, the female managers and professionals in the sample were significantly more likely than females in other jobs to find it difficult to take their holidays when they want, to take time off for a course, to interrupt their work day for personal reasons and then return, to take a paid day off to care for a sick child or an elderly dependent and to be home when their children get home from school. With two exceptions, no such job type differences were observed within the male sample.²⁶

It is unlikely that women managers and professionals have less opportunity to vary their hours than other employees. Rather, these data suggest that women in these groups are less likely than others to either take advantage of the opportunities for flexibility that are available, or to ask for special favours with respect to leave of absence, work hours, etc. We can only speculate as to why this might be the case. Plausible explanations include the idea that female managers and professionals are more concerned than either their male counterparts or employees in other positions with how their employer will view them if they vary their hours, arrange their day for family commitments, etc. (i.e. concerned that others will label them as being on a "mommy track," perceive that they do not take their career seriously). Alternatively, it may be that women in these groups feel more pressure to set a good example for those who report to them or feel that putting family ahead of work would limit their career advancement. Other studies should try to determine the extent to which these work pressures are self-imposed (i.e. women who get ahead in Canadian organizations are less likely to let family intrude with work) or imposed by the culture (i.e. due to working in an organization that rewards employees who put work ahead of family).

Managers and professionals are less able to vary work hours

Finally, it is important to note that male and female managers were significantly more likely than their counterparts in other jobs to find it difficult to vary their hours of work but easier to work at home during regular hours. In other words, managers and professionals have higher work-location flexibility but lower work-time flexibility. These findings are interesting as they suggest that the demands of managerial and professionals jobs are such that it is difficult for managers to change when they come in or leave. These findings are consistent with our data showing that the workloads of managers and professionals have increased dramatically over the past decade (Duxbury & Higgins, 2003). It would appear that flexibility over one's work hours goes down as work loads go up.

Interestingly, the same cannot be said for work-location flexibility. As noted in Duxbury and Higgins (2003), managers spend a significant amount of time per month performing unpaid overtime at home in the evening and on the weekend. It appears that one benefit of this work style is that tele-work is more accepted at this level of the organization than it is for those in other jobs (i.e. they have demonstrated that they can work productively at home and they likely have the technology at home required to support their efforts).

3.3.3 And So What? What Is the Relationship Between Perceived Flexibility and Work-Life Balance?

Data analysis done to determine how perceived flexibility impacts work-life conflict is provided in Appendix C. The link between total perceived flexibility and work-life conflict are discussed first. This is followed by an overview of the impact of the various facets of perceived flexibility on each dimension of work-life conflict.

3.3.3.1 Impact of Perceived Flexibility (Total Measure) on Work-Life Conflict

Perceived flexibility helps employees cope with role overload

This analysis indicates that perceived flexibility helps employees cope with role overload. Employees with higher perceived flexibility report less role overload than those with moderate flexibility who, in turn, report less overload than those with low perceived flexibility, regardless of job type or dependent care status. The fact that perceived flexibility is significantly and substantively associated with role overload in both the gender and job type and the gender and dependent care analysis emphasizes the importance of perceived flexibility for today's employees.

The impact of perceived flexibility on role overload is not, however, straightforward and depends on gender and job type (Figure 8a) and gender and dependent care (Figure 8b). The following conclusions can be drawn by examining these figures:

• With one exception (women in other positions with low flexibility), managers and professionals report higher levels of role overload at every level of perceived flexibility than those in other positions. Women in other positions with low flexibility also report very high levels of role overload.
• Men and women with dependent care responsibilities report higher levels of role overload at all levels of perceived flexibility than those without dependent care responsibilities.
• When dependent care status is taken into account, women report higher levels of role overload than men at all levels of flexibility.
• Males in other positions and men without dependent care responsibilities report the lowest levels of role overload at every level of perceived flexibility.

Despite these differences, it is important to note that for all of these groups of employees, the higher the perceived flexibility the lower the role overload. These data, therefore, support the idea that employees with more control over the work-life interface are more able to cope with role overload.

Perceived flexibility helps employees cope with work-to-family interference

Perceived flexibility has a very strong impact on the incidence of work-to-family interference for men and women, regardless of job type and dependent care status. For both men and women, employees with high perceived flexibility report less work-to-family interference than those with moderate flexibility who report less work-to-family interference than those with low flexibility, regardless of job type (Figure 9a) or dependent care status (Figure 9b). These findings indicate that increasing employees' levels of perceived flexibility helps them cope with work-to-family interference.

Figure 8: Impact of Perceived Flexibility on Role Overload
a. Gender by Job Type

Figure 8: Impact of Perceived Flexibility on Role Overload
b. Gender by Dependent Care

Figure 9: Impact of Perceived Flexibility on Work-to-Family Interference
a. Gender by Job Type

Figure 9: Impact of Perceived Flexibility on Work-to-Family Interference
b. Gender by Dependent Care

Perceived flexibility provides some support for employees with respect to family-to-work interference

While the data indicate that perceived flexibility provides some support for employees in terms of dealing with family-to-work interference, the impact is not as dramatic as observed with role overload and work-to-family interference. Examination of the data in Appendix C indicates that the limited benefit of perceived flexibility with respect to this type of work-life conflict can be attributed to the fact that it really only helps one group of employees: females in other positions with dependent care responsibilities.

Perceived flexibility does not help employees cope with caregiver strain

The data show that perceived flexibility does little to help employees cope with caregiver strain.