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The official standard of a 40-hour work week has not changed for decades in the United States. A flexible work arrangement (a.k.a. telework, flexible schedule or telecommuting) is an alternative to the traditional 9am to 5pm, 40+hours work week in office. In truth, the working environment has changed as employees are expected to work more than 40 hours per week and must be accessible around the clock on weekends and after the end of the workday. Millennials and Baby Boomers (called the emerging populations) are pushing the agenda on flexible work arrangements and getting more flexible schedules. Technology makes this all possible. Millennials are described as the always-connected-to-the-internet generation (Choney, 2012), while any new technological process requires significant instruction and training, and presents a challenge for older workers (Charness, 2006). This grounded theory research (Glaser and Strauss, 1999) informs and updates academics, practitioners, companies, and employees on how technology is enabling flexible working arrangements (referred to as FWA) for the emerging populations. The paper draws on both unstructured interviews and a survey with key informants across age ranges who are business owners, corporate workers, and employees. It explores the tools that are critical to connecting to the office, the advantages and disadvantages of working outside the office, and gives guidelines for employers and workers to utilize when creating a best-in-class flexible environment. Keywords: flexible work arrangement, flexible schedule, millennials, baby boomers, telecommuting, work-life conflict, technology, best practices, emerging populations / Business Administration/Human Resource Management

Earnings by women in dual income families account for a significant portion of a household’s income, which sustains the financial well-being of their families. Cultural expectations and gender role stereotypes around a woman’s role in the family, pose challenges to career growth and retention. The social perception still occurs that women ought to be main caregivers of family members and households, and are more likely than men to have part-time jobs. The aim of the study was to determine the relationships between flexible work, financial well-being, work-life balance, productivity and job satisfaction of employed women. A cross-sectional survey was used with a convenience sample (n = 252) of female support employees, employed in a higher education institution in the North-West province. Findings of the study indicated statistically significant relations between the variables. Another objective was to determine the impact of flexible work, financial well-being, and work-life balance on productivity and job satisfaction. Results indicated that financial well-being, work-life balance and productivity were statistical significant predictors of job satisfaction, and in addition, subjective experiences of productivity serve as partial mediator in the relationship financial well-being and work-life balance on the one hand and job satisfaction on the other hand. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Earnings by women in dual income families account for a significant portion of a household’s income, which sustains the financial well-being of their families. Cultural expectations and gender role stereotypes around a woman’s role in the family, pose challenges to career growth and retention. The social perception still occurs that women ought to be main caregivers of family members and households, and are more likely than men to have part-time jobs. The aim of the study was to determine the relationships between flexible work, financial well-being, work-life balance, productivity and job satisfaction of employed women. A cross-sectional survey was used with a convenience sample (n = 252) of female support employees, employed in a higher education institution in the North-West province. Findings of the study indicated statistically significant relations between the variables. Another objective was to determine the impact of flexible work, financial well-being, and work-life balance on productivity and job satisfaction. Results indicated that financial well-being, work-life balance and productivity were statistical significant predictors of job satisfaction, and in addition, subjective experiences of productivity serve as partial mediator in the relationship financial well-being and work-life balance on the one hand and job satisfaction on the other hand. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka upplevelsen av den psykosociala arbetsmiljön beroende av anställningsform och kön. Datainsamlig genomfördes med ett nyutvecklat frågeformulär (EPA), som är baserat på de senaste föreskrifterna gällande organisatorisk och social arbetsmiljö. EPA bestod av sju moduler; arbetsbelastning, arbetsorganisation, handlingsutrymme, kunskap och utveckling, ledarskap, stöd samt återhämtning. I studien deltog 80 personer, 40 personer hade reglerad arbetstid som jämfördes med 38 personer som hade oreglerad arbetstid,  35 var män och 45 var kvinnor. Resultatet visade att de med oreglerad arbetstid upplevde den psykosociala arbetsmiljön något bättre men det var inte statistiskt signifikant. Männen upplevde den psykosociala arbetsmiljön bättre än kvinnorna men det fanns ingen statistisk signifikant skillnad.  För modul ledarskap fanns en statistiskt signifikant skillnad mellan könen, där männen upplevde ledarskapet bättre. Vidare förelåg inga skillnader i arbetsmiljön beroende på anställningsform eller kön. / The aim with the present study was to study the psychosocial work environment depending on employment and sex with a newly developed questionnaire (EPA), which was based on the latest regulations regarding organizational and social work environment. The questionnaire consisted of seven modules; workload, work organization, margin of action, leadership, support, knowledge and development and recuperation. In this study 80 persons participated, 40 of them had regulated working hours and 38 had unregulated working hours, 35 were men and 45 were women. The results of the study showed that persons with unregulated working hours experienced the work environment slightly better, but the result was not statistic significant. Men experienced the work environment better then women, but the result was not statistic significant. There was a statistic significant difference though, in module leadership, showing that men had a better experience of leadership. Further, the result showed that there was no diffrences in the workenvironment depending on employment and sex.

Este estudo objetivou analisar o modus operandi e o sentido do trabalho de enfermeiros na implementação de uma política de recursos humanos compensatória e específica para esta categoria: o Projeto de Profissionalização dos Trabalhadores da Área de Enfermagem (Profae). O marco teórico-metodológico utilizado evidenciou o cenário sociopolítico-econômico onde a implementação de políticas neoliberais tem induzido e fortalecido a flexibilização das relações de trabalho, descobrindo o trabalhador de proteção social, marco que já atinge o setor saúde. A coleta de dados ocorreu nas Agências Regionais (ARs), suas principais instâncias de acompanhamento e monitoramento, utilizando a supervisão como instrumento de trabalho. Da amostra de sujeitos entrevistados (39 enfermeiros), depreende-se que são profissionais com múltiplos vínculos de trabalho, tendo, em geral, um misto de vínculo formal com informal e jornada de trabalho maior que 45 horas semanais. Nas ARs, tanto públicas quanto privadas, a maioria relatou não possuir vínculo formal de trabalho (carteira assinada). Os enfermeiros mais jovens encontravam-se quase que plenamente em regime flexível de trabalho, não desfrutando de nenhum tipo de proteção social. Ao contrário dos acima de 30 anos, que relataram possuir certo grau de proteção social, inclusa a aposentadoria, na medida em que algum tipo de vínculo formal foi estabelecido anteriormente. A história de vínculos estáveis e, diríamos, "mais permanentes", quando comparados aos trabalhadores por regime de prestação de serviço (flexível), nos delinea modelos de gestão peculiares às políticas neoliberais. O processo de supervisão realizado pelos enfermeiros apresentou características afetas ao caráter educativo (ação técnico-pedagógica), controle (ação administrativa) e articulação política (ação política), sendo o conteúdo administrativo o mais presente em seus discursos. O sentido e o modo de funcionamento de seu trabalho já absorvem elementos circunscritos aos eixos estruturantes das políticas públicas na era da mundialização do capital - que sempre necessitam de capital humano para sua execução. O presente estudo encontrou os seguintes elementos: pagamento por produção; divisão fragmentada do trabalho; critérios de seleção e remuneração salarial variável; trabalho a distância; profissionais qualificados e polivalentes; sensação de autonomia e liberdade profissional; reduzida governabilidade e poder na tomada de decisão; dedicação comprometida mediante múltiplos vínculos e falta de tempo; presença marcante do que é "novo"; programação de atividades substituindo modelos de planejamento; maciça operacionalização sistemática das ações. / The purpose of this study was to analyze the modus operandi and the sense of work in nurses within the framework of the implementation of a specific compensatory policy for this professional cathegory, the "Professionalization Project for workers in the Nursing Area" (known by the acronym Profae in Portuguese). The theoretical and methodological framework of this study, was aimed to show the political, social and economic landscape in which the neo-liberal policies have promoted the use of flexible labor relations, leaving health workers unprotected in terms of social rights. The data collection was done in a set of the main agencies that carry out the monitoring and follow-up of this processes, the Regional Agencies (RA´s) and the supervision was used as a working instrument. The sample (39 nurses) shows that there are professionals with multiple jobs, both formal and informal, working more than 45 hours a week. In the RA´s, public and private, the largest share did not have legal labor relationship, according to labor laws (that require an individual document signed by the employer). Younger nurses were almost all in flexible and informal job relations, without any kind of social protection. This may mean that younger workers are affected by labor de-regulation and that there is no chance - in the foreseeable future - that this protection can be achieved by other means. On the other hand, nurses over 30 years old seem to have some sort of social protection in terms of retirement and other benefits, that result from previous labor contracts. In regard to the supervision process carried on by this nurses, it has training and educational features (technical and pedagogical action) but also control and political facets (administrative and political action), being the administrative content the main feature in these workers´ answers. The sense and way of work of these workers encompasses the characteristics of the main axis of the globalization process: payment related to production; division and fragmentation of the labor process, recruitment, selection and remuneration following flexible patterns; working in different localizations, tele-working and seldom in face-to-face meetings; highly qualified and multitasking professionals, perceived professional autonomy and freedom; shrinking capacity of governance and power to make decisions; compromised performance due to multiple jobs and lack of time; a remarkable appearance of "news"; activity programming as a substitute of planning models; a massive operationalization of actions.

Employers' reliance on asynchronous electronic communications, connective technology devices, and remote work arrangements has led employees to feel preoccupied with staying connected after-hours to be responsive to work-related demands. The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe the lived experiences of professional workers who coped with constant pressure to monitor and immediately respond to work-related electronic communications during nonwork hours. The conceptual framework was supported by boundary and border theory and the constructs of work-life balance, flexible work arrangements, information and communication technology. Data were collected using semistructured interviews with 16 professional workers near Washington, DC. Moustakas's modified van Kaam method was used to analyze, code, and organize data. Six themes emerged: mobilize or immobilize, manage expectations, safeguard personal time, work-life fusion, work engagement, and psychological outcomes. Findings revealed that professional workers felt a sense of urgency to reply to work-related e-mails and text messages outside of their regularly scheduled work hours and felt a sense of professional obligation to be available after-hours. Results may be used to shape and support positive social change through effective organizational change programs for technology-related work-life imbalances, thereby benefiting employers and employees.

This thesis focuses on increasing the efficiency of systems with cross-trained workforce and finite storage spaces. Our objective is to maximize the throughput and minimize the setup costs (if they exist). More specifically, we are interested in determining effective cross-training strategies and dynamic server assignment policies for flexible servers in production lines with finite buffers. In the first part of this thesis, we study non-Markovian systems and support the conjecture that effective server assignment policies are robust to service time distributions. Next, we consider understaffed tandem lines with partially or fully flexible servers, determine optimal and heuristic server assignment policies, and show that most of the benefits of full flexibility can be achieved with limited flexibility. Finally, we incorporate the setups to our model, determine the optimal server assignment policy for some systems and show how the effective assignment of servers depends on the magnitude of the setup costs.

This thesis investigated patterns in, and perceptions of, labour force participation (LFP) amongst a group of mothers with dependent children. A mixed-methods (i.e. questionnaires, interviews and documentary evidence), single case study approach involving a series of three studies, was utilised, involving employees and ex-employees from the Queensland University of Technology. Using questionnaire data (N = 283), Study One explored the predictive value of seven structural (age of youngest child, education, childcare costs, wages, partner's income, number of children and social security payments) and four attitudinal (attitudes towards working mothers, sex-role attitudes, attitudes towards exclusive maternal care and career salience) factors, in a hierarchical logistic regression model using full-time / part-time work status as the dependent variable. Associations between these factors and hours worked, were also tested for a sub-sample of women with under school aged children (N = 112). Results showed that the factors leading to greater LFP for both samples were having older children, less access to social security payments and more liberal attitudes towards working mothers. Lower levels of partner's income also predicted full-time status for the larger sample and more liberal attitudes towards exclusive maternal care was associated with hours worked for women with under school aged children. Study Two explored the way in which women with under school aged children describe the influences, benefits and trade-offs associated with their LFP decisions. Analysis of data from interviews with a sub-sample of women from Study One, indicated four major categories of issues influenced LFP decisions and/or contributed to benefits or trade-offs following on from those decisions. These categories included financial issues, personal independence, work-related issues and value of maternal care. The salience of this issues varied across groups of at-home, part-time and full-time working mothers. The most important consideration for at-home women was the emphasis on caring for their children themselves, as opposed to using familial or formal childcare. Part-time women appeared to be the most satisfied with their work and parenting arrangements, because they could fulfil their roles as wives and mothers, but also benefit from spending autonomy and competence, by engaging in paid work. Full-time women reported greater opportunities in the workplace than part-time women, although they experienced substantial ambivalence about their full-time status. This conflict was ameliorated by the availability of flexible work and when partner's had reduced working hours. Based on the salience of work-related factors reported in Study Two, Study Three explored the degree of consistency between the espoused values evident in organisational work-family policy documentation and women's reported experiences of these policies (N = 24). For example, options such as flexible work arrangements and part-time work appear to promote values related to balance and integration of the work and family spheres. However, interview data suggests women's experiences of part-time work were inconsistent with assumptions about job commitment and career progression. The research extends the current understanding of the range of variables that influence maternal LFP and the processes by which LFP decisions are made. The findings are interpreted in light of a number of existing theoretical perspectives, as well as suggesting a preliminary model of decision-making that could be tested in other groups of women in future studies. The current research may also inform public policy on issues such as childcare and social security allowances and organisational human resource policy in terms of the implementation of work-family options.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur chefer upplever flexibelt arbete samt hur de använder sig av gränsdragningsstrategier för att hantera balansen mellan arbete och privatliv. Studien har baserats på frågeställningar gällande hur chefer ser på det flexibla arbetet, hur krav/kontroll/stöd och balans påverkar chefers hälsa, hur förhållandet mellan arbete och privatliv ser ut samt vilka gränsdragningsstrategier som används. Studien visar på att cheferna har en positiv uppfattning om flexibelt arbete men att det finns svårigheter kring hur flexibiliteten ska hanteras. Vidare visar resultatet i studien att cheferna önskar en balans mellan arbete och privatliv, vilket de får genom en hårddragen gräns som vissa av cheferna dock saknar. Resultatet visar också på att cheferna är i behov av stöd från arbetsgivare, chef och omgivning och att de uppskattar ett stödjande och öppet klimat där de tillåts diskutera kring arbetssituation och hur de hanterar det flexibla arbetslivet. En kvalitativ metod valdes för studien som sedan genomfördes i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer tillsammans med sex chefer som valdes på grund av deras flexibla arbetsliv. Svaren från intervjuerna analyserades sedan gentemot relevanta teorier och tidigare studier inom ämnet. / The purpose of this study is to investigate how managers experience flexible work and how they use work balance strategies to be able to handle the balance between work and private life. The study is based on questions regarding how managers experience flexible work, how high demand-low control and balance affects managers health, how the relationship between work and private life looks like and what work balance strategies that are being used. The study shows that the managers have positive experiences with flexible work but that there are difficulties with how the flexibility should be handled. Furthermore, the results of the study show that the managers would like to have a certain balance between work and private time which they get with set limits. However, some managers lack these limits. The results also show that the managers require support from their managers, employers and work environment and that they appreciate a supporting and open work environment where they are allowed to discuss their work situation and how they handle flexible work. A qualitative method was chosen for the study which was done as a semistructured interviews with six managers who were chosen because of their flexible work. The answers from the interviews were analysed and compared with relevant theories and earlier studies in the subject.