Miklík, R. Flexible forms of work in the field of engineering industry. Master's The-sis Brno: Mendel University in Brno, 2019.This thesis deals with the flexible forms of work in the field of engineering industry. It consists of a review of literature that focuses mainly on human resources management, flexible forms of work and social diversity in the organization. Furthermore, the thesis deals with the current condition of flexible forms of work in the labor market within the Czech Republic in the area of the engineering industry. In the framework of qualitative research, semi-structured interviews with HR representatives or other executives are car-ried out. Quantitative research is also carried out within the framework of the questionnaire survey. The results of both investigations are then processed appropriately. All survey information obtained is used as input to draft proposals and recommendations

The Work-Family Enrichment theory highlights the interrelatedness of professional and personal life and notes that positive work and family experiences can have additive effects on individuals and their families (Greenhaus & Powell, 2006). Through this lens, work satisfaction has implications for family and individual wellbeing. When workplace organizations implement practices that encourage employee retention, they systematically create an environment that fosters employee satisfaction (Griffin et al., 2010; Wells, 2015). Retention, and the relationships between work, family, and individual wellbeing, are particularly salient for certain types of work that are connected to human development and family science because many of these careers are high-demand/lower-pay “labors of love” (e.g., child care providers, social work, child-life specialists). Equipping current and future helping/human service professionals with an understanding of effective retention practices will help them identify satisfying work opportunities for themselves and enhance their ability to advocate for and implement retention practices across the field.

Under vårterminen 2020 förändrades arbetsvillkoren för universitets- och högskoleanställda när regeringen införde ett krav på utökat distansarbete i samband med coronaviruset. Arbetet inom akademin beskrivs redan innan kravet som gränslöst och förknippat med hög arbetsbelastning. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur kravet på utökat distansarbete i samband med coronaviruset har påverkat universitets- och högskoleanställdas uppfattningar om work-life balance samt krav, kontroll och socialt stöd i arbetet, och även om det finns skillnader gällande dessa avseenden mellan olika yrkeskategorier. Studien har genomförts med en kvantitativ ansats och empirin har samlats in genom webbenkäter. Resultatet analyserades utifrån kravkontroll och socialt stöd-modellen samt utifrån teori kring rollkonflikter. Resultatet tyder på att kravet på utökat distansarbete främst har uppfattats negativt och resulterat i högre krav på den anställde, försämrad work-life balance, övertidsarbete, och mer arbete på kvällar och helger. Störst negativ förändring har den yrkeskategori som bedriver undervisning och forskning upplevt. Vad som framkom i resultatet är också att variabler som avsett att mäta kontroll i arbetet; krav på påhittighet och krav på skicklighet, istället verkade uppfattas som krav. Det finns anledning att anta att de nya arbetsformerna skapat ökade krav i sig, oberoende av om arbetet skulle skett på distans eller inte, vilket kan påverka work-life balance och hur anställda förlägger sin arbetstid. Samtidigt finns det även anledning att tro att det utökade distansarbetet i samband med de nya arbetsformernas införande också kan ha skapat ökade krav i arbetet, minskat socialt stöd och en försämrad work-life balance. Studiens resultat tyder på att kravet på utökat distansarbete har påverkat universitets- och högskoleanställdas uppfattningar om work-life balance, samt krav, kontroll och socialt stöd i arbetet.

The concept of work-life-balance has gained significant attention during the coronavirus pandemic. There are challenges in keeping solid boundaries between Danish female professionals work and private life. There have been previous studies that have demonstrated gendered roles of females that interrupt work and private life. This thesis builds on these qualitative studies. This is done by providing new insights into the challenges experienced by Danish females in balancing their work-life due to varying degrees of media dependencies when exposed to new digital practices (current pandemic). Therefore, the main research question is, “How and why do Danish female professionals experience fluid transitions between professional work and private life, with the increase of new forms of media dependencies?” The study consisted of eight semi-structured interviews with Danish female participants followed by a qualitative approach. Thoroughly employing social design in a mediatization framework, key themes in the experiences of the participants; work-life-balance, flexibility at work, virtual fatigue and self-care practices were extracted. The study also found that there are gendered roles during the coronavirus pandemic, with women shouldering a greater burden due to unpaid labour. The findings of this work provide deeper insights into the challenges females may endure during national lockdowns. It is envisioned that this work will allow for deeper reflections on the usage and consumption of digital media in keeping boundaries between work-private life. This includes Denmark and other countries. /p>

Coronaviruset har inneburit att kontorsanställda runt om i Sverige gått över till att arbeta på distans. Syftet i den här studien är att undersöka kontorsanställdas subjektiva upplevelser av distansarbetet för att se hur det påverkat dem. Tidigare studier har undersökt distansarbetets påverkan i följd av coronaviruspandemin, dock gjordes dessa studier under de allra tidigaste stadier av pandemin. Detta gör ämnet mer intressant eftersom upplevelserna kan ha förändrats på grund av dessa långdragna restriktioner under pandemin. I den här studien används teorierna Job Demands-Resources Model samt Work-life balance för att identifiera de anställdas upplevelser kring arbetskrav och arbetsresurser, där fokuset läggs på engagemang och utmattning, samt balansen mellan arbetsliv och privatliv. Vi undersökte även respondenternas strategier kring dessa teorier för att ge studien ett större syfte. Studien är av kvalitativt slag - semistrukturerade intervjuer gjordes på nio anställda inom nio olika organisationer där alla respondenter arbetade helt eller delvis på distans.  I empiri och analys visade vi att respondenterna hade skilda upplevelser kring arbetskrav, och att en del arbetsresurser var mer betydelsefulla än andra. Framför allt var det sociala stödet en viktig resurs för att hantera kraven, där det mest påtagliga kravet i följd av distansarbetet var arbetsbelastning. Vi visade även att en ökad flexibilitet var den största fördelen med distansarbetet, vilket hade positiv effekt på balansen mellan arbetsliv och privatliv. Respondenterna upplevde dock betydligt utsuddade psykiska gränser. Till sist presenterade vi respondenternas strategier för arbetskrav och arbetsresurser, där det återigen var det sociala stödet som var väsentligt. För balansen mellan arbetsliv och privatliv var det tydliga arbetsplatser i hemmet som visade ha störst positiv effekt både fysiskt och mentalt.  Slutsatserna som kunde dras var att påverkan på utmattning var någorlunda positiv jämfört med tidigare, mestadels för att respondenterna upplever mindre stress och mindre distraktioner när de arbetade hemifrån. Däremot har de flesta respondenterna upplevt lägre motivation och engagemang, främst på grund av försämrat socialt stöd. Upplevelser kring arbetskrav och arbetsresurser har förvärrats i allmänhet, i följd av att hanteringen av vissa arbetskrav blivit mer problematiska samt att det sociala samspelet försämrats. När det gäller balansen mellan arbetsliv och privatliv så var upplevelserna mestadels positiva, i synnerhet flexibiliteten som var förbättrad i följd av ökad autonomi. Tillgängligheten har ökat men visade sig vara mestadels positiv för individens balans. Utsuddade gränser var dock försämrade och skulle kräva mer fokus i framtida forskning. Att söka socialt stöd var den viktigaste strategin för att hantera arbetskrav och upprätthålla arbetsresurser. De viktigaste strategierna för arbetslivsbalans var att anordna ett kontor i hemmet, ha god planering, samt att lämna allt arbetsrelaterat efter arbetstid. / Due to the coronavirus pandemic, many office employees in Sweden have switched to working remotely. The purpose of this study is to examine the office employees’ subjective experiences of telework to see how it has affected them. We used the Job Demands-Resources Model and Work-life balance theory to identify employees’ experiences regarding job demands and job resources, focusing on engagement and exhaustion, and the work-life balance. We also examined the employees’ strategies around the two theories to give the study a more important purpose. Semi-structured interviews were performed on nine remote-working employees within nine different organisations. The empirical results show that the respondents had different experiences of job demands, and that some job resources were more significant than others. We also showed that increased flexibility was the biggest advantage of teleworking, which had a positive effect on the work-life balance. The conclusions that could be drawn were firstly that the impact on exhaustion was somewhat positive compared with before the pandemic, mostly because the respondents experience less stress and less distractions when working from home. However, most respondents have experienced lower levels of engagement, primarily due to reduced social support. Experiences regarding job demands and job resources have deteriorated in general. The experiences regarding work-life balance were mostly positive, where above all the increased flexibility was the root cause. Seeking social support was the most important strategy for managing job demands and maintaining job resources. The most important strategies for work-life balance were to arrange an office in the home, good planning, and to leave everything work-related after working hours.

This thesis explores the effect of transformational leadership, employee work environment, job satisfaction, and work-life balance on employee work performance. It begins by looking at existing literature on the effectiveness of transformational leadership as one of the relevant leadership styles in situations that require urgent business system transformation and adaptation as witnessed in the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the consequences of the pandemic is the definition of what a work environment is. Working from home, although not new, has become popular due to the pandemic and there are several publications around this subject under the “New Ways of Working” (NWW) theme. The implementation of working from home for employees within an organization as well as its success and support available to employees depend to some extent on the leadership style practised by persons in senior management positions of such organizations. Two research questions are investigated: (1) What are the effects of transformational leadership style on employee job satisfaction and consequently on work performance? (2) What are the effects of the employee work environment on work-life balance as well as employee satisfaction and consequently on work performance? To answer these questions, structural equation modelling (SEM) is applied to data from a survey questionnaires with 224 respondents. Since the overall aim of the thesis is to assess the effect of transformational leadership style and employee work environment on work performance, the survey measures two intermediate outcomes (employee job satisfaction, and employee work-life balance).  It has been demonstrated through other works that transformational leadership and employee work environment play an important role in overall work performance. Good transformational leadership promotes employee satisfaction. A suitable employee work environment promotes a positive work-life balance as well as high employee satisfaction.  Our findings regarding the effect of transformational leadership on employee work performance are in line with findings of previous work. The results of the SEM analysis demonstrate that transformational leadership positively affects employee job satisfaction which in turn positively affects employee work performance. Interestingly, despite several works suggesting that work environment positively affects work-life balance, our results did not show any statistically significant relationship either with work performance directly or with the mediating variables work-life balance and job satisfaction, to substantiate this link. We discuss our results and make suggestions for policy, practice, and future work implications.

The game industry is modern and as such in constant evolution, therefore it needs information on how to better its work practices either it be on a professional level or at a training level. This thesis focuses on game education, specifically on the game students partaking in such education and developing a game as part of a game-based development course. The study investigated what kinds of pressure might be afflicting game students at Uppsala University during their game production courses and what are the effects of such pressures on the work/life balance of the concerned game students. To conduct the data collection, a survey with close and open-ended questions was used to gather information on focused topics but also get the opinion of the respondents on the matter. As a result of the research, it was possible to learn that the game students are pushing themselves to adopt overworking tendencies during their game production course. This behavior would be motivated by the different pressures affecting them during their game production course like the pressure to produce high-quality work. The conclusion reached is that the pressures affecting game students during their game production courses are related to the lack of healthy work habits of game students when working independently on their game productions. The pressures have impacts on the work/life balance of the affected students who often end up sacrificing their well-being in favor of work. This decision can have the opposite effect as work/life balance conflicts can hinder a game student's chances of academic success. To address this issue this thesis recommends game schools to support game students who are working independently by leading them to adopt healthy work habits and helping them to cope with the pressures of their environment.

Many U.S. organizations fail to retain Millennials for longer than 3 years. The purpose of this case study was to explore the strategies and methods leaders have used to retain Millennial employees within a small business in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. The leaders of this small business have retained their Millennial employees for the last 3 years. The conceptual frameworks for the study were Bass's transformational leadership theory and von Bertalanffy's general systems theory. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with 4 participant leaders with a successful record of retaining Millennials. In addition, company documents including policies, training records, company website, and peer-reviewed journals were gathered to supplement the semistructured interviews. All data were analyzed using the modified van Kaam method. The findings revealed that these 4 leaders employed specific strategies for career growth opportunities, communication plans, organizational level community involvement, high compensation packages, high functioning and fun culture, regular feedback meetings, training opportunities, and respect for opinions to solve the low retention rate among Millennials within an organization. The leaders also reported 3 methods that they employed to retain Millennials were maintaining open lines of communication, establishing positive relationships with management, and providing targeted training throughout the employees' tenure. Social change implications include organizational leaders increasing retention rates of Millennial employees by enhancing employee motivation and improving relationships. Results may benefit organizations by reducing turnover costs.

There is a likelihood of stress in working students' struggles to manage work, family, studies, and personal life, yet little is known about differences in stress levels between male and female online students. Previous studies suggested that more men than women balanced work and family owing to women's asymmetrical family responsibilities. The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating effects of gender on the relationships of work-life balance and work-study interface of working online students and their perceived stress and satisfaction with life. In this quantitative study, the theoretical framework included social role theory and spillover theory. A convenience sample of 80 working online students (aged 20-60+ years) participated in an online survey. Particpants completed a demographic survey, work-life balance scale, work-study interface scale, perceived stress scale, and satisfaction with life scale. Collected data were analyzed using regression analysis. The results indicated that in both work-life balance and work-study interface, working female online students had higher levels of perceived stress than males, and women had a lower level of satisfaction with life than men in work-study interface. Understanding spillover experiences and gender social roles of working online students in their work-life balance and work-study interface may lead to positive social change by providing useful information for policy makers to support online students. The study may also provide an understanding of the dynamic of the work-life-study balance for the students themselves.

Balancing the needs of family with career ambitions is often challenging for women who pursue science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) careers, particularly in academia. In these male-dominated workplaces, few incentives exist for women who decide to manage both work and family. In this basic qualitative research study, a modified approach combining in-depth interviewing with life-history interviewing was used to examine the work-life balance experiences of 12 tenured and tenure-track women engineering faculty who have children. The research question addressed participants' perceptions of engineering academia and experiences regarding family formation, child-raising, and the tenure process. Data were analyzed using the constant comparison method. The conceptual lens consisted of identity formation, feminine ethic of care, procedural knowing, and social learning. Four themes or key findings surfaced from this study: Participants experienced gender stereotyping in engineering academia, participants recognized overlap between the tenure and biological clocks, participants expressed a default arrangement in assuming the burden of childcare, and participants revealed that work-life balance is a false concept. The most significant finding was that the notion of work-life balance was inconsistent with participants' experiences with managing childcare and career; they described their experiences to be more about work-life integration. Implications for positive social change include improving gender diversity and the representation of women in engineering academia. Senior leaders and administrators at institutions of higher education may use study findings, for instance, to undertake program reform to recruit more women into engineering academia.