This research assessed the effect of religious orientation on experiences of Iranian women in balancing their work and family roles. Based on the proposed relationships among main variables of this study which are religiosity, gender-role ideology, work-family conflict and work-family facilitation, it was also hypothesized that gender-role ideology would mediate the relationships between religiosity and work-family conflict/facilitation. The participants of this study were 221 Iranian female employees working in the Wood and Glue Industry. The results supported some of the developed hypotheses. For instance, they showed that women with stronger religious beliefs felt the extra time spent on work responsibilities would have been better devoted to family roles. Further, the women who indicated that the role of religion is highly significant in their lives experienced less conflict between the behaviors performed at home and those performed at work. The results did not support the hypothesized mediating role of gender-role ideology. / viii, 89 leaves ; 29 cm

Šiame darbe, aptariama šeimos – darbo balanso teorija ir jos taikymo svarba. Išanalizuojamos pagrindinės lanksčios darbo organizavimo formos bei aptariama jų reikšmė šeimų stabilumui, darbuotojui bei darbdaviui . Lanksčios darbo organizavimo formos yra priemonių visuma, leidžianti darbuotojui pasirinkti tinkamiausią būdą atlikti profesines užduotis, suderinti darbinius bei asmeninius įsipareigojimus ir išlikti darbo rinkoje net kritiškiausiais šeimos gyvenimo ciklo momentais, tokiais kaip vaiko gimimas, neįgalių asmenų priežiūra namuose ir kt. Šių priemonių įgyvendinimas priklauso ne tik nuo valstybės valdžios sprendimų palankios šeimai politikos įgyvendinime, tačiau ir nuo pačių darbdavių požiūrio , jų turimos motyvacijos taikyti palankios šeimai politikos priemones. Darbe siekiama atskleisti darbdavių požiūrį į darbuotojų, auginančių vaikus, šeimos ir darbo sferų derinimą. Taip pat palyginti darbdavių nuomon su darbuotojų požiūriu į tas pačias problemas. Remiantis A.Maslauskaitės teorija (2004 m), jog rinkos ūkis kuria šeimai nedraugišką aplinką, o darbo rinkoje sėkm pasiekia tik tie individai, kurie nėra saistomi asmeninių įsipareigojimų, atliktas anketinis lyginamasis dviejų oponuojančių grupių nuomonių tyrimas. Autorės atlikto tyrimo rezultatai rodo, jog žymiai daugiau darbdavių, nei darbuotojų link manyti, kad darbuotojai turi pakankamai laiko asmeniniam gyvenimui, savo šeimoms, kad užimtumas darbe nebūtinai riboja individų tarpusavio santykius. / This thesis is a comprehensive analysis of work-family balance theory and the implications of its implementation. The thesis investigates major forms of flexible work organization as well as examines their impact for employer, employee and stability in the family of employee. Forms of flexible work organization aggregate to a set of measures which enable the employee to choose the most suitable way to perform entitled tasks, coordinate professional and personal obligations and remain in the labour market during critical periods of the family life cycle such as birth of a child, homecare of people with disabilities, etc. The successful implementation of these measures depends not only on the decisions of governmental institutions but also on the approach of employers and their motivation to implement flexible measures for favourable family policy conditions. The thesis is aimed to reveal employer‘s approach to employees who seek to combine family and work. Also, analyse and compare the opinions of employers and employees to the same problems. The research part consists of a comparative opinion survey between two opposing groups. It has been carried out on the basis of A. Maslauskaitė theory (2004) which suggests that existing rules of labour market create unfavourable conditions for family while successful career is available only for those who are not bounded by personal obligations. The results of the research indicate that there are many more employers than employees who... [to full text]

Personalomsättningen inom revisionsbranschen är ett viktigt ämne eftersom revisionsbyråerna behöver hålla kvar kvalificerad personal med hög kompetens för att kunna upprätthålla god revisionskvalitet. Eftersom revisorsprofessionen anses vara ett prestigefyllt yrke med höga inträdesbarriärer är det viktigt att ifrågasätta varför någon som väl kommit in väljer att lämna. Syftet med uppsatsen är att förklara vad som påverkar karriärbyten bland revisorsassistenter. Detta kan bidra till en bättre förståelse kring varför revisorsassistenter väljer att sluta innan avlagd revisorsexamen. Med hjälp av en kombination av teorier från bland annat socialpsykologi, motivationsteori och tidigare forskning har en modell utvecklats som illustrerar de olika faktorer som kan antas påverka revisorsassistenters karriärbyten. För att testa modellen har en enkätundersökning om nuvarande och före detta revisorsassistenters uppfattningar och motivationsfaktorer gjorts. Resultatet av undersökningen visar att karriärbyten bland revisorsassistenter kan bero på flera olika faktorer, och indikerar att vissa faktorer som identifierats genom tidigare litteratur kan ifrågasättas. Vår slutsats är att de tre främsta anledningarna till varför revisorsassistenter väljer att sluta är på grund av att de erbjuds externa karriärmöjligheter, har låga uppfattningar om revisorsprofessionen eller upplever en obalans mellan privatliv och arbetsliv. Med en bättre förståelse kring revisorsassistenters karriärbyten kan revisionsbyråerna teoretiskt sett minska de höga kostnader som är förknippade med rekrytering, anställning och utbildning av ny personal. Vår undersökning antyder även att det skulle kunna finnas ännu en modererande variabel, nämligen säsong. Detta är något som framtida forskning skulle kunna undersöka genom att utföra en liknande studie under en annan tid på året. / The audit profession needs to retain qualified staff with extensive expertise in order to maintain good audit quality. It is crucial that employee turnover in audit firms is considered an important aspect and hence thoroughly researched. An important question to ask is why auditors choose to leave their position. Entry barriers are high and it is considered a prestigious profession, yet many junior auditors leave after only a few years of working and choose not to become senior auditors. To develop a better understanding of what it is that makes junior auditors choose to leave before completing their auditor exam, we have combined theories and literature from turnover, job satisfaction and motivation.  Through our research we have developed a model that illustrates the different factors likely to affect junior auditors in their decision to leave the field early. To test the model, a survey of perceptions and motivational factors was given to present and former junior auditors. Although our findings show that the three main reasons for junior auditors leaving are external job opportunities, low perceptions of the audit profession and work-life balance issues, turnover may be due to several different factors. We have come to the conclusion that some factors identified from previous literature can therefore be questioned and that more extensive research is necessary to further understand the reasons behind this gap in the field. The results also indicate a different moderating variable, namely season. Therefore we suggest that further research focuses on this by carrying out a similar study during a different time of the year. With a better understanding of junior auditor turnover, audit firms could reduce the high costs that are associated with recruiting and training junior auditors.

Eleven male and 10 female freelance production workers were interviewed about their experiences of life within the New Zealand film industry. Respondents’ accounts contrast sharply with glamorous images of the industry portrayed in the media. Respondents enjoyed the creative challenges, camaraderie, excitement, and intensity of their working lives and identified strongly with their work. However, they also experienced continual financial insecurity, unpredictable and demoralising periods of unemployment, and recurrent problems maintaining a reasonable work-life balance. Many of the older respondents cited these factors as their main reason for attempting to find work outside the industry. Female production workers appeared to pay a particularly high price for their involvement in the industry and often sacrificed other areas of their lives for their careers. Women frequently compensated for this imbalance by becoming even more career focussed, thus compounding the problems in non-work areas of their lives. Respondents’ accounts are interpreted in relation to current structural conditions, working practices, and power imbalances within the New Zealand film industry. It is argued that freelance production workers’ complex psychological relationship with their work is simultaneously a product of their work environment and helps to perpetuate industry conditions which disadvantage the workforce.

Telework is a method of work that lets employees work from other places than the central office. With the world becoming more digitized, technology is becoming mobile and people become accessible wherever they are located. There are many benefits with Telework, but also many challenges that need to be taken into consideration. The digital era has led to that employees have changed their perception of how often they need to be at the central office, wishing to be more flexible and attain a better work-life balance. However, the adoption of Telework strategies has not grown as fast as first predicted by the originator, Jack Nilles, which some researchers after him have explained to be due to managerial resistance and lack of technology. This master thesis aims to investigate Telework as a phenomenon and explore how modern organizations can evolve to meet the demands of employees seeking more flexibility, but at the same time deal with challenges that may affect the organization negatively. Through a systematic literature review, we explore the concept of Telework and use previous publications in order to find common themes in research in order to find what may have impacted the decision-making process when organizations decide to implement Telework or not. A complementary literature study has also been used to investigate these themes further, which was followed by conducting empirical data collection through one semi-structured interview and two qualitative surveys. From our findings it can be found that common themes that act as drivers for Telework to be implemented are related to: an employee’s eligibility to reduce their commute, availability of digital infrastructure and ICT based tools and the organization’s possibility to cut cost related to office space. In our findings we have identified factors that organizations discuss before making a decision with regard to the implementation of Telework. Lastly, we see that how well an organization has adapted to a digital working environment does have impact on the adoption of Telework, given that there are many ICT solutions that can cope with the challenges Telework brings. / Distansarbete (Telework) är en arbetsmetod som låter anställda arbeta på annan plats än det centrala kontoret. Eftersom digitaliseringen i världen ständigt utvecklas och teknologier utvecklas mot att bli mer mobila så blir människan ständigt nåbar var de än befinner sig. Det finns många fördelar med distansarbete, men också många nackdelar. Den digitala eran har bidragit till att många anställda har förändrat sin syn på hur ofta de behöver befinna sig på det centrala kontoret, vilket har lett till att efterfrågan på flexibilitet och bättre balans mellan arbetsliv och privatliv har ökat. Införandet av distansarbete har dock inte ökat med den fart som upphovsmannen, Jack Nilles, förutspått, vilket forskare efter honom har förklarat med att det funnits ett motstånd från ledargrupper och brist på teknologiska lösningar. Den här masteruppsatsens mål är att undersöka distansarbete som fenomen och utforska hur moderna organisationer kan utvecklas för att möta efterfrågan på ökad flexibilitet från anställda, och samtidigt hantera de utmaningar som en organisation ställs inför. Genom en systematisk litteraturgranskning utforskar vi distansarbete som koncept. Där använder vi tidigare forskning för att försöka hitta teman i vad som påverkat beslutsfattandeprocessen när organisationer diskuterar distansarbete. En kompletterande litteraturstudie har sedan hjälp till att vidare undersöka de funna temana, vilket följdes av insamling av empiriska data genom två kvalitativa enkäter och en semi-strukturerad intervju. I våra fynd har vi hittat att teman som kan ses som drivande i frågan att införa distansarbete: möjligheten för anställda att minska pendlingstid, tillgänglighet av digital infrastruktur och ICT-baserade verktyg, samt organisationens möjlighet att minska kostnader kopplat till minskad kontorsyta. Våra fynd innehåller vilka faktorer som beslutsfattare tar i beaktning när implementation av distansarbete diskuteras inom organisationer. Vi ser också att hur väl en organisation har implementerat ICT-relaterade lösningar påverkar införandet av distansarbete.

Thesis (M.G.S.)--Miami University, Dept. of Sociology and Gerontology, 2004. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 35-37).

Bakgrund: I och med utvecklingen av informations- och kommunikationsteknik har gränserna för var och när arbetet kan utföras suddats ut. Arbetet har med andra ord blivit gränslöst. Även om det möjliggör flexibilitet över arbetstiderna, valfrihet gällande platsen för var arbetet kan utföras samt en ökad kontroll över arbetet kan det också leda till överbelastning och arbetsrelaterad stress, som i sin tur kan ha en negativ inverkan på arbetslivsbalansen och därmed välbefinnandet. Det kan i förlängningen även påverka organisationen negativt då det kan yttra sig genom minskad produktivitet, sjukfrånvaro och personalomsättning, vilket är förenat med ökade kostnader. Som lärare inom akademin finns långtgående möjligheter att förlänga arbetsplatsens tid och rum till följd av utbredningen av informations- och kommunikationsteknik, varpå den här studien behandlar högskolelärares upplevelser av det gränslösa arbetet och hur det kan inverka på hälsan. Syfte: Syftet med föreliggande studie är att undersöka högskolelärares upplevelser av det gränslösa arbetet inom akademin för att öka förståelsen för hur det gränslösa arbetet kan inverka på hälsan och därmed öka förståelsen för på vilket sätt det kan vara en friskfaktor eller riskfaktor. Metod: Då föreliggande studie syftade till att fånga enskilda individers upplevelser, tankar och beskrivningar avseende deras arbetssituation i det gränslösa arbetet på ett nyanserat sätt, valdes en kvalitativ metod. Insamlingen av empirisk data gjordes genom tio individuella semistrukturerade intervjuer på en högskola i Sverige. Slutsatser: Studiens resultat påvisar att det sociala stödet är viktigt i ett gränslöst arbete och kan bland annat bidra till att stressfyllda perioder upplevs som mindre krävande. Att ständigt vara tillgänglig kan däremot påverka hälsan negativt i och med den upplevda stressen som följer med tillgängligheten via e-post. Vidare tyder resultatet på att egenkontroll och frihet i arbetet både kan vara en risk- och friskfaktor beroende på hur gränsdragningar gentemot det övriga livet sker, vilket kan bero på individens egna krav och karriärutsikter, liksom glädjen till sitt arbete. Det innebär att den individuella gränsdragningsförmågan blir fundamental i ett gränslöst arbete. / Background: Due to the development of the information and communication technology the boundaries of where and when to carry out your work have faded. In other words, the work has become boundless. Although this allows for flexibility over working hours, place of work and increased control over your work it can also lead to overload and work related stress, which can have a negative impact on work life balance and therefore health. Also, in the long run it can adversely affect the organization as it can lead to reduced productivity, sickness absence and staff turnover, which is associated with greater costs. As a teacher at the academy there are far reaching opportunities to extend the workplace’s hours and location due to the prevalence of information and communication technology, where this study examines the experiences university lecturers have of the boundless work and its impact on health. Aim: The aim of the present study is to investigate university teachers' experiences of the boundless work within the academy to increase understanding of how boundless work can affect health and thereby increasing understanding of how it may be a health factor or risk factor. Method: As the present study aimed at capturing individual peoples’ experiences, thoughts and descriptions regarding their work situation with boundless work in a nuanced manner, a qualitative method was chosen. The gathering of empirical data was done through ten individual semi- structured interviews at a university in Sweden. Conclusion: The study's results indicate that social support is important in boundless work and can, among other things, help stressful periods to be perceived as less demanding. Continuously being available, however, can affect health negatively, with the perceived stress that comes with availability via email. Furthermore, the result suggests that self-control and freedom at work can be both a risk and a healthy factor depending on how boundaries occur to the rest of life, which may depend on the individual's own requirements and career prospects, as well as the joy of his work. This means that the individual’s ability to create boundaries between work and private life is fundamental in a boundless work.

Bakgrund: Mer än hälften av nyexaminerade revisorsassistenter lämnar revisionsyrket inom tre år. Revisionsbranschen präglas av en intensiv högsäsong som påverkar välmåendet negativt hos många revisorer. Välmåendet påverkas av balansen mellan arbetet och fritiden, arbetstillfredsställelse och livstillfredsställelse. Försämring bidrar enligt tidigare forskning till personalomsättning. Eftersom revisionsbyråerna investerar mycket i revisorsassistenterna har de incitament att behålla sina anställda. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att utforska hur före detta revisorsassistenter resonerar kring det subjektiva välmåendet och hur det, i förhållande till andra aspekter, bidragit till valet att lämna revisionsyrket innan auktorisation. Metod: Studien tillämpar en intervjumetod med en huvudsaklig deduktiv ansats. Primärdata har samlats in genom semi-strukturerade intervjuer med elva före detta revisorsassistenter som har arbetat på Big 4-byråer. Empirin har analyserats tematiskt. Slutsats: Studien indikerar att det finns flera anledningar till att revisorsassistenter byter yrke. Det har visats finnas missnöje med låg lön i samband med hög arbetsbörda och många arbetstimmar under högsäsongen. Yrken som kräver samma yrkeserfarenhet ger dessutom högre lön för mindre arbete. Studien indikerar även att revisionsyrket används som ett insteg till andra karriärmöjligheter. / Introduction: More than half of newly graduated audit assistants leave the audit profession within three years. The audit industry is characterized by an intense peak season that adversely affects the well-being of auditors. Well-being is affected by work-life balance, job satisfaction and life satisfaction. Declined well-being contributes to turnover, according to prior research. As the audit firms invest a lot in the audit assistants, there are incentives to keep their employees. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to explore how former auditor assistants reason about their subjective well-being and how, in relation to other aspects, it contributed to the choice to leave the audit profession before authorization. Method: The study applies an interview method with a mainly deductive approach. Primary data has been collected through semi-structured interviews with eleven former audit assistants who have worked at Big 4 firms. The empirical data was analysed thematically. Conclusion: The study indicates that there are several reasons why audit assistants change professions. The study finds dissatisfaction with low salary in connection with high workload and many working hours during the peak season. In addition, occupations that require the same professional experience provide higher pay for less work, which contributes to changes in profession. The study also indicates that the audit profession is used as an entry to other career opportunities.

Submitted by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2011-09-21T12:34:09Z No. of bitstreams: 1 SMAHA_H,_Trabalho_e_Familia_no_contexto_do_teletrabalho_-_EBAPE_2009.pdf: 583842 bytes, checksum: 93c08cd34875730dc91984239e6832c4 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2011-09-21T12:34:48Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 SMAHA_H,_Trabalho_e_Familia_no_contexto_do_teletrabalho_-_EBAPE_2009.pdf: 583842 bytes, checksum: 93c08cd34875730dc91984239e6832c4 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2011-09-21T12:35:29Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 SMAHA_H,_Trabalho_e_Familia_no_contexto_do_teletrabalho_-_EBAPE_2009.pdf: 583842 bytes, checksum: 93c08cd34875730dc91984239e6832c4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2011-09-21T12:35:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 SMAHA_H,_Trabalho_e_Familia_no_contexto_do_teletrabalho_-_EBAPE_2009.pdf: 583842 bytes, checksum: 93c08cd34875730dc91984239e6832c4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Esta dissertação tem como objetivo contribuir para o conhecimento sobre o teletrabalho, especialmente, sobre a dinâmica da realização do trabalho na esfera familiar, a partir do home-office telework. Investigou-se de que maneira os teletrabalhadores e sua família dão sentido aos dilemas, oportunidades e exigências da realização do trabalho no ambiente familiar, à luz de suas práticas discursivas. Para tanto, entrevistas semi-estruturadas foram realizadas com 25 teletrabalhadores e seus co-residentes e analisadas sob a ótica da análise de conteúdo. A pesquisa revela que quando a casa dá lugar às atividades profissionais do indivíduo, as relações entre as demandas pessoais, familiares e profissionais se tornam mais próximas, diluídas e entrelaçadas. A aproximação das esferas de trabalho e não-trabalho conduz a uma ruptura nas dinâmicas espaciais, temporais e psicológicas desses domínios, proporcionando aos indivíduos oportunidades de desenvolvimento pessoal. No entanto, as mudanças pelas quais os mesmos terão de passar apresentam potencialidades contraditórias. Ao mesmo tempo em que o teletrabalho proporciona uma oportunidade de integração com a família e flexibilidade para o melhor aproveitamento do tempo de trabalho e não-trabalho, a dificuldade de equilibrar dois mundos construídos sobre discursos diversos, o mundo da casa e da rua, pode despontar uma crise, dependendo do preparo de cada família para essa situação de trabalho. A fim de auxiliar na interpretação dos resultados, os pontos de conteúdo mais expressivos, os quais ilustram o exposto acima, foram expostos em quatro temas relacionados ao telehomework: espaço, flexibilidade de tempo, gênero e equilíbrio trabalho-vida pessoal. / This research aims at fostering understanding of telework, especially its dynamic when working is carried out at home domains, through the practice of the home-based telework. It explores how teleworkers make sense out of the dilemmas, opportunities and demands of teleworking from home, through the analysis of their discursive practices. Therefore, semistructured interviews were conducted with a sample of 25 teleworkers and their respective coresidents and analyzed using the method of content analysis. The study reveals that when the home gives place to the professional activities of an individual, the relationship among the personal, family and professional demands become closer, blurred and interlaced. The merging of the working and non-working spheres conducts to a rupture of the spatial, temporal and psychological contours of these domains, bringing the individuals selfdevelopment opportunities. However, the transformations that these individuals will have to face represent contradictory potentialities. Whilst telework brings an opportunity of family integration and flexibility for the better use of working and non-working time, the difficulty of balancing two cultural systems constructed over distinct discourses, the private sphere and the public sphere, may lead to a crisis, depending on the preparation of each family to receive this mode of working from home. In order to contribute to the interpretation of the results, the most expressive topics, which illustrate the above exposed, were presented in four themes related to telehomework: space, time flexibility, gender and work-life balance.

Doctor of Philosophy / Psychological Sciences / Patrick A. Knight / Satisfaction with work-family balance is a relatively new construct that differs from other work-life constructs in several ways: it is not focused on conflict between work/family domains, does not include cross-domain transfer processes, has no directional implications, and is not multidimensional. The current study has three purposes: 1. Examine work-family balance issues for both blue-collar and white-collar employees, as the literature has focused mainly on white-collar employees. 2. Examine relationship between technology and satisfaction with work-family balance. 3. Assess how role salience influences satisfaction with work-family balance. Participants were recruited and compensated for completing a 60 item online survey via Qualtrics. Blue-collar participants were recruited from manufacturing industries, while no industry was specified for white-collar employees. The sample consisted of 210 participants (105 blue-collar, 105 white-collar). Several checks were included throughout the survey to ensure data quality. Two hierarchical regression analyses were conducted. The first regression revealed that boundary control and autonomy predict satisfaction with work-family balance, while employee type and boundary interruptions do not. Boundary control, family identity, and stress significantly predicted satisfaction with work-family balance in the second regression, while boundary interruptions, work identity, hours worked, and technology use did not. Results indicate white-collar workers have higher satisfaction with work-family balance, lower stress, and lower turnover intentions compared to blue-collar workers. Results also reveal that technology use to complete work outside of work hours is significantly and positively related to stress. Nearly half of participants report feeling expected to utilize technology to complete work outside of work hours. In addition, while it was hypothesized that those higher on family identity would have lower satisfaction with work-family balance when they used technology outside of work hours, worked longer hours, and had more frequent boundary interruptions than would those lower on family identity, the opposite effect was found for each of these variables. Implications of the study include: 1. Organizations may improve employee satisfaction with work-family balance by increasing autonomy and boundary control. 2. Employees may improve satisfaction with work-family balance by taking time to de-stress from work and limiting use of technology to complete work outside of work hours.