Thesis advisor: Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes / The majority of family caregivers of older adults are also working for pay, and many experience work-family role conflict in managing both work and caregiving responsibilities. Work-family role conflict is associated with poorer psychological and physical health, which interferes with their ability to provide optimal care. Informed by role theory, this dissertation uses a randomized national sample of caregivers of older adults (N=465) to address the relationships between workplace characteristics, workplace flexibility, work-family role conflict, and caregiver stress. While much research has explored the work-family interface, few studies have investigated the workplace characteristics and work-family role conflict exclusively among caregivers of older adults. Additionally, the few studies exploring the relationship between workplace flexibility and stress among caregivers of older adults have yielded inconsistent findings. Results indicate that workplace characteristics associated with work-family role conflict among caregivers of older adults include supervisor support, work overload, work hours, and perceptions of a family-supportive work environment. A significant interaction effect between caregiving frequency (weekly vs. intermittent) indicates that while workplace flexibility is associated with decreased work-family conflict among those providing care intermittently, this association is not found for those providing care on a regular, weekly basis. A second set of analyses limited to regular, weekly caregivers (N=211) finds that work-family role conflict mediates the relationship between workplace flexibility and caregiver stress. This suggests that workplace flexibility may only benefit caregivers when work-family conflict is mitigated or reduced. Workplace flexibility is not associated with stress among caregivers in fair or poor health; caregivers struggling with their own health issues may need additional supports to manage work and family demands. These findings can inform the efforts of policymakers and practitioners working to promote the well-being of family caregivers of older adults. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.

The aim of this study is to investigate the employee's view of the workplace's flexibility in two contexts, in the office and at home. The study has a qualitative approach based on six semi-structured interviews of employees in four different organizations. Furthermore, the employees' experience of support, routines and structures have been researched as well as the advantages and disadvantages of working in two contexts. The results indicate that all respondents appreciate the flexibility in their working life. It has contributed to a simplified everyday life that concerns private affairs such as child pickup, training, social life and a sense of freedom. However, flexible work has its challenges such as the demarcation between work and privacy becoming diffuse. Nevertheless, it is clear that the respondents value flexible workplace it feels that the opportunities weigh more than the challenges. The results also indicate that the employee's personal characteristics have a decisive factor in managing their workplace in two contexts. In accordance with Lave and Wenger's (1991) theory of context bounded learning, the context does not mean only one, it can mean several contexts. / Denna studies syfte är att studera medarbetarens syn på arbetsplatsens flexibilitet i två kontexter, på arbetsplatsen och i hemmet. Studien har en kvalitativ ansats som baseras på sex semistrukturerade intervjuer med medarbetare i fyra olika organisationer där samtliga arbetar i två olika kontexter. Vidare har medarbetarnas upplevelse av stöd, rutiner och strukturer studerats samt vilka för- och nackdelar detta innebär för medarbetarna i deras organisation vid arbete på två kontexter. Resultatet visar att samtliga respondenter visar uppskattning för flexibiliteten i deras arbetsliv. Den bidragande faktorn är en förenklad vardag där privata angelägenheter såsom hämtning av barn, träning, sociala livet blir en känsla av frihet. Dock har det flexibla arbetet utmaningar som att avgränsningen mellan arbete och privatliv blir diffus. Trots detta är det tydligt att respondenterna värderar flexibelt arbetssätt då det upplever att möjligheterna väger mer än utmaningarna. Resultatet visar även att medarbetarens personliga egenskaper har en avgörande faktor för att klara av en arbetsplats med två kontexter. I enlighet med Lave och Wengers (1991) teori om kontextbundet lärande behöverinte kontexten enbart vara en utan kan innebära flera kontexter.

Yes / This paper investigates the relationship between workplace flexibility practices (WFPs) and corporate performance using data from the British Workplace Employment Relations Survey 2004. Disaggregating WFPs into numerical, functional and cost aspects enables the analysis of their relationships to an objective measure of corporate performance, namely workplace financial turnover. Furthermore separate analyses are presented for different types of workplace: differentiated by workforce size; ownership; age; wage level; and unionization. Results show that different types of workplaces need to pay attention to the mix of WFPs they adopt. We find that certain cost WFPs (profit-related pay, merit pay and payment-by-results) have strong positive relationships with corporate performance. However, training delivers mixed corporate performance results, while the extent of job autonomy and the proportion of part-time employees in a workplace have an inverse association with corporate performance. Given the limited existing research examining disaggregated measures of WFPs and objectively measured corporate performance, this paper offers useful insights for firms, policy makers and the overall economy.

This study used structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine how sleep problems, Body Mass Index (BMI), and poverty were related to several work, personal, and family variables in a sample of married male and female workers in the United States. The data for this study came from the National Study of the Changing Workforce (NSCW) 2008. This large, nationally representative dataset provided a resource for examining potential gender differences in variables that have been linked to sleep problems and increases in BMI, as well as how each of these variables relate to several work, personal, and family life outcomes, including marital satisfaction, work-to-family conflict, family-to-work conflict, self-reported health (SRH), and life satisfaction. Poverty, work hours, family meals, and workplace flexibility were analyzed in the model to assess their connections to sleep problems and BMI, as well as the five outcome variables. The SEM analysis utilized a multi-group gender comparison by analyzing differences between two group models consisting of married male employees (n = 1105) and married female employees (n = 1019) in the U.S. The model was significantly different for married males than married females. Several of the individual pathways in the model also differed significantly by gender. Family dinners and workplace flexibility seem to provide a positive influence on health and satisfaction outcomes, and relate negatively to sleep problems and BMI, as well as both types of work and family conflict. Sleep problems also were related to increased work-family conflict, and decreased health and satisfaction outcomes. Also, BMI scores were negatively related to self-reported health and life satisfaction. Overall, this study showed that several work and family demands and resources are related to sleep problems and BMI. It also demonstrated that sleep problems and BMI were generally related to negative outcomes in work, personal, and family life.

Flexibility in the workplace is no longer perceived as a benefit to employees but as a requirement for organizations to remain competitive. Financial compensation alone may be insufficient to encourage employee retention. The purpose of this qualitative, single case study was to explore the strategies that corporate accounting and finance leaders implement to promote workplace flexibility for increasing accountants' retention. The conceptual framework for this study was Karasek's demand control support framework. The research sample consisted of 6 corporate accounting and finance leaders who had a history of successfully implementing a workplace flexibility program. Data analysis consisted of compiling the data, coding for emergent and a priori codes, disassembling the data into common codes, reassembling the data into themes, interpreting the meaning, and reporting the themes. The major themes from the findings of this study were leadership support and commitment, organization-wide tailored flexibility, clear communication of expectations, trust and cooperation, employee evaluation based on results and deliverables, and the use of technological advances to enhance team collaboration. Organizations and business leaders can use the findings from this study to create competitive advantage by enhancing their existing flexibility policies or to implement formal workplace flexibility policies that may help to reduce the stress and strain that employees experience in attempting to balance their personal and professional life. The implications for social change include creating a balance between employees' jobs and other responsibilities that allows employees to contribute positively to their family and the local community.