Full Description
Workplace flexibility, work-family conflict, and time famine have taken the spotlight in recent years as politicians from all sides of the political spectrum have pointed to the need for increasing workplace flexibility. In today's economy and work environment, what does workplace flexibility mean; how does it affect different groups of people; and is it important to national security? This special issue addresses these questions with articles based on research papers presented at a national conference hosted by the Sloan Foundation and the Georgetown Law Center's Workplace Flexibility 2010 program. The authors argue that current workplaces are not meeting the needs of today's workers, and the lack of workplace flexibility is having huge human capital costs that are affecting every sector of society. They explore how flexibility, despite having fixed costs, can be an effective tool for attracting and retaining employees and increasing productivity—the key being to make the workplace flexible in ways that are profitable for employers and also engage workers to feel more satisfied and committed to their jobs. This volume will appeal to students of political sociology and industrial labor relations, and to a multidisciplinary scholarly audience in sociology, demography, psychology, and business administration and management.
Contents
Introduction: Making a Case for Workplace Flexibility - Kathleen Christensen & Barbara Schneider
Family Change and Time Allocation in American Families - Suzanne M. Bianchi
The Cost of Workplace Flexibility for High-Powered Professionals - Claudia Goldin & Lawrence F. Katz
Phased Retirement and Workplace Flexibility for Older Adults: Opportunities and Challenges - Richard W. Johnson
Workplace Flexibility and Worker Agency: Finding Short-Term Flexibility within a Highly Structured Workplace - Lawrence S. Root & Alford A. Young Jr.
The Human Face of Workplace Flexibility - Barbara Schneider
Workplace Flexibility and Daily Stress Processes in Hotel Employees and Their Children - David M. Almeida & Kelly D. Davis
Keeping Women in the Science Pipeline - Marc Goulden, Mary Ann Mason, & Karie Frasch
Military Families: Extreme Work and Extreme "Work-Family" - Shelley MacDermid Wadsworth & Kenona Southwell
