ILPC 2027

 Schedule flexibility, that is providing workers control over when they work is increasingly becoming a popular win-win solution to tackle work-life balance needs of employees while keeping costs down and potentially increasing productivity for employers(Goodstein, 1994). Increasing number of companies are making use of flexitime and more governments are now providing the right to request flexible schedules as a part of their family friendly policies (Hegewisch, 2009. Providing workers with control over when they work can have a positive impact on worker’s work-life balance (see for a review, Michel et al., 2011; Allen et al., 2013) , work commitment (Gallie et al., 2012) and health (Ala-Mursula et al., 2004). However, it can also have negative outcomes, with increased working hours (Golden, 2001; Burchell et al., 2007; Gambles et al., 2006) and work intensity (Kelliher and Anderson, 2010) being among the most problematic. There are several theories that can explain the increased work intensity when having more control over your work, but in sum it depends whether this control is a right, gift or a constraint. In this paper I argue that the extent to which schedule control fits into one of the three category depends largely on the country context. Based on the institutional theory(DiMaggio and Powell, 1983) and crowding-in theory(van Oorschot and Arts, 2005) we can expect that the institutional context in which schedule control is being used will affect its nature. Based on the institutional theory, countries where generous family policies exist at the national level may be those where schedule control will more likely be a right. In this case schedule control is less likely to lead to increased work intensity. In addition to family policies, industrial relations and economic/labour market conditions of the country may also impact the nature of occupational welfare- in this case schedule flexibility. Based on the power resource theory (Korpi, 1989) countries where unions are strong and centralised may be the ones where schedule control is more of a right, as well as in countries where labour market demand outstrips supply and the increase in work intensity is likely to be weaker. Finally, the work culture and norms of the country will be of relevance. These theories will be tested through using data from EU27 countries via the European Social Survey of 2010 and European Working Condition Survey of 2010/2015. A multilevel modelling technique will be used to examine whether schedule control has a varying impact on individual’s perceived work-family conflict across countries, and whether national contexts have a role in explaining this variance.