ILPC 2027

 Providing workers with control over when and how long they work, as well as where they work can have a positive impact on worker’s work-life balance (see for a review, Michel et al., 2011; Possenriede and Plantenga, 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.

Despite the large number of studies that examine the consequences of flexible working, rarely do these studies examine whether there are differences across different groups of workers. This paper uses the UK Work Employment Relations Survey of 2011 to examine whether flexible working can influence work-family conflict of workers, and how this relationship will vary depending on the gender, family and occupational contexts. Flexible working includes schedule control, but also teleworking – or the possibility to work from home. Here I assume that flexible work arrangements may help workers balance work-life balance by giving them more control over their work. At the same time, flexible working can increase work-family conflict of workers due to the increase in work intensity and working hours (overtime hours). However, there may be differences between gender, workers with different family and occupational context in the increase in working hours and work intensity brought on by the use of flexible work arrangements, thus eventually having different outcomes in the work-family conflict outcomes of flexible working.

It has been shown that men and women use flexible work arrangements in different manner, where women use it more to adjust their work schedules around their family commitment(Craig and Powell, 2012; Singley and Hynes, 2005). Further, there is evidence to show that for men flexible working may lead to increased working hours and spill-over, while this may not be the case for women (Golden, 2001; Schieman & Galvin, 2008; Lott and Chung). Similarly, worker’s parental status and care responsibility will impact the way flexible work arrangements are being used. On the other hand, workers with higher occupations (Blair-Loy,2009) with higher statuses (Schieman, Galvin & Milkie, 2009) are more likely to increase their work intensity/devotion to work. For lower occupational groups there may be less possibility to work flexibly, but once the possibility is given, there may be less blurring of boundaries for this group. Finally, the workplace context and the extent to which long-hours cultures are a norm will affect the nature of flexible work arrangements and its outcomes.