Author: Rachel Cohen
Work unbounded?
This paper explores intersecting dimensions of the work-life boundary, asks how these are changing and relates this to changes in employment relations and the increase in non-standard employment – self-employment, temporary and zero-hours contracts – and ‘non-employment’ relations (for instance, au-pairing or foster care).
Unbounded work is understood in comparison with ‘bounded’ work, rooted in masculine employment, an industrial landscape and strong trade unions’ moderating power. The (un)boundedness of work has varied historically, but also depending on the dimension considered. Dimensions include, among others:
1) Temporality – the temporal boundedness of work has often morphed into analysis of work duration (or ‘overwork’ (Schor 1992)). Temporal unboundedness, is however complex, encompassing duration, but also porosity, schedule and (control over) variability.
2) Spatiality – homeworking and mobile work disrupt spatial boundaries (Felstead et al., 2005), and have rapidly in the UK over the last 20 years. Analysis has, however, often focused on white collar activities (Cohen, 2010).
3) Sociality – unbounded sociality includes managerially enforced sociability (Bolton and Houlihan, 2009); friendships (or love) at work (Cowan and Horan, 2014; Pettinger, 2005); incorporation of personal life activity within work times/spaces (Rose, 2013) and work-structures rooted in personal relations.
The paper suggests a relationship between particular occupations, unboundedness and the growth in non-standard employment relations. Investigation of this relationship reveals the rise of new forms of extractive behaviour and modes of spatio-temporal organisation and control, as well as new social inequalities. The paper considers the implications of these changes for LPT.
The paper draws on published research and the authors’ quantitative analysis of the UK Labour Force Survey and other existing data.