Toward a Model of Work Redesign for Better Work and Better Life

Flexible work accommodations provided by employers purport to help individuals struggling to manage work and family demands. The underlying model for change is accommodation—helping individuals accommodate their work demands with no changes in the structure of work or cultural expectations of ideal workers. The purpose of this article is to derive a Work Redesign Model and compare it with the Accommodation Model. This article centers around two change initiatives—Predictability, Teaming and Open Communication and Results Only Work Environment—that alter the structure and culture of work in ways that enable better work and better lives.

[1]  Christopher M. Barnes,et al.  Borrowing from Sleep to Pay Work and Family: Expanding Time‐Based Conflict to the Broader Nonwork Domain , 2012 .

[2]  E. Kelly,et al.  Team-level flexibility, work-home spillover, and health behavior. , 2013, Social science & medicine.

[3]  Paul Osterman,et al.  Work Family Programs and the Employment Relationship , 1995 .

[4]  B. Nolan,et al.  Perceived Insufficient Rest or Sleep Among Adults – United States, 2008 , 2010 .

[5]  J. Jacobs,et al.  The Time Divide: Work, Family, and Gender Inequality (The Family and Public Policy) , 2005 .

[6]  Arlie Russell Hochschild,et al.  The Time Bind , 1997 .

[7]  Ann Marie Ryan,et al.  Work-life policy implementation: Breaking down or creating barriers to inclusiveness? , 2008 .

[8]  A. Wharton,et al.  Use of Formal and Informal Work–Family Policies on the Digital Assembly Line , 2008 .

[9]  Leslie B. Hammer,et al.  Work—life initiatives and organizational change: Overcoming mixed messages to move from the margin to the mainstream , 2010, Human relations; studies towards the integration of the social sciences.

[10]  Laurie A. Rudman,et al.  Penalizing Men Who Request a Family Leave: Is Flexibility Stigma a Femininity Stigma? , 2013 .

[11]  Joyce K. Fletcher,et al.  Beyond Work-Family Balance: Advancing Gender Equity and Workplace Performance , 2001 .

[12]  Arlie Russell Hochschild,et al.  The Time Bind: When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work , 1997 .

[13]  Paul Glavin,et al.  Trouble at the Border?: Gender, Flexibility at Work, and the Work-Home Interface , 2008 .

[14]  Erin L Kelly,et al.  Changing Workplaces to Reduce Work-Family Conflict , 2011, American sociological review.

[15]  Erin L Kelly,et al.  Does Enhancing Work-Time Control and Flexibility Reduce Turnover? A Naturally Occurring Experiment. , 2011, Social problems.

[16]  Jennifer L. Berdahl,et al.  Cultural Schemas, Social Class, and the Flexibility Stigma , 2013 .

[17]  James T. Bond,et al.  Times are Changing: Gender and Generation at Work and at Home in the USA , 2013 .

[18]  L. Bailyn.  Redesigning work for gender equity and work–personal life integration , 2011 .

[19]  Stable Url.  A Theory of Structure: Duality, Agency, and Transformation , 2007 .

[20]  Suzan Lewis,et al.  `Family Friendly' Employment Policies: A Route to Changing Organizational Culture or Playing About at the Margins? , 1997 .

[21]  R. Rosa,et al.  American time use survey: sleep time and its relationship to waking activities. , 2007, Sleep.

[22]  Lisa M. Leslie,et al.  Flexible Work Practices: A Source of Career Premiums or Penalties? , 2012 .

[23]  E. Kelly,et al.  Redesigning, Redefining Work , 2014 .

[24]  K. S. Lyness,et al.  Left behind? The impact of leaves of absence on managers' career success. , 1999 .

[25]  S. Lambert.  Passing the buck: Labor flexibility practices that transfer risk onto hourly workers , 2008 .

[26]  S. Bernstein.  Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It , 2014 .

[27]  Leslie A. Perlow,et al.  Sleeping with Your Smartphone: How to Break the 24/7 Habit and Change the Way You Work , 2012 .

[28]  E. Kelly,et al.  Relieving the Time Squeeze? Effects of a White-Collar Workplace Change on Parents. , 2013, Journal of marriage and the family.

[29]  P. M. Valcour,et al.  Human Resources Practices as Predictors of Work‐Family Outcomes and Employee Turnover , 2003 .

[30]  S. Bianchi.  Competing Devotions: Career and Family among Women Executives , 2005 .

[31]  Melissa A Milkie,et al.  When Work Interferes with Life: Work-Nonwork Interference and the Influence of Work-Related Demands and Resources , 2009 .

[32]  Erin L. Kelly,et al.  Managing flexible work arrangements in US organizations: formalized discretion or ‘a right to ask’ , 2006 .

[33]  C. Kelliher,et al.  Doing more with less? Flexible working practices and the intensification of work , 2010 .

[34]  Mary Blair-Loy,et al.  Work Without End? , 2009 .

[35]  M. Padgett,et al.  The impact of utilizing a flexible work schedule on the perceived career advancement potential of women , 2004 .

[36]  Erin L Kelly,et al.  Rethinking the ClockWork of Work: Why Schedule Control May Pay Off at Work and at Home , 2007, Advances in developing human resources.

[37]  A. Wharton,et al.  The Time Divide: Work, Family, and Gender Inequality , 2005 .

[38]  Jennifer K. Bosson,et al.  When Equal Isn't Really Equal: The Masculine Dilemma of Seeking Work Flexibility , 2013 .

[39]  R. Kessler,et al.  Insomnia and the performance of US workers: results from the America insomnia survey. , 2011, Sleep.

[40]  Elisabeth S. Clemens,et al.  The Typical Tools for the Job: Research Strategies in Institutional Analysis* , 2006 .

[41]  Erin L Kelly,et al.  Gendered Challenge, Gendered Response , 2010, Gender & society : official publication of Sociologists for Women in Society.

[42]  Beth A. Rubin,et al.  Home-to-Job and Job-to-Home Spillover: The Impact of Company Policies and Workplace Culture , 2005 .

[43]  J. Jacobs.  Good Jobs, Bad Jobs , 2013 .

[44]  Jennifer Glass,et al.  Blessing or Curse? , 2004 .

[45]  Scott Coltrane,et al.  Fathers and the Flexibility Stigma , 2013 .

[46]  Joan Acker.  HIERARCHIES, JOBS, BODIES: , 1990 .

[47]  Paul E. Spector,et al.  Can work make you sick? A meta-analysis of the relationships between job stressors and physical symptoms , 2011 .