Bryan, M.L. orcid.org/0000-0002-5000-8946 and Sevilla, A.
(2017)
Flexible Working in the UK and its Impact on Couples' Time Coordination.
Review of Economics of the Household, 15 (4).
pp. 1415-1437.
ISSN 1569-5239
Abstract
The ability to combine work with quality time together as a family is at the heart of the concept of work-life balance. Using previously unexploited data on couples work schedules we investigate the effect of flexible working on couples coordination of their daily work schedules in the UK. We consider three distinct dimensions of flexible working: flexibility of daily start and finish times (flexitime), flexibility of work times over the year (annualized hours), and generalized control of working hours. We show that having flexitime at work increases a couples amount of coordination of their daily work schedules by a half to one hour, which is double the margin of adjustment enjoyed by couples with no flexitime. The impact is driven by couples with children. In contrast to flexitime, the other two forms of flexible working do not seem to increase synchronous time. Our results suggest that having flexitime plays an important role in relaxing the work scheduling constraints faced by families with young children, and that effective flexible working time arrangements are those that increase the workers and not the employers flexibility.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2017 Springer Verlag. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in Review of Economics of the Household. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. The final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s11150-017-9389-6 |
Keywords: | Flexible work; Time synchronization; Time coordination; Work synchronization; Work coordination; Labor supply |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Economics (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 03 Oct 2017 15:25 |
Last Modified: | 27 Sep 2018 00:38 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s11150-017-9389-6 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Springer Verlag |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1007/s11150-017-9389-6 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:121706 |