Daily Job Flexibility and the Wellbeing of Working Parents

Purpose. Research is clear that the more control workers have over work schedule, the easier it is for them to reconcile work and family responsibilities. Moreover, it is likely that schedule flexibility may be of special advantage for working parents with pre-school children, who have extra caregiving demands. Yet, limited research has investigated how the relationship between schedule flexibility and worker well-being varies by parental status. Using data from a nationally representative sample, the study investigates whether the associations between two aspects of daily work scheduling (adjusting starting and ending times; taking time off during the work day) and three key dimensions of subjective worker well-being vary by gender and parental status. Drawing from role conflict theory (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985) and research on the relationship between daily job flexibility and worker well-being (Golden, Henly & Lambert, 2013), we hypothesize that working parents gain greater benefits from daily job flexibility due to their extra care-giving burdens than nonparents. In particular, given the different care-giving roles across gender, we expect that benefits of daily flexibility are greatest for working mothers with young children.

Methods. Data include 4,427 employed adults from the 2002, 2006 and 2010 US General Social Survey, Quality of Work Life module. Dependent variables include perceived job stress (1= never - 5=very often), work family interference (1=never - 4= often) and job satisfaction (1=not at all satisfied - 4= very satisfied). Schedule flexibility indicators include the ability to change starting and quitting times (1= never - 4= often) and difficulty taking time off during work (1=very hard - 4=not at all hard). Control variables include demographic characteristics as well as duration of work hours, part/full-time status, and occupation. We use OLS regression estimation to assess the associations between daily job flexibility and the three proposed outcomes. Then, the interaction of daily job flexibility with parental status (having a child younger than 6 years old) is examined separately for male and female workers.

Results. Descriptively, 14 percent of male workers and 16 percent of female workers have pre-school children. Working parents reported higher work family interference than nonparents and mothers reported lower daily job flexibility than non-mothers. Multivariate results indicate that daily job flexibility variables, that is, the ability to take time off during the day and to vary start and end times, are associated with higher job satisfaction, less work-family interference, and less job-related stress. Interaction results suggest that, among female workers, mothers benefit the most from both types of daily schedule control in terms of reduced work stress and work-family interference while both types of daily schedule control benefit male workers regardless of whether or not they have young children.

Implication. Overall, daily flexibility on the job can yield benefits to workers’ well-being. Given the lower job flexibility among working mothers, benefits may be particularly salient for working mothers. The findings suggest multiple levers for both employer and public policy that can structure greater flexibility into workers’ daily jobs, supporting the well-being of working parents, especially working mothers.