Failures of flexibility: How perceived control motivates the individualization of work-life conflict
Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
1-2020
Abstract
Firms have increasingly used flexibility policies to facilitate work-life balance, yet existing research shows that employees are stigmatized for using these seemingly beneficial policies. In this article, the authors identify perceived control, that is, the sense of control employees feel they have over managing their work-life conflicts, as a key factor in their avoidance of flexibility policies. Through 50 in-depth interviews with management consultants from five firms, the authors find that employees frame managing their work-life conflicts as a test of their professional skills, emphasize their “natural” suitability for the consulting industry, use choice rhetoric to reframe oppressive work demands as personal choices, and accentuate their ability to exit the consulting industry if they are unable to manage their work-life balance independently. Empirically, this study provides a fuller explanation for the pervasive avoidance of flexibility policies and expands on prior explanations that focus on flexibility stigma.
Keywords
work-family policies, working time, overwork, qualitative methods, ideal worker
Discipline
Family, Life Course, and Society | Work, Economy and Organizations
Research Areas
Sociology
Publication
Industrial and Labor Relations Review
Volume
73
Issue
1
First Page
61
Last Page
90
ISSN
0019-7939
Identifier
10.1177/0019793919848426
Publisher
SAGE
Citation
WYNN, Alison T., & RAO, Aliya Hamid.(2020). Failures of flexibility: How perceived control motivates the individualization of work-life conflict. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 73(1), 61-90.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2828
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1177/0019793919848426