Not just a caregiver’s problem: The negative consequences of workplace flexibility bias for all workers

• In Event: 429 - Section on Organizations, Occupations and Work Paper Session. Gender at Work

Abstract

The mismatch between the demands of workers and workplaces has received increased scholarly attention, and prompted researchers to call on organizations to redefine and redesign work. This research has identified flexibility bias—the stigmatization and penalization of workers who take leave or use flexible work arrangements (e.g., part-time, telework) to attend to family or personal responsibilities—as a central feature of this mismatch. The purpose of this paper is to theoretically and empirically expand this flexibility bias concept. We argue that flexibility bias can be consequential for all workers and that flexibility bias operates through workplace cultures as well as through interactions with coworkers and supervisors. Using nationally-representative data of US workers, we investigate whether workplace flexibility bias (i.e. being employed in a work environment with flexibility bias) affects workers’ subjective work experiences. We find that workplace flexibility bias reduces job satisfaction and engagement, and increases job-to-home and home-to-job spillover, and turnover intentions for all workers—even net of caregiving responsibilities, flexible work arrangement use, and personal experiences with family responsibilities discrimination. Further, we find that coworker and supervisor support for workers’ family or personal lives does little to buffer workers’ job satisfaction, job-to-home and home-to-job spillover, and turnover intentions from the deleterious effects of workplace flexibility bias. This suggests that stigma against those who seek flexible work arrangements for family caregiving or personal responsibilities can exist at the level of workplace culture, outside of interactions with colleagues. We discuss the scholarly and economic implications of these findings.

Author

• Lindsey Trimble O'Connor, California State University-Channel Islands