Flexible Work and Well-being Center

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We propose to create a multidisciplinary center, the Flexible Work and Well-being Center, at the University of Minnesota. This center will serve as a key node in a new national research network that will study the interrelationships among work, family, health, and well-being. The primary goals of the center are to develop, in conjunction with the network, a theoretical framework, methodological tools, and research protocols for rigorous studies of the health effects of workplace policies and practices. We will partner with a large, high-tech company to conduct this developmental research. We will investigate workplace policies and practices that enhance employees' work-hour latitude, that is, flexibility and control over where and when employees' work and the number of hours spent on the job. Research suggests that greater work-hour latitude may be a critical intervention for improving the effective functioning, health, and well-being of workers and their families at every life stage. Our individual project will 1) summarize and evaluate existing research and theory on the direct, mediating, and moderating effects of work-hour latitude on employees' health, health-related behaviors, and well-being, 2) investigate the needs, strategies, and experiences of employees at different life stages and with different health and family statuses, with regards to work-hour latitude and health, 3) assess the implementation of existing work-hour latitude policies in our partner organization, and 4) identify and evaluate the feasibility of possible changes in work-hour latitude policies and practices in this organization and in others. We bring to the network extensive expertise in life course theory and institutional theories of organizational change. We propose to build on those traditions in collaborative projects that 1) analyze the needs of at-risk sub-groups of workers, particularly older workers, disabled workers, employees caring for aging or disabled relatives, and employees currently experiencing life course transitions, and 2) systematically assess organizational capacities and cultures in order to identify appropriate interventions and plan for their implementation. The dramatic shifts in the conditions of paid work and in family life that have occurred over the last fifty years have created a mismatch between the lived experiences of today's workers and families and the institutionalized structures of the workplace. The consequences of this mismatch include work-family conflicts and other forms of stress, strain, and a variety of health problems. This center, and the network as a whole, will investigate how workplace policies and practices can be changed to improve the health and wellbeing of workers and their family members, including the children who will become the workers of the next generation.