Working time flexibility and work-life balance across Europe and the role of contexts: connecting the individual- , company- and the country-level

这一极具创新性的跨学科项目利用社会学、管理学和心理学的理论和最新的量化方法，旨在研究工作时间灵活性对个人工作-生活平衡的影响，以及环境在这种关系中的重要性。它汇集了我多年来积累的关键研究优势，即：关于各国工作时间实践的实质性知识，对工作需求和资源对工作-家庭冲突的影响以及环境的影响的理论理解，我使用定量方法的方法知识，以及我对这些主题的一些关键比较数据来源的知识。工作与生活的平衡是个人福祉的一个重要方面，也影响家庭福利和生育率等其他社会问题，因此是大多数福利国家的主要政策目标。对于公司来说，考虑到工作和家庭生活之间的冲突最终会由于生病、旷工、招聘和留住员工而影响公司的业绩结果，提供工作和生活之间的平衡对于留住一支高效高效的员工队伍至关重要。要同时满足员工的工作与生活平衡需求和雇主的生产率需求，同时降低政府和公司的成本，一种方法是使用灵活的工作安排。通过政策和活动，这种方法得到了公司--国家--甚至欧盟--层面的支持，可以为其他成本更高的工作与生活平衡政策提供一个很好的替代方案。然而，一些学者指出，弹性工作可能会导致从工作到家庭的溢出，从而导致负面结果。尽管结果喜忧参半，但仍然缺乏基于跨国数据的深入证据，谁真正能够在何种情况下从灵活性的使用中受益的问题尚未得到回答。为了为未来的政策发展提供这种亟需的洞察力和经验证据，该项目审查了以下问题。工作时间弹性对工作与生活平衡有何影响？这种影响在不同的公司和国家背景以及相关个人中是否有所不同？如果是，原因何在？这项研究采用了一种多层次的方法，将这种动态发生的不同层面联系起来：即个人、公司和国家层面。此外，还比较了两个时间点，以了解过去几年工作时间灵活性的扩散程度，以及这如何影响其对工作-家庭冲突的影响。我将在2004年和2010年前后，在个人、公司和国家层面匹配27个欧洲国家的不同次要数据集，以进行分析。将进行不同形式的量化分析，包括多层次建模和研究因果关系的模型。这项研究的结果将为工会、雇主组织、支持工薪家庭和妇女权利的组织以及国家和欧洲层面的政策制定者提供关键信息。这些受益者将被联系，作为一个咨询小组参加，为该项目提供宝贵的意见。本研究将提出一个新的维度来研究工作-家庭冲突和工作时间灵活性的作用，从更广泛的角度来理解这种动态，这反映了个人和公司所处的实际环境，并为我们提供了对政策作用的新理解。该项目的成果将通过向所有有关各方开放的政策报告和会议，以及通过出席国际会议和通过学术出版物传播。此外，还将利用有关该项目主题的新闻稿、通讯和网站向更广泛的受众传播该项目的成果。

This highly innovative interdisciplinary project using sociological, managerial and psychological theories and state of the art quantitative methods aims to examine the impact of working-time flexibility on work-life balance of individuals, and the importance of contexts in this relationship. It brings together the key research strengths I've built over the years, i.e.; substantive knowledge of working-time practices across countries, theoretical understandings of the impact of job demands and resources on work-family conflict and the impact of contexts, my methodological knowledge using quantitative methods, and lastly my knowledge on some of the key comparative data sources available on these topics. Work-life balance is a crucial aspect of an individual's well-being that also impacts the welfare of families and other societal issues such as fertility rates, and is therefore a major policy goal for most welfare states. For companies, considering that conflict between work and the family life will eventually impact a company's performance outcomes due to sickness, absenteeism, recruiting and retaining workers, providing work-life balance is crucial to retain a productive and effective workforce. One way of simultaneously addressing the work-life balance needs of employees and the productivity needs of employers, while keeping costs down for both governments and companies, is the use of flexible working arrangements. This approach has been supported at the company- national-, and even EU-levels via policies and campaigns, and can provide a good alternative to other more costly work-life balance policies. However, some scholars have pointed to the fact that flexible working can lead to spill-overs from work to home leading to negative results. Despite the mixed results, in-depth evidence based on cross-national data remain lacking and the question of who is really able to benefit from the use of flexibility, in what context, has yet to be answered. To provide this much-needed insight and empirical evidence for future policy developments, this project examines the following questions. What is the impact of working-time flexibility on work-life balance? Does this impact differ across different company and national contexts and individuals in question? If so, why? The study applies a multi-level approach connecting the different levels this dynamic takes place: namely the individual-, company- and country-levels. In addition, two time points are compared to see the extent of diffusion of working-time flexibility in the past years and how this influences its impact on work-family conflict. I will match different secondary data sets across 27 European countries, at the individual-, company- and national-levels for around 2004 and 2010 for the analyses. Different forms of quantitative analysis will be carried out, including multi-level modelling and models to study causal relationships. The results of this research will provide crucial information for groups including trade unions, employers' organisations, organisations supporting working families and women's rights, as well as policy makers at the national and European levels. These beneficiaries will be contacted to take part as an advisory group, to provide valuable input for the project. This study will bring forward a new dimension the study of work-family conflict and the role of working-time flexibility by understanding the dynamics in a wider perspective, which reflects the actual environments individuals and companies are placed in and provide us with new understanding of the role of policies. The results of the project will be disseminated through policy reports and meetings open to all parties interested, as well as through attending international conferences and dissemination through academic publications. In addition, press releases, newsletters and web-site dedicated to the project topic will be used to distribute the outcomes of this project to a wider audience.