Permanent part time employment : an interpretive review /

Photocopy. Springfield, Va. : National Technical Information Service, U. S. Dept. of Commerce, [1976?]

Gender, computing and the organisation of working time: public/private comparisons in the Australian context

Professional computing employment in Australia, as in most advanced economies, is highly sex segregated, reflecting well-rehearsed ideas about the masculinity of technology and computing culture. In this paper we are concerned with the processes of work organisation that sustain and reproduce this gendered occupational distribution, focusing in particular on differences and similarities in working-time arrangements between public and private sectors in the Australian context. While information technology companies are often highly competitive workplaces with individualised working arrangements, computing professionals work in a wide range of organisations with different regulatory histories and practices. Our goal is to investigate the implications of these variations for gender equity outcomes, using the public/private divide as indicative of different regulatory frameworks. We draw on Australian census data and a series of organisational case studies to compare working-time arrangements in professional computing employment across sectors, and to examine the various ways employees adapt and respond. Our analysis identifies a stronger ‘long hours culture’ in the private sector, but also underlines the rarity of part-time work in both sectors, and suggests that men and women tend to respond in different ways to these constraints. Although the findings highlight the importance of regulatory frameworks, the organisation of working time across sectors appears to be sustaining rather than challenging gender inequalities in computing employment.

Part-time students in the workforce - enhancing practice in course provision

This paper describes a recent project on HE delivery to part-time students in the workforce. The main aim has been to investigate and propose effective practice in part-time provision in engineering in order to enhance the experience of part-time students at the same time as giving potential benefits to courses, departments and all students. The project has included interviews with employers and a questionnaire survey for current part-time students. The final guidance has been assembled with the aim of supporting the enhancement of existing courses and the development of new part-time provision. The paper presents the approaches taken in the project as a whole, analyses the results of the student survey, and summarises the overall outcomes.

Organizational Commitment and Loyalty Among Part Time Hospitality Employees

Historically, part time employees have played a critical role in the delivery of guest services in the hospitality industry. This study evaluates commitment issues from 169 part time hospitality workers. Discussions focus on effective strategies to boost employee commitment and levels of employee support among part time workers in order to improve behaviors and enhance loyalty.

Perceived Work Status and Turnover Intentions of Casual-Dining Restaurant Employees

The current research examined the effects of perceived work status of hourly employees on the established relationships between turnover intentions and the constructs of autonomy, affective organizational commitment, perceived management concern for employees, and perceived management concern for customers in the casual-dining restaurant industry. Surveys were collected from 296 employees of a multi-unit casual-dining restaurant franchise, part of a large, national, casual-dining restaurant chain. Employeeswith perceived part-time work status revealed a generally negative trend in factors shown to contribute to turnover. Employees who perceived their work status as parttime also showed significantly lower levels of affective organizational commitment than those who perceived their work status as full-time. Additionally, the mean scores of the desirable attributes trended lower for those employees who perceived themselves as part-time. Even more, helping behaviors, so crucial in a casual-dining environment, were lower when employees perceived their work status to be part-time. The current study discusses managerial implications of the research findings and gives suggestions for future research.

Female employment from the household. Towards a comprehensive analysis of work-life articulation

Research on women’s employment has proliferated over recent decades, often under a perspective that conceptualizes female labour market activity as independent of male presences and absences in the productive and reproductive spheres. In the face of these approaches, the article argues the need to focus on the couple as the unit of analysis of work-life articulation. After referring to the main theoretical arguments that, from a gender perspective within labour studies, have pointed out the relevance of placing the household as the central space for the analysis of the sexual division of labour, the article reviews different empirical contributions that have incorporated such perspective in the international literature. Next, the state of the art in the Spanish literature is presented, before arguing the desirability of applying such framework of analysis to the study of employment and care work in Spanish households, which are at present undergoing major transformations.

The Later Years

Chapter summary • The adolescent and work — Advantages of part-time work — Disadvantages of part-time work — Theory/literature re vocational issues — Influences on vocational choice — How do we prepare young people for thinking about work? • The Education and Training Reforms for the Future (ETRF) in Australia: Learning or earning — What these changes mean for young people — VET (Vocational Education and Training) • Summary • Key points • Further thinking • References Who we are, our self-concept and self-esteem, for many people is tied closely to what we do. Our profession, our employment and our ambitions define us in many ways. In our society we have not yet separated completely the notion of personal worth from social contribution and status. At Australian BBQs, a pretty staple question to ask is ‘So, what do you do?’ when meeting someone new. We are pretty tolerant with a range of responses to that question, but the bottom line is the notion that there ought to be a coherent answer. Adolescents know this, and as they try to define their identity/identities and launch into adulthood they are confronted with the great unknown, the world of work...

Food insecurity in Brisbane : the single mother’s struggle

Using a feminist reflexive approach this paper reports on interviews with single mother’s in the Brisbane area about their experiences with food shopping and household food security. Preliminary findings suggest that most experience significant stress around the amount of money they have available for food. As the price of food and other costs of living increase, the only budget item that is flexible – groceries - is squeezed tighter. All women expressed a reluctance to ask for help from strangers at agencies instead relying on the support of family and friends to keep them food secure. Sometimes family and friends had no spare resources to help or were not aware of the extent their friend or relative might be struggling. The increased risks of poverty and food insecurity mean many go without as feeding the children takes precedence. The quality of their diets is variable with many reporting on aiming for quantity rather than being concerned with nutritional balance. Exhaustion and stress from being over-committed doing three roles, mother, father and housekeeper was self-identified as a key factor leading to mental health conditions such as depression, burnout and break down. Female single parent households are vulnerable to reducing welfare benefits as children grow or child support changes. Current policy forces single parents out to work but many can only manage part-time work for lower wages and are barely able to cope with this extra burden often resenting the reduction in benefits it brings. Public perceptions, derision and the notions of choice surrounding single parenting leave the cohort divided and silent for fear of reprisals. In my investigation issues arise about welfare policy that keep benefits low and workplace patriarchal power that can contribute to systemic poverty and the widening of the gender gap in poverty. So far analysis suggests a better support system around community food security including some hands on home help services, nutritional information, cooking classes, community gardening and other social capital building activities are needed for these women in order to avoid long-term health problems and help them better care for the next generation.

Promotion and succession management and associated retention issues in Australian law firms

The focus of this research was promotion and succession management in Australian law firms. Two staff retention issues currently faced by the Australian legal industry were identified as suggesting possible failures in this area: 1) Practitioners are leaving law firms early in their careers, 2) Female representation is disproportionally low at partnership level. The research described current Australian law firm promotion and succession practices and then explained their possible relevance to the two retention issues. The overall aim of the research was to uncover key findings and present practical recommendations to law firm managers and partners ready for incorporation into their future promotion and succession planning practice. In so doing the research aimed to benefit the Australian legal community as a whole. Four areas of literature relevant to the topic were reviewed, 1) law firm governance concluding that the fundamental values of the P²-Form remained constant (Cooper, Hinings, Greenwood & Brown, 1996; Morris & Pinnington, 1998) with ownership and strategic control of law firms remaining in the hands of partners; 2) the importance of individual practitioners to law firms concluding that the actual and opportunity costs relating to practitioner turnover were significant due to the transient nature of knowledge as a key asset of law firms (Gottschalk & Khandelwal, 2004; Rebitzer & Taylor, 2007); 3) generational differences concluding with support for the work of Finegold, Mohrman and Spreitzer (2002), Davis, Pawlowski and Houston (2006), Kuhnreuther (2003), and Avery, McKay, and Wilson (2007) which indicated that generational cohort differences were of little utility in human resources management practice; and 4) previous research relating to law firm promotion and succession practices indicating that five practices were relevant in law firm promotion outcomes; 1) firm billing requirements (Gorman & Kmec, 2009; Phillips, 2001; Noonan & Corcoran, 2004; Webley & Duff, 2007); 2) mentoring programs (Phillips, 2001; Noonan & Corcoran, 2004); 3) the existence of female partners (Gorman & Kmec, 2009; Beckman & Phillips, 2005); 4) non-partner career paths (Phillips, 2001; Corcoran & Noonan, 2004); and 5) the existence of family friendly policies (Gorman & Kmec, 2009; Phillips, 2001; Noonan & Corcoran, 2004; Webley & Duff, 2007.) The research was carried out via a sequential mixed method approach. The initial quantitative study was based upon a theoretical framework grounded in the literature and provided baseline information describing Australian law firm promotion and succession practices. The study was carried out via an on-line survey of Australian law firm practitioners. The results of the study provided the basis for the second qualitative study. The qualitative study further explained the statistically generated results and focused specifically on the two identified retention issues. The study was conducted via one-on-one interviews with Australian law firm partners and experienced law firm managers. The results of both studies were combined within the context of relevant literature resulting in eight key findings: Key findings 1) Organisational commitment levels across generational cohorts are more homogenous than different. 2) Law firm practitioners are leaving law firms early in their careers due to the heavy time commitment behaviour demanded of them, particularly by clients. 3) Law firm promotion and succession practices reinforce practitioner time commitment behaviour marking it as an indicator of practitioner success. 4) Law firm practitioners believe that they have many career options outside law firms and are considering these options. 5) Female practitioners are considering opting out of law firms due to time commitment demands related to partnership conflicting with family commitment demands. 6) A masculine, high time commitment culture in law firms is related to the decision by female practitioners to leave law firms. 7) The uptake of alternative work arrangements by female practitioners is not fatal to their partnership prospects particularly in firms with supportive policies, processes and organisational culture. 8) Female practitioners are less inclined than their male counterparts to seek partnership as an ultimate goal and are more likely to opt out of law firms exhibiting highly competitive, masculine cultures. Practical recommendations Further review of the data collected in relation to the key findings provided the basis for nine practical recommendations specifically geared towards implementation by law firm managers and partners. The first recommendation relates to the use of generational differences in practitioner management. The next six relate to recommended actions to reduce the time commitment demands on practitioners. The final two recommendations relate to the practical implementation of these actions both at an individual and organisational level. The recommendations are as follows: 1) "Generationally driven," age based generalisations should not be utilised in law firm promotion and succession management practice. 2) Expected levels of client access to practitioners be negotiated on a client by client basis and be included in client retention agreements. 3) Appropriate alternative working arrangements such as working off-site, flexible working hours or part-time work be offered to practitioners in situations where doing so will not compromise client serviceability. 4) The copying of long working hour behaviours of senior practitioners should be discouraged particularly where information technology can facilitate remote client serviceability. 5) Refocus the use of timesheets from an employer monitoring tool to an employee empowerment tool. 6) Policies and processes relating to the offer of alternative working arrangements be supported and reinforced by law firm organisational culture. 7) Requests for alternative working arrangements be determined without regard to gender. 8) Incentives and employment conditions offered to practitioners to be individualised based on the subjective need of the individual and negotiated as a part of the current employee performance review process. 9) Individually negotiated employment conditions be negotiated within the context of the firm’s overall strategic planning process. Through the conduct of the descripto-explanatory study, a detailed discussion of current law firm promotion and succession practices was enabled. From this discussion, 7 eight key findings and nine associated recommendations were generated as well as an insight into the future of the profession being given. The key findings and recommendations provide practical advice to law firm managers and partners in relation to their everyday promotion and succession practice. The need to negotiate individual employee workplace conditions and their integration into overall law firm business planning was put forward. By doing so, it was suggested that both the individual employee and the employing law firm would mutually benefit from the arrangement. The study therefore broadened its practical contribution from human resources management to a contribution to the overall management practice of Australian law firms. In so doing, the research has provided an encompassing contribution to the Australian legal industry both in terms of employee welfare as well as firm and industry level success.

Knowledge is not power, but it’s a start : what young people know about their rights and obligations in employment

Scholarship addressing the employment concerns of school age workers has identified a number of areas of vulnerability. Prominent among these is that young workers have insufficient knowledge of their rights in employment, yet the extent of this knowledge has not previously been quantified. This study explores areas of strength and deficit in awareness of employment rights and obligations in a sample of 892 young people in Australian high schools. The findings demonstrate that, despite part-time work being a majority experience for school students, young Australians know relatively little of their employment rights. The conclusions underscore the need for education strategies that inform young people prior to and in the very early stages of their working lives.

The effect of employment while in high school on educational attainment : a conditional difference-in-differences approach

Using American panel data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, this article investigates the effect of working during grade 12 on attainment.We employ, for the first time in the related literature, a semiparametric propensity score matching approach combined with difference-in-differences. We address selection on both observables and unobservables associated with part-time work decisions, without the need for instrumental variable. Once such factors are controlled for, little to no effects on reading and math scores are found. Overall, our results therefore suggest a negligible academic cost from part-time working by the end of high school.

Controlling routine front line service workers: an Australian retail supermarket case

Food retail is known for its use of flexible labour and for the centralisation of functions at head office, resulting in a reduction of managerial autonomy at store level. This article employs a typology of controls developed from labour process scholarship to explore how retail managers negotiate the control of their predominantly part-time workforce. Using an Australian supermarket chain as a case, and mixed methods, the article demonstrates that supermarkets use a multiplicity of forms of control across their workforce. For front line service workers, the article identifies a new configuration of controls which intersects with employment status and acts differentially for checkout operators on different employment contracts.

The effect of flexibility in working hours on fertility: A comparative analysis of selected european countries

The main aim of this paper is to measure the extent to which part-time work enhances fertility for married or cohabiting women of fertile age. The study covers eleven European countries. The data used are a pool sample of five waves of the European Community Household Panel. Given that we believe that the decisions concerning fertility and labor market status are taken jointly, we carry out a simultaneous estimation approach. Results suggest that policy makers wishing to implement adequate part-time schedules so as to enhance fertility should look at the part-time schedules available in Belgium, Ireland and The Netherlands, which enhance fertility for women who take advantage of this flexibility measure so as to reconcile family and work.