Table Of ContentThe Flexibility
Paradox
Why Flexible
Working Leads to
(Self-)Exploitation
Heejung Chung
THE FLEXIBILITY PARADOX
Why Flexible Working Leads
to (Self- )Exploitation
Heejung Chung
First published in Great Britain in 2022 by
Policy Press, an imprint of
Bristol University Press
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This book was written as a part of my lifelong goal to make our society
one where everyone can work shorter, flexible, autonomous and thus
more productive and socially meaningful hours.
Contents
List of figures, tables and box vi
Acknowledgements ix
1 Introduction: The flexibility paradox and contexts 1
2 The demand for and trends in flexible working 20
3 The dual nature of flexibility: family- friendly or 37
performance- oriented logic?
4 The outcomes of flexible working 54
5 The flexibility paradox: why more freedom at work leads to 69
more work
6 The empirical evidence of the flexibility paradox 85
7 Gendered flexibility paradox 105
8 Flexibility stigma and the rewards of flexible working 120
9 The importance of contexts 131
10 COVID- 19 and flexible working 150
11 Conclusion: Where do we go from here? 168
Appendix 193
References 221
Index 250
v
List of figures, tables and box
Figures
1.1 Trends in trade union density across selected OECD countries 6
from 1960 to most recent data
1.2 Prevalence of income and employment insecurity across Europe 7
in 2016/ 17
1.3 Work orientation attitudes of individuals across four European 8
countries
1.4 My book embodied in one picture 10
2.1 Proportion of companies providing flexitime across the European 30
Union in 2009 and 2013
2.2 Proportion of employees with flexible schedules across 30 31
European countries in 2015
2.3 Proportion of dependent employed who teleworked/ worked 32
from home at least several times a month in the past
12 months across 30 European countries in 2015
2.4 Trends in flexitime and working time autonomy across 29 33
European countries (EU28+ Norway)
2.5 Trends in flexible schedules and working from home in the US 34
from 2002 to 2018
2.6 Trends in the reason why workers worked from home in the US 35
from 2002 to 2018
3.1 Proportion of employers who answered that the introduction 39
of flexible working and leave policies had the following positive
effect within companies
3.2 Explaining company-level provision of flexitime across Europe 45
(28 countries) in 2013
3.3 Explaining individual-level access to flexible schedules (flexitime 47
+ working time autonomy) across Europe (28 countries) in 2015
3.4 Explaining which workers teleworked regularly across Europe 49
(28 countries) in 2015
4.1 Comparing women’s likelihood of reducing their working hours 59
on flexitime
4.2 Comparing women’s likelihood of reducing their working hours 60
on teleworking
4.3 Association between flexible working and work-to- family conflict 63
4.4 Association between flexible working and family- to- work conflict 64
4.5 Association between flexible working and satisfaction with 65
working hours fit
vi
List of figures, tables and box
5.1 The proportion of those surveyed responding that it is ‘very 81
important’ to have an interesting job across occupations
6.1 Predicted overtime (in hours) of workers with fixed schedules, 88
employer flexibility, flexitime and working time autonomy for
men and women
6.2 Increase in unpaid overtime hours due to increased schedule 89
control for men and women
6.3 Association between flexible working and work-to-home 91
spill- over by gender
6.4 Increase in unpaid overtime due to increase in schedule control 95
for parents (living with at least one child under 12) versus
non- parents by gender
6.5 Association between flexible working and work-to-home 97
spill- over for parents by gender
6.6 Increase in unpaid overtime due to increase in schedule control 100
for professionals versus non- professionals by gender
6.7 Increase in unpaid overtime due to changes in flexible working 102
for men and women
8.1 Proportion of individuals with flexibility stigma by gender and 123
parental status (children <12)
8.2 Proportion of individuals who have experienced negative 123
outcomes of flexible working arrangements by gender and
parental status (children <12)
9.1 Proportion of individuals agreeing to the statement ‘flexible 141
working is badly perceived by colleagues’ across European
countries
9.2 Proportion of individuals agreeing to the statement ‘flexible 141
working has/ had a negative impact on one’s career’ across
European countries
9.3 Relationship between prevalence of flexible working 142
(in 2015) and prevalence of flexibility stigma (in 2018)
9.4 The association between flexitime and work- family conflict 146
across countries with different levels of childcare coverage
(for 0–3-year-olds) for men and women (having controlled for a
number of covariates)
10.1 The proportion of workers who were able to do any work from 153
home in the reference week in April for the UK
10.2 The perception of management support and impact of working 157
from home before and during the COVID- 19 lockdown (per cent)
A6.1 The number of workers with schedule control with and without 208
access to flexitime
vii
The Flexibility Paradox
Tables
A3.1 Explaining company- level provision of flexi time across Europe in 198
2013
A3.2 Explaining individual-level access to flexible working 199
arrangements across Europe in 2015
A4.1 Full regression tables showing the association between flexible 202
working and work- to- family (WFC) and family- to- work conflict
(FWC)
A6.1 Full regression tables showing the association between flexible 206
working and work- to- family spill- over
A9.1 Summary of the multi- level logistic regression outcomes 209
explaining the use and access to flexible working arrangements
in 2015 across 30 (23) European countries
A9.2 Pairwise correlation between different national contexts (2015) 211
and flexibility stigma (2018)
A9.3 Correlation between national level variables 212
A9.4 Flexible working and work- family conflict for those with care 213
responsibilities across 30 European countries in 2015
A9.5 Country- level factors moderating the association between 215
flexitime/ working time autonomy and work- family conflict for
those with care responsibilities (for men and women) across 30
European countries in 2015
A9.6 Country- level factors moderating the association between 217
teleworking work- family conflict for those with care
responsibilities across 30 European countries in 2015
Box
2.1 Types of flexible working mentioned on the UK government website 21
viii
Acknowledgements
Writing a book is hard. Writing a book during a pandemic is even harder.
Writing a book about flexible working during the pandemic where all of a
sudden half the population was working from home seemed impossible. It
felt like trying to measure a very fast-m oving target. Although I hesitated,
thinking that by the time the manuscript was published it would be outdated,
I’ve decided it was time. It felt like more than ever people needed a book
that talked about the potential negative consequences of the all-s o- coveted
flexible working, control over one’s work. More importantly, it felt like
people needed solutions, and quick. So here’s my five cents on the issue.
The book was definitely a group effort. The book would not have been
possible without the UK Economic and Social Research Council who
funded much of the research presented in this book. I would like to thank all
my co- authors and collaborators who have worked on different papers and
projects over the years which I draw heavily from. This includes Mariska van
der Horst, Tanja van der Lippe, Pia Schober (my BFF!), Hyojin Seo, Cara
Booker, Clare Kelliher, Lonnie Golden, Steve Sweet, Deniz Yucel, Sarah
Forbes, Holly Birkett and Pierre Walthery. I would like to especially thank
Yvonne Lott, an amazing co-a uthor and partner-i n-c rime in examining issues
around flexible working and gender inequality who has given me detailed
feedback on this book. I would also like to thank the RAs of the project,
Jon Ward and Yeosun Yoon who made this project what it is. There are also
people whom I consider the flexible working and work-family research all-
stars, who have helped me grow as a researcher over the years. Their work
influenced me greatly as you will see their names being frequented in the
reference list. This includes Erin Kelly, Hans Pongratz, Jennifer Glass, Laura
Den Dulk, Jaesung Kim, Anna Kurowska, Clare Lyonette, Pascale Peters,
Peter Berg, Scott Schieman, Mara Yerkes and others in the Work and Family
Researchers Network and the European Social Policy Analysis Network.
Thank you all for those exciting discussions, many of which over dinner
and wine. There are editors of journals and books, and the anonymous
reviewers of this book and articles I’ve published. I would especially like to
thank Jana Javornik, Jennifer Tomlinson, Emmanuele Pavolini and Martin
Seeleib- Kaiser.
There are practitioners, journalists and book authors whose work has
shaped me greatly, people fighting the same good fight as myself, and through
numerous discussions with them my thoughts became much clearer. These
include Christine Armstrong, Mandy Garner, Josie Cox, Emma Jacobs,
Alexandra Topping, Rebecca Seal, David D’Souza, Gem Dale, those at
Radio Kent and others. I would especially like to thank Brigid Schulte (and
others at the Better Life Lab), a real champion of my work, who has helped
ix
