Flexibility trap – the effects of flexible working on the position of female professionals and managers within a corporate environment

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F68378025%3A_____%2F15%3A00443850" target="_blank" >RIV/68378025:_____/15:00443850 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/GM-03-2014-0027" target="_blank" >http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/GM-03-2014-0027</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/GM-03-2014-0027" target="_blank" >10.1108/GM-03-2014-0027</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Flexibility trap – the effects of flexible working on the position of female professionals and managers within a corporate environment

Original language description

The aim of this paper is to analyse the experience of female part-time professionals withnemployee and managerial positions with the utilisation of flexible work arrangements in a corporate environment in the country with a full-time dominated work culture. The data represent a rare case study of the work environment in a Czech branch of one multinational company. In particular, this paper discusses conditions under which flexible arrangements are available and its impact on gender equality. The seven analysed interviews derive from a larger study on the corporate environment which included 35 interviews and a series of participatory observations. The data reveal the diverse and often subtle forms of discrimination of working mothers, who use the flexible working arrangement as a work-family reconciliation strategy. At the formal level, the part-time professionals are restricted in pay and in access to the company benefits. In the informal relations within the workplace, their work lacks of sufficient recognition of colleagues and superiors. Overall, part-time work for female professionals and managers leads to an entrapment between the needs of their family and the expectations of their employer. The research reveals the practical limitation in introducing work-life reconciliation policies. The results show the need to focus on promoting better conditions for employees working part-time. Also, it shows that managerial and highly demanding professional positions can be executed on a part-time basis if the work environment is open towards accepting this arrangement. Moreover, the findings outline the possibilities of developing workplace practices in the Czech Republic in a woman-friendly direction. Specific legislative arrangements should be enacted, providing better protection for employees in non-standard employment. The amount of research on female professionals working part-time or from home is rather limited in context of the post-communist countries. n

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

50401 - Sociology

Project

<a href="/en/project/GAP404%2F10%2F0021" target="_blank" >GAP404/10/0021: Changes in partnership and family forms and arrangements from the life course perspective</a><br>

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2015

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Gender in Management: An International Journal

ISSN

1754-2413

e-ISSN

—

Volume of the periodical

30

Issue of the periodical within the volume

3

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

14

Pages from-to

225-238

UT code for WoS article

000214070200003

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-84928658815