The Effect of the Ideal Worker Norm on Employees

Abstract

In today’s organizations, supervisors expect employees to be highly productive throughout their workday, no matter how long they work or when they work. These expectations have been termed the “ideal worker norm” (Davies & Frink, 2014). The ideal worker prioritizes their work over other life domains and shows this dedication to work by working overtime and non-traditional hours, being always available, visibly working (e.g., sending emails during non-work hours), and being unhampered by non-work obligations (Kelly et al., 2010; Reid, 2015; Sallee, 2012). The nascent ideal worker literature has focused on defining the norm, but the effects of the ideal worker on employees has been little studied. For example, gendered social roles, in which women are caretakers and men are breadwinners, may affect perceptions of female employees’ ability to fulfill the ideal worker norm, regardless of family context, negatively affecting their careers. Likewise, for men who deviate from this expectation, such as those who request flex time or parental leave (Sallee, 2012), they may be perceived as unable or unwilling to live up to the ideal worker norm. This paper symposium explores the effects of the ideal worker norm on the careers of male and female employees. Family-to-Work Conflict, Ideal Worker Norm Violation and Trust: Gender Bias in Evaluations Presenter: Jennica R. Webster; Marquette U. Presenter: Gary A Adams; Marquette U. Presenter: Andrea Schneider; Marquette U. Just Not Good Enough: How Supervisor Sexism Beliefs Affect Employee Promotability and Development Presenter: Clarissa Rene Steele; Kansas State U. Who are “Ideal Workers”? Intersection of Age, Gender, and Race Presenter: Vanessa Burke; Pennsylvania State U. Presenter: Alicia A. Grandey; Pennsylvania State U. Presenter: Teresa Frasca; Pennsylvania State U. Individual Worker and Managerial Characteristics that Influence Granting of Working from Home (WFH) Presenter: Alyson Gounden Rock; McGill U. - Desautels Faculty of Management “We Deserve Work-Life Balance Too”: Experiences of Dual-Career Professional Couples Without Children Presenter: Galina Boiarintseva; Niagara U. Presenter: Souha R. Ezzedeen; York U. Presenter: Julia Richardson; Curtin U. Presenter: Christa Wilken; York U. Getting Down to Brass Tacks: The Effect of Focusing on Results Instead of Ideal Worker Cues Presenter: Aurora Turek; -