Time control, job execution and information access: work/family strategies in the context of low-wage work and 24/7 schedules

Abstract

ABSTRACTLow-wage work and rigid atypical schedules reduce workers’ leeway to manage their work/family interface, resulting in high levels of work/family conflict and in health issues. Faced with these inflexible conditions and a lack of formal work/family measures, workers rely primarily on informal practices where relational dynamics with coworkers and managers play an important role. However, low-wage workers with little schedule control are underrepresented in the work/family literature and little is known about how they deal with work/family issues in their workplaces. What role is played by workplace relationships in strategies used by workers to manage their work/family interface in the face of imposed, extended and variable schedules? Using an interdisciplinary theoretical and methodological framework combining communication and ergonomic work activity analysis, we analyzed data collected through direct and participant observations, semi-structured interviews, interaction diaries and administrative documents. This community-initiated ethnographic case study helped us identify three main types of work/family strategies related to (1) work time; (2) work execution and (3) access to relational resources. We also discuss how these strategies are embedded in the work activity and relational context, including gender dynamics, and are entangled with individual, team and organizational considerations. Some potential solutions are presented.