Talking about Alternative Work Arrangements

Activity Description:
Name of activity: Talking about Alternative Work Arrangements
Related encyclopedia entry topic: Alternative Work Arrangements

Purpose: To encourage a conversation about the pros and cons of different types of AWA

Steps:

1. Have students go to the website of the Bureau of Labor statistics, www.bls.gov.
2. Find the latest statistics on Alternative Work Arrangements and Contingent Work.
3. Answer and be prepared to discuss the following questions in class:
 a. What is the date of the latest survey?
 b. Find out which type of AWA is most preferred compared to regular employment and discuss reasons. Why?

Activity Source:
Content contributed by Janet H. Marler as a Suggested Work and Family Class Activity

Telework as Sustainability Solution

Activity Description:

A PowerPoint presentation by Kate Lister of the Telework Research Network.

Activity Source:

Lister, K. (n.d.) Telework as sustainability solution. Retrieved from Undress for Success on July 6, 2009: http://globalworkplaceanalytics.com/telework-sustainability-solution

Testing Work-Family Hypotheses Using the General Social Survey

Activity Description:

Author: Robert S. Bausch, Cameron University

Purpose:

This assignment requires students to use the Survey Documentation and Analysis website at UC Berkeley to develop and test hypotheses on a variety of work-family issues. Students choose variables from a list of work and family-related variables in the General Social Survey to include in their hypotheses. The list of variables is not intended to be exhaustive, but instead a sampling of some of the variables related to work and family contained in the GSS. Instructors can either add to this list or allow students to select additional variables from the 2002 Topical Module on the Quality of Working Life. After testing their hypotheses, students must use one or two sociological theories to explain their findings.

This assignment is intended to provide students with some experience in writing, testing, and explaining hypotheses without having to collect their own data. Instructors who wish to expand this assignment can add a library research element to it by having students compare their findings to those published in sociological journals. A brief discussion of hypothesis testing and theoretical application, along with a demonstration on how to use the software on the SDA website by the instructor, should adequately prepare students for this assignment.

To access the full details of the assignment, download the following document:

Activity Source:

Sweet, Stephen, Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, Joshua Mumm, Judith Casey, and Christina Matz. 2006. Teaching Work and Family: Strategies, Activities, and Syllabi. Washington DC: American Sociological Association.

Activity Links to Materials:

work_family_hypoth GSS

Textbooks for Use in Work-Family Courses

Activity Description:

The textbooks listed below have been used in work-family courses.

Activity Source:

The following textbooks are abstracted from Sweet, S., Pitt-Catsouphes, M. (2006). Teaching work and family: Strategies, activities, and syllabi. Washington, DC: American Sociological Association, and syllabi posted on the Sloan Work and Family Network (http://wfnetwork.bc.edu/).

Download the PDF: TextbooksWorkFamilyCourses

The Case of the Part-Time Partner

Activity Description:

Purpose

To explore implications of reduced hours/part-time positions

Steps

  1. Have the class read the following case: Loveman, G. W. 1999. The case of the part time partner. Module 7: Workforce management: Employment relationships in changing organizations. In Ancona, D., Kochan, T., Scully, M., Van Maanan, J. Westney. E. Managing for the Future: Organizational Behavior and Processes (pgs. 63-74). Cincinnati, Ohio: Southwestern College.
  2. Have the students consider the possible positive and negative consequences of professional/managerial positions filled on a part-time basis. Encourage the students to think about the impact on the employee, the employees’ co-workers, the employees’ supervisor, the employees’ family, and the employees’ customers.

Activity Source:

Content contributed by Ellen Kossek as a Suggested Work and Family Class Activity

The Dual Perspective and Competing Tensions of Work and Family Policies

Activity Description:

This teaching module presents work-family policies as part of the human resource management system and employment relationship, and shows that work-family policies can be understood from both the employee and organizational perspective. Some of the typical ‘family-friendly’ resources provided by organizations are also reviewed.

Activity Source:
Sloan Work and Family Research Network. (n.d.). The dual perspective and competing tensions of work and family policies. Retrieved from workplacemodulea (2)

The Glass Ceiling Phenomenon

Activity Description:
Purpose

To help students critique the perspectives from which women and glass ceiling issues are addressed.

Steps

1.  Have students read the articles for homework.
2.  Ask students to prepare a 1-page response paper for each article.

BusinessWeek, December 22, 2003

  • Why should recruiters “look farther afield for candidates,” to increase “the likelihood of women landing seats?”
  • Which of the four perspectives does this represent?
  • What are the benefits and problems associated with this perspective?
  • Critique the conclusion that the share of women on boards is growing.

The Wall Street Journal, Feb 3, 2004, page B1

  • What are the stated differences between women and men?
  • What are the professional dangers associated with a willingness to be “grinds?”
  • What are the critical needs of women who desire to succeed in management?
  1.  Put students in small groups to discuss responses to above questions.
  2.  Ask each group to briefly present the group’s response to entire class.
  3.  Engage the class in a discussion that is focused on perspectives that guide
  • organizational behavior,
  • research agendas, and
  • development of workplace policies.

Activity Source:

Content contributed by Prudence L. Pollard, Ph.D. as a Suggested Work and Family Class Activity

The New Dad: Is There Really a New Breed of Fathers in the US?

Activity Description:

This PowerPoint presentation by Brad Harrington, Executive Director of Boston College Center for Work & Family, addresses the impact of changing demographics on fathers’ roles as caregivers and “breadwinners”. Research findings from a 2009 year long qualitative study (The new dad: Exploring fatherhood within a career context), conducted by the Center for Work & Family, are highlighted. This research addresses paternal and professional dual identities, and discusses employer work-life policies for new fathers.

Please click here to watch the Slideshare presentation http://www.slideshare.net/sabatinj/brad-harrington-global-fatherhood-presentation-for-posting?from=share_email

Activity Source:

Harrington, B. (2010). The new dad: Is there really a new breed of fathers in the US? PowerPoint presented at the Boston College Center for Work & Family Global Workforce Roundtable.

The Relationship Between Work and Family Lives

Activity Description:

Purpose:

To discuss the linkages between work and family

Steps:

Step 1– The class is divided into three groups. Two of the groups (Groups A and B) are instructed to defend one of the following statements in a 10-minute presentation to the class:

Group A: “Individuals’ work and family lives are more likely to interfere with one another than strengthen one another.”

Group B: “Individuals’ work and family lives are more likely to strengthen one another than interfere with one another.”

Group C serves as the judges for the debate.

Step 2– Group A and Group B are given 30 minutes to prepare their 10-minute presentation. Group C is given 30 minutes to establish the criteria it will use to judge the debate.

Step 3– Group A gives its presentation followed immediately by Group B’s presentation.

Step 4– Group C announces the “winner” and explains the basis for its judgment.

Step 5– The instructor facilitates a discussion on when work and family interfere with one another and when work and family strengthen each other.

Activity Source:

Content contributed by Jeffrey Greenhaus and Romila Singh as a Suggested Work and Family Class Activity

The Usability of Work/Life Policies and Programs

Activity Description:

Purpose

To consider the “visible” and “hidden” factors that affect employees’ use of work/life policies and programs

Steps

  1. Distribute three mini-cases to students (Click on the document at the end of this entry called  to view or download these cases.)
  2. Ask them to consider the factors that might affect employees’ use of work/life policies and programs. What factors are related to the employee, as an individual? What factors are related to the employees’ family? What factors are related to the employees’ work team or work group? What factors are related to the employees’ workplace? Which factors facilitate the use of work/life benefits? Which factors impede the use of work/life benefits?
  3. Conduct an in-class discussion about the case. Ask the students to identify changes that could be made at the workplace to increase the “usability” of work/family policies and programs.

Activity Source:

Content contributed by Kelli Schutte as a Suggested Work and Family Class Activity

Activity Links to Materials:

pu_minicases

Theories to “Real World” Decisions, A Paper Project

Activity Description:
Author: Kathryn Hynes, Penn State University

Purpose:

This project is designed to help students develop a deeper understanding of theories about maternal labor force participation by comparing theoretical models to the actual experiences of people who have children. The project includes reading a review of theories of maternal labor force participation (Hattery 2001), conducting a semi-structured qualitative interview, and writing an empirical paper that uses the interview data as a test of the theoretical models.

Rationale for the Project and Goals for Student Learning:

Lower-level undergraduates often have a difficult time getting interested in comparing and contrasting competing theoretical frames. They also often have a hard time in learning about the strengths and weaknesses of various empirical strategies. This project is designed to facilitate these processes by having them examine whether people’s “real lives” fit into, or contradict, existing theoretical models of behavior. Students also gain hands-on experience with the research process by learning about and completing a qualitative interview. This practical experience provides a good opportunity to help student become better consumers of empirical research, creating easy opportunities to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of quantitative and qualitative methods, the challenges of conducting high quality research, and the complex interactions between theory and data. Students typically enjoy practicing and conducting the interviews, and having collected data themselves, become quite engaged in the process of integrating theory and empirical findings.

Project Description:

In a 200-level sociology course on work and family, students begin the semester by learning about changes in women’s and men’s work and family roles over the past decades. After establishing a basic understanding of trends, students are asked to read a chapter from Angela Hattery’s book Women, Work, and Family (2001) that reviews theories about maternal labor force participation. We discuss these theories, having one student describe each theory to the class, to ensure that students have a basic understanding of the models and a chance to ask clarifying questions. Students are then introduced to the paper writing project.

In order to ensure that students clearly understand the project, they are given an extensive written set of guidelines. These guidelines provide as much detail as possible about the project, including the goals and rational for the project, the timeline, details on what they will do for each component of the project and during each class period, and information about what they are expected to include in each section of their papers.

The next two class periods provide time for students to learn about qualitative research methods and practical considerations involved in conducting research. At many universities, interviews conducted by students during class projects require IRB review and protection of human subjects. For this project, I developed the consent form and interview protocol (Appendix A) that the students would use and received IRB review before the semester started. During the first methods class, students can learn the rationale for human subjects protections, the protocol for protecting confidentiality and data that will be used for the project, and practicing (via role playing) asking their participant to be part of the study and getting informed consent. For the next class, students are asked to complete the human subjects training required by many universities.

The second part of the class period is a good time to go over the interview guide briefly so that students become familiar with the types of questions that they will be asking. If time permits, this is also a good opportunity to begin discussing the strengths and limitations of quantitative and qualitative research by considering the kinds of questions that are asked and the types of information that answers will provide, as well as the validity and generalizability of the findings. Now that students are familiar with the type of questions they will be asking, they are each asked to come to class the next time with two names of people that they would like to interview (in case one person is not interested in participating). The only criteria are that the respondents must be over 18 and have children.

The next class period is focused on learning how to conduct interviews. Faculty who have not done qualitative research may want to ask a colleague who has done qualitative research to help train the students. This class period focuses on discussing the role of the interviewer in the collection of high quality data, including topics such as the professional demeanor of an interviewer, ways to encourage detailed answers without “leading” respondents to various conclusions, strategies for asking probing questions to elicit additional information about interesting issues raised by respondents, and strategies for bringing interviews back on track when respondents move off topic. Students then team up and practice interviewing each other, which provides them with good experience and provides me with an opportunity to correct their techniques. They are encouraged to think about good “probing questions” and jot these down as they are practicing. Students are then given a reasonable amount of time to establish contact with their respondents and to conduct their interviews.

Once interviews have been conducted, students are asked to discuss their interviews in class. Several students are asked to describe their respondents and some of the answers that they found most interesting. We then discussed, as a class, how the stories that their respondents told about their lives matched or contradicted the theories that we read about maternal labor force participation. This is a good time to revisit the conversation about the strengths and limitations of qualitative data, now that students have experience with this technique and can think concretely about what went well and what was challenging.

Students then write an 8-9 page research paper in a standard academic format, including abstract, introduction, theory, data, methods, results, and discussion sections. The goal of their paper is to integrate their empirical findings from their interviews with the theoretical models described in the Hattery (2001) book.

Reference:

Hattery, Angela. 2001. Women, Work and Family. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. “Theoretical Paradigms for Understanding Maternal Labor Force Participation.” p. 68-89.

Appendix A: Interview Protocol

I’d like to ask you a series of questions about how you made decisions about work and family over the course of your life, but particularly when you had young children.

  • First, let’s talk about your life before you had children. Before you had children, did you expect that you would work continuously as an adult or did you expect that you would leave employment for some amount of time to raise children?
    • What were your spouse/significant other’s expectations about this?
  • When you learned that you would be having your first child, were you working? If so, what kind of work were you doing? Did you enjoy it?
    • Was your spouse/significant other working? What kind of work was s/he doing and did s/he enjoy it?
  • I’d like to understand what you (and your spouse/significant other if applicable) decided to do to arrange your work and family life/lives after the birth of your first child, and why you made those decisions.
    • For instance, did either of you take time off from work when the baby was born (vacation or sick time, longer leave, quit job)? If so, for how long?
    • Then what happened? Did either of you work during your child’s first year? If so, was that full-time or part-time work?
    • Why did you choose this strategy?
      • Prompt here for whether different theories applied if the respondent does not directly address a particular theory in their initial answer. For instance:
      • Do you feel that certain work and family arrangements are better for children? Did your opinions about this influence your decisions?
      • Did you consider your financial needs while making these decisions? If so, how did your financial situation influence your decisions?
      • Did you consider factors such as the cost, availability and quality of child care in your area and if so, how did this influence your decisions?
    • How did you feel about these decisions?
    • How did your spouse/significant other feel about these decisions?
    • Did you feel that your family and friends supported or criticized your decisions and if so, why?
    • What happened next? Did you (and your spouse/significant other if applicable) use this same arrangement for several years or did you make changes? Why did you make those changes?
    • Do you have more than one child? If so:
      • Did you make similar or different decisions around the birth of your other children?
      • Repeat questions 3.1-3.6
    • Looking back, how do you feel about the decisions about balancing work and family that you made when your children were young? Would you do anything differently?
    • Is there anything else that you feel it is important for me to know to understand your decisions about work and family?

Thank you for participating in this interview!

Activity Source:

Sweet, Stephen, Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, Joshua Mumm, Judith Casey, and Christina Matz. 2006. Teaching Work and Family: Strategies, Activities, and Syllabi. Washington DC: American Sociological Association.

Activity Links to Materials:

interview_protocol

Thinking About Adulthood

Activity Description:
Related Encyclopedia Topic: Adulthood: Changing Definitions and Concepts

Purpose: To consider the different ways to theorise adulthood today, using student discussion and narratives concerning the changing markers and meanings of adulthood.

Steps:

Discuss how young people think about and talk about current transitions to adulthood and adulthood itself and compare these with the transitions of the generation of their own parents.
One student to give a narrative of one young person’s trajectory into and through adulthood; the group to draw out key features of this trajectory and narrative
Another student to give a narrative of a contrasting trajectory i.e. with few or many resources (depending upon the first example in 2); the group to draw out ways in which the two trajectories are similar and different
The group to draw out explanations for the differences and similarities
The group to reflect upon the kinds of concepts and theories for understanding adult development in current society


Activity Source:
Content contributed by Julia Brannen and Ann Nilsen as a Suggested Work and Family Class Activity

Tips for Reducing Family Responsibilities Discrimination at Work

Activity Description:

Description: Based on a Worklife Law Report, this site details useful information and best practices regarding caregiver discrimination for Human Resources professionals.

To access this resource, visit: http://i-sight.com/employee-relations/tips-for-reducing-family-responsibilities-discrimination-at-work/

For more information on this organization, visit: http://i-sight.com/

For access the referenced report, visit: http://www.worklifelaw.org/pubs/FRDupdate.pdf

Activity Source:

i-sight by customer expressions. Retrieved from: http://www.customerexpressions.com/CEx/CExWeb.nsf/HomeDisplay

To Pay or Not to Pay?

 

Activity Description:

Purpose

To have students analyze the positive and negative aspects of paid FMLA.

Steps

  1. Divide the class into an even number of groups, with an optimum maximum number of 10 students in each group. (In smaller classes, groups may be smaller.)
  2. Give half of the groups an assignment to collaboratively write a paper on the advantages of paid FMLA leave, from the viewpoint of both an employer and an employee. (Within the groups, students will determine which members of the group will write about advantages and which members will write about disadvantages.)
  3. Give the other half of the groups an assignment to collaboratively write a paper on the disadvantages of paid FMLA leave.
  4. After completion of the written assignment, the groups will come together, with an ensuing debate about the issue.

Comments: Students should be encouraged to view different on-line resources in this matter that provide varying viewpoints.

Activity Source:

Content contributed by Carol F. Nowicki as a Suggested Work and Family Class Activity

Understanding and Measuring Work/Family Integration

Activity Description:

Name of activity:  Understanding and Measuring Work/Family Integration

Purpose: To assess work-family integration

Steps:

  1. Select a film and analyze it using concepts related to boundary/border theory and work-family integration. We suggest watching “Baby Boom” (1987) or “One Fine Day” (1996). There may be other films that you think are more suitable.
  2. When viewing these films, watch for many of the concepts discussed in the Boundary/Border Theory and Work-Family Integration entry to the Work-Family Encyclopedia. For example, ask students to comment on issues of work and family integration (including flexibility and permeability) versus segmentation, boundary crossing, role transitions and boundary work. You need to demonstrate how the concepts apply as well as demonstrate your understanding of the concepts.
  3. Have the students respond to questions, such as:

In the film, how do people manage the boundaries between work and family?

What kinds of recommendations would you make to the characters based on what you’ve learned about boundary/ border theory and work/family integration?

  1. You can adapt the Work-Family Boundary Ambiguity Scale (Desrochers, 2002)† to assess the extent to which the characters in the film experience work-family ambiguity. The scale can also be used as a warm-up to get students to think about work and family.

Directions: The following questions are about the connections between your work life and your family life. Please use a 5 point scale, where 1 means you strongly disagree and 5 means you strongly agree. To score, you need to reverse the answer to item two, then add the three responses together.

How strongly would you disagree or agree that:

  1. It is often difficult to tell where your work life ends and your family life begins.
  2. In your life, there is a clear boundary between work and family.
  3. You tend to integrate your work and family duties.

 [People who have a high score (12-15) experience a high level of integration.]

Desrochers, S. (2002). Measuring work-family boundary ambiguity: A proposed scale. Bronfenbrenner Life Course Center Working Paper #02-04.

Activity Source:

Content contributed by Stephan Desrochers and Leisa D. Sargent as a Suggested Work and Family Class Activity

 

Understanding the Psychological Contract

Activity Description:

Purpose

To reflect on the psychological contract and to relate it to experiences of employment

Steps

Ask members of the class to interview other students in the class who currently have or have in the past had paid employment. The interviews can be in pairs, or several students could interview one person, depending on how many have students had paid employment experience.

The interviewers should explore questions, such as:

  1. What sort of employment contract did/do you have? (permanent, temporary, part time, holiday etc). What were the official terms of employment?
  2. What did your employer expect from you? Which expectations were explicit? Which ones implicit?
  3. What did you expect from your employer? In general, and concerning work and family or flexibility?
  4. Have you any experience of the employer violating your expectations? How did it affect your attitudes and behaviour at work?
  5. Have you had any experiences where the employer did more than you expected? How did this affect your attitudes and behaviour?
  6. Can you relate your experience to any of the forms of psychological contract described in the reading?
  7. What will you expect from a future employer:
  1. in general?
  2. concerning work and family or flexibility?
  1. Are there any gender differences in the experiences and expectations in this group? Why might this be?
  2. Do you think the Psychological Contract is a useful way of looking at employment experiences and expectations?

Activity Source:

Content contributed by Janet Smithson as a Suggested Work and Family Class Activity

Welfare Reform and Work-Family Studies

Activity Description:

Purpose

To analyze the financial reality of budgeting in a single family household

Steps

  1. Ask the students to read the following background information:

For a moment, assume you are an intern in the office of a mayor whose city has a Living Wage Ordinance. This living wage ordinance specifies that anyone who is employed by the city or works for larger companies and agencies (i.e. have over 25 employees) who have contracts with the city must be paid a minimum wage of $10.54 an hour (every year, the level of the living wage has increased by the rate of inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index).

Assume that the mayor is receiving political pressure to NOT increase the living wage for next year. For political and economic reasons the mayor is especially interested in knowing if a person employed at the current living wage of $10.54 can make ends meet and how the living wage relates to the official U.S. poverty threshold. Given the recent changes to welfare, the mayor is concerned about those leaving the welfare rolls and entering employment.

  1. Memo Assignment:

The mayor’s staff has asked you to prepare a memo for the mayor documenting the cost of living in this city for a family of three and to assess if:

  1. it is reflective of the officially US poverty rate and,
  2. if the living wage of $10.54 is sufficient to cover basic expenses. The family of three should include a single parent with two children ages 4 and 9.

To make matters simple, the staff has asked you to estimate the monthly costs and income that a family of three would have if the parent works 40 hours a week (in a job without health insurance). When this parent works 40 hours a week, the younger child will need to have child care while the older one can attend a free after-school program. In the memo the mayor would like to see:

The items that are considered basic for a family of three with two children and a fully employed adult living in a major U.S. city [You can pick one]. Find the lowest market cost (i.e. do not assume someone can barter, or get things “under the table”) for all these items, but make sure the family does not starve or put any family members in physical jeopardy. In most states, this family will not be eligible for welfare, Food Stamps or child care subsidies, however, will be eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit, worth about $200 a month. You should include this as income. In most states, the adult will not be eligible for Medicaid (the health care program for low-income people) but the children will be. For purposes of this memo, a month includes 4.3 weeks.

Provide a brief assessment of how monthly income compares with those costs, when working at the living wage level.

Compare how this family fares relative to the poverty line.

NOTE: You will need to make some reasonable assumptions to get cost figures (e.g. how many bedrooms the family will need; what kind of transportation to use) and sometimes it will be appropriate to include a range of costs. Make all assumptions explicit and include your sources of information (documentation of where you obtained the information on costs) which could be included either in the text of the memo or as a methodology appendix.

Activity Source:

Content contributed by Randy Albelda as a Suggested Work and Family Class Activity

Wharton Work/Life Integration Project

Activity Description:
Stewart Friedman, Director of the Wharton Work/Life Integration Project, conducted a project that focused on the role of senior business management in creating culture change that benefited both the personal life of employees and productivity for the organization. Four case analyses are offered.

For more information about the Wharton Work/Life Integration Project: http://worklife.wharton.upenn.edu

Activity Source:
Sloan Work and Family Research Network. (n.d.). The Wharton Work/Life Integration Project. Retrieved from https://workfamily.sas.upenn.edu/static/casestudy_wharton

What Should Unions Do?

Activity Description:

Purpose

To consider the union’s proper role in aiding its members in resolving their work/family conflicts

Steps

  1. Divide the class into groups of 4-5 students.
  2. Have them consider the following scenario and develop realistic solutions that could be implemented by the union:
  3. Many hospitals in NYC are dealing with complaints from their emergency room nurses due to the difficulties they are having finding a plausible daycare solution (outside of work) often due to their irregular work hours and schedules. Many do not have access to relatives, neighbors, etc. that would be willing or able to watch them at these odd hours, much less at an affordable price. Most do, however, belong to local affiliates of the NYS Nurses Association and would like their employers to provide some type of on site childcare facility which would meet their child care needs.
  4. Should the NYSNA become involved and if so what should its prescribed course of action be?
  5. After each group has discussed and developed their own course of action have them present their plans. Next, the class as a whole should decide upon the most viable option.
  6. End with a debate on the advantages and disadvantages of union involvement in work/family issues.

Activity Source:

Content contributed by Robert Drago and Jennifer Fazioli as a Suggested Work and Family Class Activity

Women Need Support

Activity Description:

This PowerPoint presentation was created Dr. Dadhich, a pediatrician from India advocating support and information for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers.

To access these slides, visit http://www.slideshare.net/jpdadhich/women-need-support

For more information on the Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India, visit http://www.bpni.org/

Activity Source:

Dadhich, J.P.(2009). Women need support. Retrieved May 26, 2009 from SlideShare website: http://www.slideshare.net/jpdadhich/women-need-support

Women’s Labor Force Participation

Activity Description:

Purpose

Provide statistical description of patterns and trends in women’s labor force participation.

Steps

  1. Show the class the graphs depicting changes in women’s labor force participation over the past 30 years (Click on the document at the end of this entry called, “actwomens.ppt”.)
  2. Encourage students to articulate the trends.
  3. Discuss factors that might have influenced the increased labor force participation of women.
  4. What do they think will happen to the labor force participation rates of women in the future? Why?

Activity Source:

Content contributed by Janet Scanlon as a Suggested Work and Family Class Activity 

Activity Links to Materials:

actwomens (1)

Work Hours

Activity Description:

Purpose

Provide statistical description of patterns and trends in the average work week of US employees.

Steps

  1. Click on the document at the end of this entry to view and/or download the PowerPoint slides containing graphs.
  2. Show the class the graphs.
  3. Encourage students to articulate the trends.
  4. Discuss factors that might have influenced the changes in the average length of men’s and women’s work week.
  5. What do they think will happen to the length of the average work week in the future? Why?

Activity Source:

Content contributed by Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes as a Suggested Work and Family Class Activity for the Sloan Networks’ Resources for Teaching section.

Activity Links to Materials:

Work_Hours_Graph (1)

Work-Family Spillover, Time Use and Food Choices: Perceptions and Strategies of Low-Income Workers

Activity Description:

This PowerPoint Presentation shows the relationship between work-family spillover and food choices. Results indicate that people creating eating routines to work around work and family time. The routines may have consequences such as taste, sleep, social interactions, and income.

To access the slides, visit: http://www.farmfoundation.org/projects/documents/Devine.presentation.pdf

Activity Source:

Devine, C.M. & Bisogni, C.A. (2004).  Work-family spillover, time use and food choices: perceptions and strategies of low-income workers.  Retrieved from http://www.farmfoundation.org/projects/documents/Devine.presentation.pdf

Work-Family vs. Work-Life: Are Organizations Equally Supportive of Family and Non-Family Concerns?

Activity Description:

Purpose

To facilitate critical thinking and class discussion about how family and non-family concerns are managed in the workplace

Steps

In recent years, organizations have moved from trying to create an environment supportive of work and family to one that is more inclusive: appropriately called “work-life” culture. However, many of the benefits organizations offer are geared towards individuals with family responsibilities. One issue organizations face is how to give employees with children flexibility without increasing the demands on those who do not have children. Allowing all employees flexibility, regardless of parental status, fosters the perception of fairness. For example, if the organization allows employees with children to leave early to pick up a child, they should also allow employees without children to leave work early to attend a sports game. But is it the norm in today’s workforce to treat family and non-family concerns the same?.

Ask your students to fill out the questionnaire located at the bottom of this entry.

Discuss the degree to which organizations are supportive of family concerns as opposed to non-family related ones. You may want to use the following questions as a basis for class discussion:

  1. Do you believe that companies treat employees differently if they leave work early to address family concerns (e.g., pick up a child) as opposed to personal concerns (e.g., leave early to go to the gym)?
  2. Why might organizations be more supportive of family reasons? Is it the value society places on family? Or, is it because obligations that involve children are seen as necessary?
  3. If two obligations are seen as “necessary,” does it change the way that the organization treats family vs. non-family obligations? (For example, a person leaving early for a medical appointment vs. leaving early to pick up a sick child).
  4. Do you think organizations should treat family concerns (e.g., picking up a child from daycare) and non-family concerns (e.g., leaving early to further one’s education) in the same manner?

Activity Source:

Content contributed by Jeanine Andreassi as a Suggested Work and Family Class Activity

Activity Links to Materials:

Questionnaire