Work Life Balance in High-Tech Work

Balancing Work and Life In fee-for-service businesses Sam Ladner, PhD Toronto Tech Week 24 September 2008

1. Fee-for-service businesses sell time.

2. Time is finite.

Work

Life

3. Something’s gotta give.

Source: Marshall, K. (2006). Converging Gender roles. Perspectives on Labour and Income, 7(7), 5-16.

4. What do we need to know about time?

4a. “Time reckoning”

Time frame

Timing

Tempo

Temporality

4b. A “timescape” “ The Persistence of Memory.” Salvador Dali. 1931

Sample

Research question

Method

Findings

5. The study

Users of technology

Builders of technology

They sell time

They are the “new economy”

5a. The sample

5b. The question “ What impact does time reckoning have on the home/work divide?”

Qualitative

Ethnographic

Interpretive

5c. The method

Timescape is unstructured and structured at the same time

Selling time “bends” time

Work reaches into the home through mobile technology

5d. The findings

The “timescape”: Changing Jeremy: Yeah. So you're never…it's never your choice. It's always out of your hands. Sam Ladner: What's that like? Jeremy: I don't like it. Sam Ladner: Why not? Jeremy: Less control.

The “timescape”: Difficult to synch Reggie: Yeah, [I usually start] just before 9. It’s not usually necessarily, you know I don’t necessarily have to get there too early, although if I’m on the west coast, then I do have to, I tend to have to get up quite early there because I’m then servicing folks that are out on the east as well….Yeah. So then sometimes you know I would be in the office at 6 o’clock Pacific time, to be available to do meetings and things that I need to do in the east.

The “timescape”: intense Jessica: [Project managers are] in charge of the hours they put on a project. That’s the big problem is like you can have 80% of your project gone with 50% of it only complete and they will look at [you] and say you’ve got to do this faster. You’ve got to do this faster and now you think that you’re 50% through and what you thought you needed 50 hours for, you now have to do it in 20.

The “timescape”: “de-temporalized Sam Ladner: When do you find time passes quickly during the day? George: When I’m building something new. Sam Ladner: How often does that happen? George: Not often enough. Never often enough

Selling time “bends” time. Sam Ladner: What do you mean you don’t bill it? Jennifer: I just, it’s empty time. Sam Ladner: It doesn’t get recorded? Jennifer: No.

Mobile technology and status Sam Ladner: No Blackberry. Is that on purpose? Julie: No. No. Only directors get Blackberrys. Sam Ladner : Oh, so it's a status thing? Julie: Yes.

The home/work divide Deirdra: I was … I had already got my makeup done and I was writing my speech and my cell phone rang. Sam Ladner: Oh you were in the bridal party? Deirdra: Yeah. I mean the wedding wasn't in progress but I was out of town though for it. It's strange because only certain people in the company have company cell phones yet they always want to know your cell phone number so they can call you all the time…