This document provides a summary of a research paper on the impact of flexible work arrangements on work-life balance. It discusses how temporal and spatial flexibility can both help and harm work-life balance. While spatial flexibility is found to blur boundaries and increase work hours, temporal flexibility may be beneficial if regulated. Government support through policies and trade union involvement in collective bargaining are seen as key to managing the negative impacts of flexibility and enhancing its benefits for work-life balance. The document analyzes academic research on this topic and provides examples to support its arguments.

1. SOCI 3030 A: Work, Industry and Occupation
Final Research Project – 2016/04/06
Ludovica Chiappini #101028674
The impact of flexible work arrangements on work-life balance: how to
overcome the dark side of flexibility

2. 1
Introduction
Work occupies most of the individuals waking hours being a crucial part of their identities
and an essential source of their sustenance. Work can liberate but also enslave people preventing
them from having personal time, nurturing social relations and providing care in the family (Sweet,
Meiksins, 2013, p. 1). The dedication to private life has shown to be as important as the
commitment to work for a gratifying and non-regrettable existence. Hence, integrating work and
the personal sphere has proven to be the just solution to avoid the enduring perception of “work-
slavery”. The achievement of the so-called work-life balance can be understood as “the overall
level of contentment resulting from an assessment of one’s degree of success at meeting work and
private life demands” (Valcour, 2007, p. 1512). The lack of this contentment is one of the major
contributors to social costs (Cooper, 2009).
Nowadays, the need for work-life balance is considerable. Working in the new economy is
colonizing domains from which it was previously absent. The extinction of lunch hours, the
growing tendency to take work home on the weekends, in the evening, along vacations now have
become a norm. In the old economy, workers were supposed to be physically present at their work
sites and to structure their time commitment in accordance with rigid full-time schedules (Sweet,
Meiksins, 2013, p. 37). Indeed, the traditional working industrial model, as properly illustrated in
the Charlie Chaplin movie “Modern Times” (lecture 2016/01/20, class movie) was characterized
by extremely defined working hours punctuated by the sound of a bell (8-h work day, 5-day work
and free evenings). After the final ringing, private life began and the issue to balance work and life
was not significant. On the contrary, with the coming of the post-industrial model of work,
international competition, technological changes, the rise of a service economy and the declining
economic trends, the organization of work changed leaving the door open for the flexibilization of

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working times and workplaces. Therefore, a growing attention occurred with regard to the impact
of these new contours of work on individuals’ work-life balance and their quality of life. Academic
researches on flexible work arrangements have pointed out the complex relationship with work-
life balance. At their best, flexible arrangements might provide major workers’ autonomy and
control over their schedules, however, they can also jeopardize personal, familial and social life.
Flexibility does not always equal “family-friendly”. It could be both the solution or the cause of
the work-life balance deficiency (Anttila, Oinas, Tammelin, & Nätti, 2015). The double-sided
effect of flexible work arrangements depends on the way they are interpreted in a specific political
environment and whether backing measures to overcome the dark side of flexibility are present or
not.
Based on these premises, the purpose of the essay is to solve the “hamletic doubt” whether
the two dimensions of flexibility, spatial and temporal, benefit or harm the work-life balance. To
this end, the paper lies on the table the ensuing questions: how temporal and spatial flexibility of
work in the new economy are affecting the individual balance between work and private life? How
to manage the major impacts of flexible work arrangements on living conditions? Taking the cue
from academic studies, the essay reasonably states that spatial flexibility is not associated with a
positive perception of work-life balance, while temporal flexibility, especially the degree of
autonomy individuals have over their working hours, can have a beneficial role when it is
regulated. Hence, government and workplace supports play a pivotal role in moderating the dark
aspects of flexibility and enhancing its beneficial impacts on work-life balance.
The first section of the paper analyzes the concept of work flexibility pertaining to both
temporal and spatial dimensions. Exploring official data and referring to some work experiences,
the essay will assume that spatial flexibility is not associated with a meaningful perception of

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work-life balance while, temporal flexibility might be potentially beneficial. As a consequence of
these preliminary conclusions, the paper will mainly focus on temporal flexibility. Although it can
be seen as a possible solution to balance work-life conflicts, the second section of the research will
illustrate some limitations of flexible work time arrangements attributable to the unsocial working
hours in the 24/7 economy and the overwork. These considerations will lead to the idea of
indispensable supports in order to enhance the brighter sphere of flexibility. Hence, the third
section will analyze several backing measures concluding that the State is essential through the
institutionalization of appropriate flexible work policies. Also, the workplace support is relevant
if it customizes work schedules enhancing workers’ control. Here, the crucial role of trade unions
in the achievement of workers’ time autonomy will be brought up. Finally, conclusions will be
drawn in the last section.
1. Temporal and spatial flexibility of work in the new economy: the implications on work-
life balance
Dealing with work flexibility means analyzing both its time and place-related dimensions.
In particular, temporal flexibility concerns the variation of work schedules including the number
of hours worked, the timing, the intensity and the degree of time autonomy individuals have over
their working hours (Anttila, Oinas, Tammelin, & Nätti, 2015). While, spatial flexibility pertains
to the practice of remote work such as working at home, mobile or nomadic working (Sullivan,
2012). The public-based perception tends to highlight the brighter side of flexible work
arrangements. “Work whenever and wherever you want” is emphasized as a “family friendly”
solution based upon the assertions that spatial and temporal flexibility will increase time for non-
work responsibilities improving people ability to organize their daily life to successfully meet both
work and non-work demand (lecture 2016/01/13, class video: 9 to 5 no longer). However, this

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general optimism is held back by empirical researches that warn about the social costs of
flexibility.
In particular, some analytical studies have focused on how spatial and temporal flexibility
in the new economy affect the individual balance between work and private life (Anttila, Oinas,
Tammelin, & Nätti, 2015). Firstly, they relate to the impact of spatial flexibility on the satisfaction
and well-being in relation to private life. Predominantly, the aspect of working from home is
discussed. The common idea is that home-based work has the potential to enhance work-life
balance offering grater autonomy and allow workers to better organized their time without feeling
like “a rat in a maze” at the office. However, the findings show that spatial flexibility is not
positively associated with the perception of work-life balance. Indeed, the entry to work into
private spheres “throws-off” balance because of simultaneous demands to follow both work and
home roles. It brings about negative consequences including increased work-family tension,
decreased career development opportunities and visibility, increased work hours and social
isolation (Tremblay, 2003; Harris, 2003). Hence, spatial flexibility makes life more stressful by
blurring boundaries between work and private life (Maruyama, Tietze, 2012). The findings of these
studies are not so upsetting and they recall the home-based work experience of a friend of mine
that is suitable to observe the concrete social consequences of spatial flexibility. Indeed, his
independent entrepreneurial home-based career is explicative. Taking the cue from his testimony,
the self-employer reveals that working from home is alienating, blurs the boundaries between work
and home life and did not allow him to built social relationships that could have been potentially
beneficial not only for his psychological well-being but also for development opportunities of his
e-commerce company. The evidence of his dissatisfaction is the choice to rent an office escaping
from the misleading atmosphere of the “home-working dimension”.

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Furthermore, the researches highlight how spatial flexibility can increase gender
occupational segregation. In fact, women are more likely to engage with home-based work rather
than men due to gender socialization influences and the stereotyped assumptions about women’s
behaviors and desires (Sweet, Meiksins, 2013, p. 134). So, even if the introduction of remote
working would enhance work-life balance, if it reduces gender equity, then any overall impact on
quality of life is seriously undermined. Finally, spatial flexibility encourages the detrimental
potential of technology in the time management. The “Silicon Valley Culture” is based on
computer technology that was supposed to save time, however - allowing people to work wherever
they want - it paradoxically led to the overwork and the “rule of technology”. Indeed, computers
are increasingly dictating how people use their time bringing several social consequences on the
table: personal relations are digitalized, time pressure affects the domestic stability, emotional
downsizing is the new attitude and work-life balance is traded off for efficiency (lecture
2016/02/24, “Time Frenzy: Keeping Up with Tomorrow”). In essence, spatial flexibility plays a
negative role in the achievement of work-life balance (Maruyama, Tietze, 2012).
On the contrary, the same studies have also focused on temporal flexibility especially, the
variation of the number of hours worked, the timing and intensity of work and the schedules’
control. They reveal that temporal flexibility can be perceived as a more relevant factor to enhance
work-life balance under certain circumstances (Anttila, Oinas, Tammelin, & Nätti, 2015). These
findings leave the door open to grasp the brighter side of temporal flexibility and overcome its
damaging aspects. Hence, they orient the paper to concentrate on temporal flexibility. Primarily,
it is reasonable to unearth the backlashes of flexible working times in order to pinpoint the set of
problems related to the issue. In fact, the outcome of this investigation will support the essay to
identify the key agents responsible for managing the negative impacts of temporal flexibility on

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work-life balance and to “dig up” the feasible measures in order to stimulate the brighter effects.
2. Unsocial and long working hours: the backlashes of flexible work time arrangements
Flexible work time schedules could be valuable tools for easing the chronic pressure and
conflicts imposed by attempting to accomplish both work and non-work responsibilities (Golden,
2001). However, they present some side effects that obstruct rather than help the balancing of work
and private life. When flexible time work arrangements are driven by employers’ interest in
promoting efficient use of human labor, they encourage overtime and unsocial work hours that
merely serve the need of the companies (Chung, Tijdens, 2013). The emergence of new markets,
the requirement to coordinate different time zones and to meet the various times of customer
demand stimulate a “company-oriented flexibility” and this is the cause of work-life balance
deficiency. Researches have shown that the expansion of operating hours, working nights or on
weekends is stressful and has detrimental consequences on workers’ physical conditions and
psychological health. Moreover, the unsocial work schedules are significantly related to the
conflict between work and family and problem in time management (Costa, Sarton, & Akersted,
2006). Hence, the “free capitalistic use” of work time flexibility in a 24/7 economy prejudiced the
work-life balance.
Also, when temporal flexibility - even if theoretically “employee-oriented” - arises within
an unregulated work environment, it stimulates the risk of workers’ burnout. Indeed, a recent study
among professional workers demonstrates that when employees feel the threats of job loss and
perceive the lack of supportive measures, they respond to the ability to use flexible arrangements
by exerting additional effort in their work (Kelliher, Anderson, 2008). Thus, higher autonomy in
the use of working hours may be linked to the lengthening of working hours leading to overwork
and prejudicing the work-life balance. This particular side effect of work time flexibility recalls

8. 7
my internship experience at the Italian Ministry of Economic Development. Differently to the
permanent public employees with traditional working schedules, my supervisor had a short-term
contract as an external worker. He had a consistent degree of time autonomy over his working
hours compared to his permanent colleagues, however, this flexibility presses him to lengthen the
working hours almost till midnight every day. Thus, his work-life balance was highly
compromised.
According to the common opinion, work time management is perceived as a private
problematic and so, it has individual solutions. Nevertheless, the issue at stake is relevant and it
involves the overall community (ibidem, “Time Frenzy: Keeping Up with Tomorrow”). Hence,
work-time flexibility needs to be regulated through effective public policies and the agency of
specific actors, “the agents of change”, such as the state and trade unions (Sweet; Meiksins, 2013,
p. 201). If left unregulated, flexible work time arrangements will always lead to overwork, unsocial
working hours and work pressure. They will always be part of the problem pertaining work-life
balance rather than being the solution. To conclude, the negative face of flexible time arrangements
substantially depends on the surrounding political and cultural environment and its tendency to
leave these measures without any support.
3. State and workplace support: how to overcome the dark side of flexible work time
arrangements
According to official data (Lippe, et al., 2009), social democratic countries that are based
on a socialist welfare-state provide greater supportive measures for flextime arrangements and
they have a higher rate of work-life balance satisfaction compared to the liberal and individualistic-
based countries (Lecture 2016/01/27, class discussion). The statistics particularly suit to
demonstrate the thesis statement of the paper. In fact, they suggest that flexible work time

9. 8
arrangements can be positive or negative varying substantially in respect to the country’s political
environment and its supportive measures pertaining to work flexibility. The academic research
based on these data has analyzed several backing measures at the state level (public policies on
work flexibility) workplace level (job control and flexible work time arrangements) and, finally,
private level (having a partner, paid or informal help with a domestic task). According to the
findings, the State support have been proven to be fundamental to enhance work-life balance
through the institutionalization of public policies such as publicly funded childcare, statutory leave
provisions and policies regarding flexible work time practices (Kovacheva, Kabaivanov, &
Andreev, 2007; Saraceno et al., 2005). In addition, the role of the State as a regulator is a “nudge”
for employers sensitizing them to offer major supports. Indeed, appropriate workplace backing
measures can stimulate flexible work time arrangements that positively integrate work and private
sphere. Finally, the private instrumental supports have shown not to be so relevant to improve “the
balance” (Abendroth, Dulk, 2011).
It is reasonable to conclude that the state plays a crucial role to enhance the work-life
balance through regulated flexible arrangements. Thus, the government supports stimulate the
brighter side of flexibility. Also, the workplace support is fundamental and supplements state
provisions by offering working arrangements such as flexible working hours. Nonetheless, the
findings reveal puzzling observations with respect to the workplace supports: flexible timetables
can be beneficial only if workers feel major control over when they work.
Ironically, some workplace supports are often administrated in ways that continue to limit
employees control and rarely promote changes that affect employees’ experiences on the job or
their ability to manage other parts of their lives. Supervisors generally decide (Kelly, Moen, 2007).
Furthermore, some flexible work practices offer little discretion over schedules, instead creating

10. 9
new routines that are rigid as well. Thus, flextime often means setting customized starting and
stopping times but employees must be present during designated hours. Other supports require an
employee to choose starting and stopping times and adhere to them for months, rather than
allowing daily flextime shifting the hours as he needs (Galinsky et al., 2005). Hence, only the
schedule control as “the ability to determine when one works and how many hours one works”
(Kelly, Moen, 2007, p. 491) is a relevant aspect that increases the perceptions of workers’
autonomy over their timetables and impacts positively on individuals’ work-life balance. It has
been proved that perceived control mediates the relationship between the availability of flexib le
schedules and decreased work-family conflict (Thomas, Ganster, 1995).
Getting to the point, how to achieve workers’ schedule control in order to make workplace
supports concretely effective? The presence and the agency of trade unions in the work
organization is crucial. Through collective bargaining methods, trade unions can play a relevant
role in enhancing schedule control in the workplace, especially giving workers a wider choice over
the duration and scheduling their working hours. Also, they increase employees’ bargaining power
(McCann, Sangheon, 2011). The best practices in many industrialized European countries have
proven that the presence of negotiating processes in the workplace between representatives of
employers and trade unions enables to fashion innovative regulatory regimes that balance
flexibility with the need to maintain effective labor standards by providing a framework for the
regulation of working time. The strong regulatory frameworks allow space for the social partners
to craft innovative arrangements. This makes it possible for a reduction in working hours to be
accompanied by enterprise level agreements that meet the interests of both enterprises and those
of workers for greater control over their working hours (McCann, Sangheon, 2011). Hence, a
“regulated flexibility” through the action of the state and trade unions can overcome the dark side

11. 10
of flexible work arrangements and ensure all workers their own balance between work and non-
work sphere. It is not a fortuity that social democratic countries with a major presence of these
agents of change such as the state and trade unions have a higher level of work-life balance
satisfaction.
Conclusions
The purpose of the essay was to comprehend whether the two dimensions of flexibility,
spatial and temporal one, benefit or harm the work-life balance. Taking the cue from academic
researches and quantitative data, the first section of the paper has analyzed the concept of work
flexibility pertaining to both temporal and spatial dimensions concluding that spatial flexibility is
not associated with a meaningful perception of work-life balance while temporal flexibility is
potentially beneficial. Successively, the essay has focused on temporal flexibility and its
limitations attributable to the unsocial working hours in the 24/7 economy and the overwork. This
double-sided aspect of temporal flexibility has led to the idea that flexible work time arrangements
can have positive or negative effects. Thus, indispensable supports are needed to enhance the
brighter sphere of flexibility. Finally, the third section has demonstrated that among several
backing measures, the State is essential through the institutionalization of appropriate flexible
work policies. Also, the workplace support is relevant through customized work schedules.
Nevertheless, flexible timetables can be beneficial only if workers feel major control over when
they work. Therefore, the essay has assumed that the fulfilment of this hypothesis depends on the
influence of trade unions in the work organization. They can play a relevant role in enhancing the
schedule control in the workplace through collective bargaining processes. To conclude, only a
“regulated flexibility” through the action of the state and trade unions can overcome the dark side
of flexible work time arrangements.

12. 11
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McCann, D., & Sangheon, L. (2011). "Negotiating Working Time in Fragmented Labour
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Class Materials
Lecture (2016/01/13). 9 to 5 No Longer. Class video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8MK8ZK9Oq8
Lecture (2016/01/20). Charlie Chaplin, “Modern Times”. Class movie
Lecture (2016/01/27) Class discussion: Comparison between socialist welfare states (Europe)
and liberal welfare states (North America, UK)
Lecture (2016/02/24). Robert Gliner, “Time Frenzy: Keeping Up with Tomorrow”. Class movie
Sweet, S. A., & Meiksins, P. (2013). Changing contours of work: Jobs and opportunities in the
new economy (2nd ed.). Sage Publications.