As employers have struggled to adapt to recessionary economies, globalization, and rapid technological changes, they have tried to cut costs by introducing more flexibility into the employment relationship such that many workers bear greater risk to their jobs than they did in the past. From Shainaz Firfiray, Associate Professor of Organisation and Human Resource Management.
Although flexibility is promoted from a business perspective, several studies have shown that such precarious forms of employment create challenges for the well-being of workers. It is therefore important that employers view their employees’ contracts through a lens of social responsibility rather than focusing solely on cost effectiveness and productivity. Owing to the current emphasis on competitiveness, many workers are routinely switching between phases of low-paid work and unemployment.
Evidence suggests that individuals who struggle to remain employed and progress at work face a number of impediments to finding well-paid jobs including lower levels of education, limited training and development opportunities and difficulties in accessing professional networks. Identifying ways in which the tenuous balance between flexibility and employment protection can be managed may hold important benefits for individual workers, their families and the wider society.
Working mothers are especially disadvantaged given the high costs of childcare. Combining paid work and caregiving is challenging as the demands associated with both roles will compete for an individual’s limited time and resources. Excessive role conflict can interfere with work performance, increase stress levels and diminish well-being. Moreover, long-term difficulties in reconciling work and caregiving responsibilities can derail an employee’s career path and the prospect of advancement on the job.
Dependent care obligations may lead to career interruptions as employees attempt to respond to the conflicting demands of caregiving and work by reducing their commitment to the work role, often departing from a path associated with the “ideal worker.” Such career interruptions may create several problems for working mothers and other caregivers that may increase their likelihood of remaining in low-paid jobs.
Very often caregivers will either need to leave their jobs or take long absences from work which means they may lose developmental opportunities, be underestimated by colleagues and supervisors and may be assigned to undesirable tasks when they return to full-time employment. If working mothers and other caregivers continue to take alternative career paths due to scheduling problems and the difficulties in balancing work and caregiving, structural inequalities will continue to persist at work leading to a further depression of wages among these groups.
To overcome the low-wage problem, employment policies should focus on developing pathways for occupational progression and moving people towards more acceptable levels of pay. Policymakers and employers could join forces to create better quality jobs and offer more training to improve career advancement at work. Also, employers could try to create work environments that provide greater support to employees who juggle paid work and caregiving responsibilities to decrease the likelihood of working mothers and other carers making career limiting choices.
