11 research outputs found
Flexible Working in the UK and its Impact on Couples' Time Coordination
The ability to combine work with quality time together as a family is at the heart of the
concept of work-life balance. Using previously unexploited data on couples work
schedules we investigate the effect of flexible working on couples coordination of their
daily work schedules in the UK. We consider three distinct dimensions of flexible
working: flexibility of daily start and finish times (flexitime), flexibility of work times
over the year (annualized hours), and generalized control of working hours. We show
that having flexitime at work increases a couples amount of coordination of their daily
work schedules by a half to one hour, which is double the margin of adjustment enjoyed
by couples with no flexitime. The impact is driven by couples with children. In contrast
to flexitime, the other two forms of flexible working do not seem to increase
synchronous time. Our results suggest that having flexitime plays an important role in
relaxing the work scheduling constraints faced by families with young children, and that
effective flexible working time arrangements are those that increase the workers and
not the employers flexibility
Parental transfers and the labor supply of children
Pocket money, Child's labor supply, Altruism, C35, D64, J2,