Work and family in the UK: Perspectives of minority Asian women expatriates

Balancing work and family commitments is challenging for everyone. But what happens when you are an expatriate, cut off from your family support network, and adjusting to a culture with potentially very different expectations around gender roles and the appropriateness of non-family-based childcare? Some of my recent research has explored how expatriate Asian minority women in the UK experience the work-family interface and respond to national and organisational family-friendly practices

“Bring in Your Parents Day”: Building inclusion and engagement through a cross-generational family-friendly workplace initiative

Purpose: Employer-sponsored family-friendly events are designed to boost engagement and encourage retention by building family members’ identification with the organization. These events are usually targeted at employees with dependent children, but LinkedIn’s more inclusive “Bring in Your Parents” (BIYP) initiative aims to introduce employees’ parents to the daily work of their adult children. This study evaluates the impact of BIYP on the attitudes and behavioral intentions of participating employees and their parents. Methodology: Repeated-measures surveys were conducted among participating employees and parents in six organizations in six countries (UK, Ireland, France, Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia). These were followed by in-person interviews with participating employees (UK), and phone interviews with HR managers (Brazil, Canada, France, Spain, UK, USA). Findings: Participation in BIYP increases employee engagement and parents’ instrumental and affective support for their children and for their children’s employers. Hosting BIYP is perceived to enhance corporate reputation among both internal and external stakeholders. Practical implications: BIYP serves the dual function of building employee engagement and creating new parental brand ambassadors for participating organizations. BIYP can be an effective tool for employers to engage members of staff not traditionally included in organizational family-friendly events and may be particularly useful for firms with a high proportion of younger workers in tech-savvy jobs. Originality/value: This evaluation of a new workplace initiative demonstrates measurable effects on important employee attitudes and behavioral intentions

“The fur-lined rut”: telework and career ambition

In this chapter, we present a case study that explores the link between telework usage and career ambition within an organization where remote working is an embedded practice and used by a significant proportion of the workforce. First, this chapter will describe the organizational context for the case study as well as the qualitative and quantitative methods utilized. Next, qualitative and quantitative results detailing the impact of telework on career ambition will be presented. Last, a discussion of the findings, their implications for managers and suggestions as to how organizations might address the challenges associated with telework and career ambition will be presented

A Latin American perspective on diversity management: what does “inclusion” mean in a Peruvian context?

Although interest in inclusion is becoming widespread, there remains limited understanding of how organizations can create environments that promote inclusiveness and unlock the benefits of workforce diversity. Additional research is needed to better understand how inclusion is conceptualized and experienced in contexts other than North America and Europe. Taking an exploratory approach, the present research seeks to answer the question of how employees in Peru – one of the most socially and economically unequal nations in Latin America - understand the concept of inclusion in the workplace. Semi-structured interviews with thirty employed individuals found that inclusion was generally described as comprising belongingness, uniqueness, and equal treatment. Six elements emerged as key to the creation of workplace inclusion: participation, positive relationships, equality, feeling valued, climate and culture, and positive work conditions. As inhabitants of a developing country with high levels of inequality and discrimination, Peruvian employees’ views provide valuable insight into how inclusion is lived and understood in such a context, and how it may be augmented

The psychology of diversity and its implications for workplace (in)equality: looking back at the last decade and forward to the next

In this British Psychological Society (BPS) landmark paper, we employ an evidence synthesis approach to review the broad range of diversity research published in BPS journals between 2011 and 2021. By focusing on research that inves- tigates stereotypes associated with, and discrimination to- wards, minority and minoritized groups, we seek to provide readers with a better understanding of the dynamics of a diverse workforce and, going forward, to facilitate the ef- forts of the psychology research community towards build- ing a body of work that meaningfully addresses workplace inequalities. We thematically analyse and synthesize 25 ar- ticles, which fall into four interconnected themes: identity development and management; negative stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination; working in a diverse team; and the broader organizational environment. Highlighting key strengths of this work and areas for future development, we note the absence of overarching theoretical debates and discussions that might facilitate the development of an on- going narrative across diversity-related research published within BPS journals. We outline a future research agenda to bridge methodological divides and to connect with diversity literatures in related disciplines such as human resource de- velopment (HRD), human resource management (HRM), and organization studies. In so doing, we advocate for psychologists to move beyond a solely individualistic per- spective and instead recognize and account for the context within which diversity-related processes take place

The effect of breaches of the psychological contract on the job satisfaction and wellbeing of doctors in Ireland: a quantitative study

Medicine is one of the most popular college degrees at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. Despite this, morale and wellbeing in doctors at all levels internationally is reportedly low. Long hours and stressful working environments have been implicated as the cause of this. The psychological contract is the implicit expectations and mutual obligations held between an employee and employer. Breaches in this contract can lead to strong negative emotional responses. This study will examine the psychological contract of non-consultant doctors and gain further insight into their job satisfaction and wellbeing. It aims to ascertain the effect of breaches of the psychological contract on their job satisfaction and wellbeing

Contextualising intersectionality: a qualitative study of East Asian female migrant workers in the UK

Previous intersectional research on ethnic minority women has largely focused on inequalities and disadvantages associated with the intersection between their minority gender and ethnic identities. In this study, we challenge the static and dichotomous assumption of the existing intersectionality framework (e.g., privilege versus disadvantage) and adopt Holvino’s intersectional perspective of simultaneity as a theoretical lens through which to demonstrate the importance of understanding intersectionality within various levels of contexts, or contextualising social differences. Interviews with 43 female migrant workers from China, Japan, and Korea living in the UK revealed that these women perceived disadvantage in terms of gender/ethnic stereotyping and discriminatory practices at work. At the same time, however, their accounts provided evidence of contextualised privilege, namely ‘relative privilege’ (privilege in comparison to multiple reference groups), ‘assigned privilege’ (privilege assigned by their employers and the host society), and ‘ambiguous privilege’ (privilege as a double-edged sword). Based on these observations, we suggest that the location of East Asian women is not fixed within the interlocking systems of oppression in the host country; rather, this location is dynamic and fluid within interpersonal, organisational, and societal contexts in the home and host countries, moving back and forth between disadvantage and (limited) privilege

The meanings of work-life balance: a cultural perspective

The purpose of this chapter is to reflect on the often contested meanings and understandings of WLB in a range of contexts, drawing on and integrating two streams of literature: work-family interface research and critical management and organizational studies. First, we provide an overview of the term ‘work-life balance’ and its contested definitions in the two literatures. We then theorize understandings of WLB as shaped by intersecting layers of context: global, national (noting diversity within as well as across national contexts), organizational, and temporal. Finally, we address gaps and limitations in extant research, and speak to questions about the future of work-life balance in an increasingly connected and globalized world