Age & Generations: Understanding Experiences at the Workplace

Examines differences in employees' perceptions of the quality of their jobs by generation, career stage, whether they have dependent care responsibilities, and length of tenure. Discusses elements of employment quality, including flexible work options

Policy Recommendations for Meeting the Grand Challenge to Advance Long and Productive Lives

This brief was created forSocial Innovation for America’s Renewal, a policy conference organized by the Center for Social Development in collaboration with the American Academy of Social Work & Social Welfare, which is leading theGrand Challenges for Social Work initiative to champion social progress. The conference site includes links to speeches, presentations, and a full list of the policy briefs

Measuring Purpose in Life in College Students: An Assessment of Invariance Properties by College Year and Undergraduate School

Purpose in life is a key construct in the development of young adults, particularly college students. There are many instruments measuring sense of purpose in life, but few studies have examined their measurement properties among college students. The current study compares the measurement invariance properties of the Purpose in Life (PIL) scale and the Claremont Purpose Scale (CPS) across college year and undergraduate school. Using both a unidimensional and a two-dimensional model, we found that the PIL’s interpretability is limited among college students. Using a three-dimensional model, the CPS was invariant with respect to both grouping variables. The study suggests that the CPS can be used to make meaningful comparisons among college students categorized by school year and undergraduate school. The study also has some implications about the construct of purpose in life; namely, scale structures that work well statistically and theoretically among adults might not generalize to young adults

Are women less career centric than men? Structure, culture, and identity investments

Some work/family scholars assume that gender differences in career centrality (i.e. the importance of career to one\u27s identity) are a result of differential job characteristics and family demands; others trace these differences to pre-existing cultural orientations. Using the 2010 Generations of Talent data from 9210 employees working in 11 countries for 7 multinational companies, this study verifies the existence of gender differences in career centrality and explores structural and cultural explanations. Gender disparities in career centrality are modest, indicating that women\u27s and men\u27s identification with careers is more similar than is commonly asserted; the most pronounced (but still relatively small) disparities are observed in Japan and China. A large portion of the gender gap is explained by job characteristics, supporting structural explanations. Family demands contribute to explaining the gap as well, but the findings are unexpected: having minor children is associated with higher career centrality for both women and men. In support of cultural explanations, however, traditional gender beliefs are associated with lower career centrality, especially for women, while two job characteristics (job variety and peer relations) have distinct links to career centrality for women and men. Findings challenge the common assumption that family identities compete against work identities

Increasing Productive Engagement in Later Life

Population aging is among the most profound transformations in all of human history. Life expectancy has more than tripled, with most of that extension coming in the last century (Finch, 2010). This demographic shift is very rapid—indeed a demographic revolution. In the United States, the number of people over the age of 65 will double between 2000 and 2030, with the number of people over 85 growing the fastest (Administration on Aging, 2013). This demographic revolution presents many grand challenges. This paper highlights the challenge of reshaping social expectations, institutions, policies, and programs to engage the growing human capital of the older population to meet the demands posed by an aging society. How can we change attitudes and expectations, as well as policies and programs, to optimally engage older adults in paid and unpaid work, for the sake of society and for older adults themselves? The challenge of increasing the productive engagement of older adults meets the criteria outlined by the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare’s Grand Challenges for Social Work Initiative

Influences on employee perceptions of organizational work-life support: Signals and resources

International audienceThis study examined predictors of employee perceptions of organizational work-life support. Using organizational support theory and conservation of resources theory, we reasoned that workplace demands and resources shape employees' perceptions of work-life support through two mechanisms: signaling that the organization cares about their work-life balance and helping them develop and conserve resources needed to meet work and nonwork responsibilities. Consistent with our hypotheses, we found that higher demands (work hours and work overload) were associated with reduced perceptions that the organization was supportive of work-life integration. Resources (job security, fit between employees' needs and the flexible work options available to them, supervisor support and work group support) were positively associated with perceptions of organizational work-life support. The results of this study urge further scholarly attention to work-based demands and resources as predictors of perceived organizational work-life support and yield implications for managerial practice