Jack Lam

Time work by overworked professionals: strategies in response to the stress of higher status

How are professionals responding to the time strains brought on by the stress of their higher status jobs? Qualitative data from professionals reveal (a) general acceptance of the emerging temporal organization of professional work, including rising time demands and blurred boundaries around work/nonwork times and places, and (b) time work as strategic responses to work intensification, overloads, and boundarylessness. We detected four time-work strategies: prioritizing time, scaling back obligations, blocking out time, and time shifting of obligations. These strategies are often more work-friendly than family-friendly, but “blocking out time” and “time shifting” suggest promising avenues for work-time policy and practice.

Healthy work revisited: do changes in time strain predict well-being?

Building on Karasek and Theorell (R. Karasek & T. Theorell, 1990, Healthy work: Stress, productivity, and the reconstruction of working life, New York, NY: Basic Books), we theorized and tested the relationship between time strain (work-time demands and control) and seven self-reported health outcomes. We drew on survey data from 550 employees fielded before and 6 months after the implementation of an organizational intervention, the results only work environment (ROWE) in a white-collar organization. Cross-sectional (wave 1) models showed psychological time demands and time control measures were related to health outcomes in expected directions. The ROWE intervention did not predict changes in psychological time demands by wave 2, but did predict increased time control (a sense of time adequacy and schedule control). Statistical models revealed increases in psychological time demands and time adequacy predicted changes in positive (energy, mastery, psychological well-being, self-assessed health) and negative (emotional exhaustion, somatic symptoms, psychological distress) outcomes in expected directions, net of job and home demands and covariates. This study demonstrates the value of including time strain in investigations of the health effects of job conditions. Results encourage longitudinal models of change in psychological time demands as well as time control, along with the development and testing of interventions aimed at reducing time strain in different populations of workers.

Is Insecurity Worse for Well-being in Turbulent Times? Mental Health in Context

Using General Social Survey data, we examine whether any association between job insecurity and well-being is contingent on economic climate (comparing those interviewed in turbulent 2010 vs. pre-recessionary 2006), as well as income and gender. We find respondents with higher levels of job insecurity in 2010 reported lower levels of happiness compared to those similarly insecure in 2006. The positive relationship between job insecurity and days of poor mental health becomes more pronounced for those in the third quartile of personal income in 2010, suggesting middle-class vulnerability during the economic downturn. Men (but not women) with higher insecurity report more days of poor mental health in both 2006 and 2010. These findings reinforce a “cycles of control” theoretical approach, given the mental health–job insecurity relationship is heightened for workers in turbulent times.

The Scarring Effects of Father’s Unemployment? Job-Security Satisfaction and Mental Health at Midlife

Objectives We investigate the association between early-life paternal unemployment and midlife mental health, examining whether the impact of fathers unemployment may vary contingent on the broader economic context on which it occurred. We also investigate job-security satisfaction as a potential mediator of this association. Method We utilize random-effects models, drawing on 15 waves of data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, with 7,438 individuals and 42,309 individual-time observations. Results We find respondents whose father was unemployed report worse mental health at midlife (-2.27; p < .01), with the association being modest, though statistically significant. This association is also stronger for younger respondents, whose paternal unemployment was more likely during the economic downturn of the mid 1970s in Australia. Paternal unemployment is also associated with lower satisfaction with job security at midlife (-0.17; p < 0.05), which is related to worse mental health; however, it explains little of the association between paternal unemployment and mental health. Discussion Existing research finds paternal unemployment relates to educational attainment, socioeconomic achievement, and wellbeing in the shorter term, but exposure to this event may also have enduring implications for the wellbeing of the offspring.

General and proximal associations between unpaid eldercare, time constraints and subjective well-being

Using 2012/13 American Time Use Survey, we find as compared to non-caregivers, caregivers report less time on personal care, social activities and sports and more time on housework. They also report higher stress and lower happiness when engaged in daily activities. Further, using diary information which captures activities during a 24-hour window, we compare caregivers on days they provide care and caregivers on days they do not provide care. Caregivers report more time on housework and less on paid work, and higher levels of sadness when engaged in daily activities. This highlights proximal effects of informal caregiving, even for individuals already engaged in regular caregiving.