Jacquelyn Boone James

Exploring the workplace impact of intentional/unintentional age discrimination

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between employee perceptions of unfair treatment of older workers and employee engagement. Design/methodology/approach – In a sample of over 4,500 workers, ages 18-94, from a retail workforce across three regions of the USA, the authors examine the relationship between perceptions that older workers are less likely to be promoted and employee engagement, using multilevel mixed effects linear regression models. The authors also examine whether the relationship is different if older workers were seen as fit for promotion, and whether discrimination is: intentional (fit, but less likely to be promoted) or unintentional (unfit, and less likely to be promoted). Findings – Results indicate that perceived discrimination is related to lower levels of employee engagement among workers of all ages. Findings also suggest that for older workers, there is a more negative relationship between unintentional discrimination and employee engagement, while f...

Workplace Flexibility for Hourly Lower-Wage Employees: A Strategic Business Practice Within One National Retail Firm

Flexible work options are becoming a popular organizational practice used to assist employees with meeting their work and family responsibilities. However, much of the work–family scholarship and many of the work–family policies offered within organizations focus on forms of workplace flexibility for professional workers, at the exclusion of workers in lower-wage hourly jobs. Using data from interviews with senior managers (N = 40), this paper examines the flexible work options offered to workers in lower-wage hourly positions and the associated benefits and challenges to businesses offering flexible work options. Implications for practice and policy are discussed.

Physical, Cognitive, Social, and Emotional Mediators of Activity Involvement and Health in Later Life

The current study tests the indirect effect of activity-related physical activity, cognitive activity, social interaction, and emotional exchange on the relationship between activity involvement and health (physical and emotional) in later life. Longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (N = 5,442) were used to estimate a series of linear regression models. We found significant indirect effects for social interaction and benefit to others (emotional exchange) on emotional health (depressive symptoms) and indirect effects for use of body and benefit to others (physical) on physical health (frailty). The most potent indirect effect associated with emotional and physical health was experienced by those engaged in all four domains (use of body, use of mind, social interaction, and benefit to others). While effect sizes are small and results should be interpreted with caution, findings shed light on ways in which public health interventions aimed toward increasing role engagement in later life could be improved.

Factors buffering against the effects of job demands: how does age matter?

Given the increasing role that paid work is likely to play in older adulthood in the coming decades, the goal of this study was to understand the circumstances under which work is related to mental health for older adults and whether these circumstances differ by age. Using a multiworksite sample of 1,812 U.S. workers age 18 to 81, we use the life-span theory of control to hypothesize that older and younger workers may benefit differentially from job and personal control in the context of high job demands. Results suggest that for younger workers with high personal control, job control buffers the impact of job demands on mental health. For older workers, personal control alone buffers the impact of job demands on mental health. This study adds to previous research by addressing how the factors thought to buffer against the effects of job demands differ cross-sectionally by age.

Measuring Engagement in Later Life Activities: Rasch-Based Scenario Scales for Work, Caregiving, Informal Helping, and Volunteering

The development of Rasch-based “comparative engagement scenarios” based on Guttman’s facet theory and sentence mapping procedures is described. The scenario scales measuring engagement in work, caregiving, informal helping, and volunteering illuminate the lived experiences of role involvement among older adults and offer multiple advantages over typical Likert-based scales.

Successes in Changing Flexible Work Arrangement Use Managers and Work-Unit Variation in a Financial Services Organization

This study identifies factors associated with flexible work arrangement (FWA) use in the context of the “Supervisor-Promoted Flexibility” program implemented by an employer in the financial activities supersector. This change initiative involved supervisor-initiated discussions that explored prospects for supervisee FWA use. Discussions increased the odds of FWA use expansion, but changes occurred at different rates among work units. Managers’ gender, age, and attitudes toward FWAs corresponded with changes observed. When managers believed that supervisee FWA use reflected favorably on prospects for their own careers, they were more likely to expand use over time.

Discussing Work-Life Fit: Factors that Predict Managerial Promotion of Flexible Work Arrangements

Abstract Purpose Increased access to flexible work arrangements has the prospect of enhancing work-family reconciliation. Under consideration is extent that managers assumed lead roles in initiating discussions, the overall volume of discussions that occurred, and the outcomes of these discussions. Methodology/approach A panel analysis of 950 managers over one and a half years examines factors predicting involvement in a change initiative designed to expand flexible work arrangement use in a company in the financial activities supersector. Findings The overall volume of discussions, and tendencies for managers to initiate discussions, is positively predicted by managers’ prior experiences with flexibility, training to promote flexibility, and supervisory responsibilities. Managers were more inclined to promote flexibility when they viewed it as a supervisory responsibility and when they believed that it offered career rewards. An experiment demonstrated that learning of professional standards demonstrated outside of one’s own unit increased promotion of flexible work options. Discussions of flexibility led to many more approvals than denials of use, and also increased the likelihood of subsequent discussions occurring, indicating that promoting discussions of flexible work arrangements can be a path toward expanding use. Originality The study identifies specific factors that can lead managers to support exploration of flexible work arrangement use.

Innovative Pathways to Meaningful Work: Older Adults as Volunteers and Self-Employed Entrepreneurs

A recent report issued by the United Nations stated, “The global share of older people (aged 60 years or over) increased from 9.2 per cent in 1990 to 11.7 per cent in 2013 and will continue to grow as a proportion of the world population, reaching 21.1 per cent by 2050” (Department of Economic and Social Affairs 2013, p. xii). We refer to these trends as “disruptive demographics” because the population shifts are not only dramatic, but they also have the potential to ignite conversations about some of the positive contemporary experiences associated with the aging of the population. Furthermore, disruptions caused by the aging of the workforce may well foster the discovery of new opportunities for innovative and productive roles, that is, new forms of paid work and/or volunteering that can be assumed by older adults during the period of time that has conventionally been considered to be the “retirement years.”

Workability and Requests for Flexible Work Arrangements Among Older Adults The Role of a Time and Place Management Intervention

This article investigates the effect of an intervention on the workability of older adults (i.e., the competence, health, and other mental and physical characteristics that workers need to meet the demands of their jobs). We used data from health care workers (N = 437) who participated in a “time and place management” (TPM) intervention. Although related to flexible work options that aim to give workers more choice and control over the time and place of their work, TPM is conceptually distinct in that it focuses on the processes and guidelines necessary to the successful management of choice and control rather than the options alone. We focused on how the TPM intervention moderated the relationship between age and workability over time, with a particular focus on variation by baseline workability. Our results indicated that the intervention can benefit older workers with low workability.

Resilience in the Workplace: Job Conditions that Buffer Negative Attitudes Toward Older Workers

In the United States and abroad, older people are vulnerable to negative perceptions and stereotyping, and in some instances outright discrimination (Hedge et al. 2006). These vulnerabilities are especially problematic today due to the increasing demands for employment opportunities among older workers. Are there protective factors that render older workers resilient to these vulnerabilities? Are there things that employers of older workers can do to buffer these vulnerabilities?