Noelle Donnelly

The Role of 'Voice' in Matters of 'Choice': Flexible Work Outcomes for Women in the New Zealand Public Services

Flexible work arrangements have traditionally been framed in terms of individual choice, where workers are regarded as having the ability to reconcile the demands of family life with those of work. In response to calls for greater workplace flexibility and worker choice, the New Zealand government has recently introduced ‘right to request’ legislation. This research reports on a large-scale survey of women public service workers’ experiences of flexible work arrangements in this legislative context. Against a backdrop of rising workloads and time pressures, it finds that while there is considerable choice in how women do their tasks and take their breaks, there is little voice in the organization and pace of that work. In this context, the burden of implementing flexible work arrangements and managing competing workloads is borne by the individual. This article argues that absent from, but pivotal to, the framing and discourse of workplace flexibility is the role of voice. Implications of this research include a broadening of the legislative framework that supports flexibility outcomes and the inclusion of more varied voice mechanisms into the implementation and management of workplace flexibility.

Women workers: caring, sharing, enjoying their work – or just another gender stereotype?

This article examines the responses of more than 10,000 unionised women and nearly 5000 unionised men, working in the New Zealand public sector, to a selection of questions in a workplace dynamics survey. The questions investigated in this article provide insights into women’s levels of commitment and job satisfaction compared to those of men. It also reports on comparative experiences of cooperation, information sharing, recognition and managerial practices. The findings show that women and men do not differ significantly in terms of organisational commitment. However, women are more committed generally and enjoy their work more than men, but they report less favourably on experiences of cooperation and communication at work. Women, compared with men, also report experiencing less recognition. We discuss the possible meaning of these results and the potential implications for management and unions.

The mistreatment of public service workers: identifying key risk and protective factors

This paper investigates the dynamics of worker mistreatment in a new public management (NPM) environment. It explores the combination of organizational and individual risk and protective factors. It reveals that the cumulative effects of organizational and individual factors radically increase the likelihood of mistreatment. Implications of these findings are outlined.