Flexible Working and Well-being: Longitudinal and Time Use Evidence from the UK

Abstract

This thesis comprises three empirical studies that address key conceptual and methodological questions regarding flexible working and well-being. First, using the UK longitudinal household survey data (2010-2021) and fixed-effects regression model, the first empirical study explores the mental health consequences of work autonomy and its gendered and class-differentiated patterns. The findings suggest that the benefits of work autonomy on employees’ mental health are more pronounced among male employees and female employees in the higher occupational classes. Second, using the UK Time Use Survey data 2014/2015 and Ordinary Least Squares regression, the second empirical study investigates the associations between work schedule flexibility and workers’ time spent on major activities (i.e., paid work, unpaid work, personal care and free time). Specifically, the second study finds that limited schedule flexibility is significantly related to shorter paid work hours and more free time. Such effects of limited flexible schedules only apply to male workers in higher occupations, whereas those in lower occupations are likely exploited by schedule flexibility by working more and having less free time. The findings fill the gap that there is no time use evidence based on time diary data to understand how different types of flexible schedules shape employees’ time spent on paid work, unpaid work, personal care and free time activities across different gender and occupational groups. Third, using data from the Centre for Time Use Research (CTUR) UK Time Use Survey 6-Wave Sequence across the COVID-19 pandemic and Ordinary Least Squares regression, the third empirical study does not directly discuss the relationships between work autonomy/flexibility and well-being but explores the influences of work time fragmentation on workers’ subjective time pressure. The findings suggest that women tend to report more subjective time pressure when they have more fragmented work schedules, while men without children tend to report less subjective time pressure when they have more fragmented work schedules. These three empirical studies complement and reinforce each other, offering new insights into flexible working and well-being in the UK.

Date of Award	16 Feb 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Wendy Kay Olsen (Supervisor) & Yaojun Li (Supervisor)