Lingard, H (2000) The relationship between 'family friendly' employment practices and the well-being and satisfaction of white collar employees in the construction industry. In: Akintoye, A (ed.) Proceedings of 16th Annual ARCOM Conference, 6-8 September 2000, Glasgow, UK.
Abstract
The construction industry is a demanding work environment. Work hours in construction are long and sometimes irregular. Research suggests that employees' participation in work, reflected in work hours, is negatively related to family participation and positively related to divorce rate (Aldous et al 1979). Irregularity of work hours has been identified as the most important variable affecting low marital quality among shift workers (White and Keith 1990). Low profit margins, time and budget constraints and the adversarial nature of the industry place construction industry participants under extreme pressure. The industry is project-based and job security may be lower than in repetitive process industries since continued employment is conditional on successful tendering for new projects in a highly competitive environment. Previous research has found job insecurity to be negatively related to marital and family functioning (Larson et al 1994). Continued employment may require frequent relocation. Given the increasing number of dual career couples (Kamerman and Kahn 1981), commuter marriages are not uncommon. People engaged in commuter marriages have reported significantly less satisfaction with partner and family life than people in single residence families or relationships (Bunker et al 1992). Research is under way to investigate the extent to which male and female white collar construction industry employees in Australia experience conflict between their work and their family life. The relationship between employees' work practices and their perceived quality of work and family life is being investigated. The impact of job demands on psychological distress is also being explored. The rationale for this research and the methodology, including scales to be used in measurement of independent and dependent variables, are presented. Options for making the construction industry a more 'family-friendly' work environment are considered.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | employment; family; human resource management |
| Index terms: | satisfaction, employment, human resource management, Australia, budget constraint, profit, relocation, well-being, career, psychological distress, methodology, work practice, work environment, construction industry, option, job demand, dependent variable |
| Subjects: | mental health and wellbeing, financial and cost management, project delivery, economic analysis, management, research methods, Geography, professional development, market analysis, health conditions and diseases, decision analysis, industry analysis, statistical analysis |
| Topics: | Risk Management, Health and Safety, Cost Management, Business Strategy, Information Management, Geographical Context, Project Management, Research Practice, Organizational Design, Human Resources |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here