Morrison, E and Thurnell, D (2012) Working hours in a large New Zealand construction company. In: Smith, S D (ed.) Proceedings of 28th Annual ARCOM Conference, 3-5 September 2012, Edinburgh, UK.
Abstract
Long working hours and weekend working are an integral part of many jobs in the construction industry, and are job characteristics that are linked to work-life conflict, which adversely affects employees' ability to achieve work-life balance. Furthermore, the industry’s culture of long working hours limits its ability to attract and retain talented employees. Since much of the work-life balance research in the construction industry focuses on working hours, this research aimed to identify the typical working hours of the professional and managerial level staff within a single large New Zealand construction company. One hundred and twenty one (121) head office and site-based employees responded to an online survey. Results support the assertion that New Zealand construction industry employees tend to work long hours, and that work location affects working hour demands. Qualitative results suggest some work-life conflict associated with working long hours and weekend work exists. The New Zealand construction industry must provide a supportive workplace culture in which to address these issues, and provide reasonable working hours, in order to find a balance that is suitable to employees, companies, and the industry as a whole.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | contracting; human resource management; work hours; work-life balance |
| Index terms: | survey, construction company, human resource management, New Zealand, work-life balance, construction industry, working hours |
| Subjects: | industry analysis, employment law, Geography, management, organization, data collection methods |
| Topics: | Geographical Context, Research Practice, Business Strategy, Human Resources, Legal Issues |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
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