Analysis of the strain on employees in the retail sector considering work-life balance

Abstract

Many companies currently strive to support their employees' work-life balance through appropriate measures in order to improve employees' loyalty towards the company and to recruit new employees. In this context, flexibility in the area of working times is a measure that can influence employees' private lives immensely. This is why the individualisation of working time arrangements has been accorded high importance in current discussions on work-life balance. In this area, best practice examples can be found showing how working-time arrangements can improve the situation of the employees. It should be noted, however, that there is not one single perfect working-time model. A working-time model must always be adapted specifically to the actual situation of the company and the employees. Therefore, a targeted analysis of the challenges facing the company and the demands on the employees is essential for the creation of an appropriate working time policy. In particular, the employees' working-time preferences must be appropriately taken into account. Owing, however, to a combination of organisational complications and legal data protection restrictions, it is for the most part impossible to meet these working-time preferences in their entirety. This paper, which is based on an employee survey, illustrates the strain on employees in the retail sector and identifies different types of working-time preferences.

Working hour characteristics in the Finnish retail sector – a registry study on objective working hour data

“…Earlier studies of the retail sector based on the survey data of shift work have indicated difficulties in work-life balance or in sleeping [20][21][22][23] . In this study, we lacked assessment of The specific interest of this study was to compare part-time vs. full-time employees since part-time work is rare in the health care sector 14) .…”

“…Earlier studies of the retail sector based on the survey data of shift work have indicated difficulties in work-life balance or in sleeping 20 – 23 ) . In this study, we lacked assessment of such outcomes and therefore focused on establishing the codification for working hour characteristics.…”

“…Earlier studies of the retail sector, even being large and prospective, have relied on survey data of working hours hampering the evaluation of the detailed features of the working hours 18,19) . Questionnaire data on working hours is also prone to reporting bias [20][21][22][23] . The retail sector resembles health care by being dominated by young women although the part-time work is more frequent 24,25) .…”

Passion meets procrastination: comparative study of negative sales associate behaviours

“…HJP employees engage freely and willingly in their duties, such that successful task completion results in pleasure for them. Sales associates with HJP are devoted to their work and to their work–life balance (Zülch et al , 2012). As a result, HJP consistently demonstrates positive outcomes in the literature (Vallerand and Houlfort, 2003).…”

“…This, in turn, results in a sense that the job has control over the person. As a result, OJP associates engage in compulsive work activity, which increases work–life balance tensions, further minimizing non-work activity and draining valuable self-control resources (Zülch et al , 2012). The depleted self-control resources increase the likelihood that associates will engage in negative work behaviours.…”