New Telework, Time Pressure, and Time Use Control in Everyday Life

Abstract

This study explores how changing conditions for home-based telework affect the quality of life and social sustainability of workers in terms of time pressure and time use control in everyday life. Changing conditions concern the spread of telework to new types of jobs of a more routine character, involving new practices of unregulated work and anytime smartphone access. Empirically, we draw on survey data from a sample of 456 home-based teleworkers employed by six governmental agencies in Sweden. Results indicate that subjective time pressure is not associated with job type in terms of distinguishing between bounded case work and more independent analytical work. Time pressure is intensified by family-related factors, telework performed outside of working hours, and part-time work, and is moderated by the private use of smartphones. We find no significant associations between subjective time use control, job qualifications, and teleworking practice. Family situation and having small children at home reduce time use control. Also, high levels of smartphone use for work-related purposes are associated with reduced control.

Who Is Eligible for Telework? Exploring the Fast-Growing Acceptance of and Ability to Telework in Sweden, 2005–2006 to 2011–2014

“…However, as telework becomes more widespread, new groups of employees and employers could become eligible for telework and there may be grounds for re-evaluating the factors traditionally found to be important for telework eligibility. It is also likely that fast diffusion will bring new meanings, practices and consequences for those who telework (Thulin et al 2019). An important research task in this context and the aim of this paper, is to explore how the increase in telework eligibility is dispersed among different groups of employees and different parts of the labour market and to examine what factors increase or decrease the probability of being eligible for telework.…”

“…Finally, it is also important to relate any analysis of telework to different household and personal conditions, such as gender, age and household situation (Thulin et al 2019). Telework has different meanings, rationales and consequences for different groups of workers.…”

Who is Teleworking and Where from? Exploring the Main Determinants of Telework in Europe

“…However, new technologies are helping organisations monitor, control, and supervise employees while teleworking, which has led to a rapid increase in the gig economy during the last few years. As a result, essential constraining features associated with managers' trust, power, and control have been eased [7,27], facilitating more categories of teleworkers.…”

“…As nowadays a growing number of tasks can be performed and surveilled anywhere and anytime with the help of the new generation of mobile Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), gradually fewer jobs remain entirely dependent on a single location [4][5][6]. We draw on recent studies that show how the rapid diffusion of ICT and digitalisation are contributing to the spread of telework to new groups of workers, and many workers with routine and clerical tasks can work remotely [7,8]. For instance, it has been estimated that 37% of jobs in the United States may be entirely performed from home [9].…”

Zeitdruck als kulturübergreifender Stressor

“…Vorliegende empirische Untersuchungen deuten darauf hin, dass die elektronische Kommunikation die Arbeit-Familien-Balance eher unterstützen denn untergraben kann. Für die Bevölkerungsmehrheit blieb der Anteil beruflich geführter oder veranlasster elektronischer Kommunikation in der Freizeit gering (Pfeiffer 2012;Mullan und Wajcman 2017;Thulin et al 2019).…”