The Pressure-Status Nexus and Blurred Work–Family Boundaries

Abstract

Job pressure is associated with increased role-blurring activities. Does higher status attenuate or exacerbate that association? Using data from a national sample of workers, the authors' study discovers that higher status functions as a moderator in what they call the pressure-status nexus. Job pressure is associated more strongly with role blurring among the well educated, professionals, managers, and high earners. Also, job pressure is associated most strongly with role blurring among higher status men. The authors' articulation of the pressure-status nexus extends the stress of higher status perspective, demonstrating that higher statuses compound the ways that job pressure is linked with activities that blur the workfamily boundary.

Workplace Flexibility and Worker Well‐Being by Gender

“…In this case, flexible schedules and flexplace may be used as a way to respond to such excessive demands of work. Workers may not only have the ability to bring work home with them, they may be expected to do so, and this may be especially true for more advantaged workers (the “stress of higher status hypothesis”; see Schieman & Glavin, , p. 5). Future research that explores diverse organizational contexts using mixed methods would help develop a more nuanced understanding of schedule control that takes into account different reasons for “choosing” flexible work schedules in relationship to job pressures.…”

Implications of Work Effort and Discretion for Employee Well-Being and Career-Related Outcomes: An Integrative Assessment

“…High-skilled white collars are more likely to use overtime work to signal their value (Landers et al 1996;Schieman and Glavin 2016) and may often feel they do so by choice (Michel 2011;Empson 2017). Instead, low-skilled blue collars may be more prone to involuntary pressures for intensive work, in part because they tend to have less discretion compared to high-skilled white collars (Kossek and Lautsch 2018).…”

Married with children: How family role identification shapes leadership behaviors at work

“…Understanding the work–family interface is important as it can shape employee performance, engagement, and well‐being (Allen, Johnson, Kiburz, & Shockley, ; Rothbard, ; Ten Brummelhuis, Haar, & Roche, ), as well as the organization's ability to attract, retain, and satisfy good workers (Bloom, Kretschmer, & Van Reenen, ; Hoobler, Hu, & Wilson, ; Shockley & Allen, ). However, whereas many organizations acknowledge the importance of accommodating employees’ family lives, they also expect the work role to take priority over other obligations including the family role (Correll, Kelly, O'Connor, & Williams, ; Reid, ; Schieman & Glavin, ). More pointedly, organizations generally assume that identification with a nonwork role, such as family, competes with investment in the work role (Reid, ; Wasserman & Frenkel, ).…”

“…More specifically, according to enrichment research, family roles can enhance employees’ work contribution by generating helpful resources through the social support of family members, positive affect that spills over into the workplace, or through the transfer of skills and knowledge that can enhance employees’ work performance (Greenhaus & Powell, ; Lu, Siu, Chen, & Wang, ; Rothbard, ). Despite the findings of enrichment scholars, traditional expectations that family involvement renders workers less valuable remain prevalent (Dumas & Sanchez‐Burks, ; Reid, ; Schieman & Glavin, ). Moreover, traditional expectations can have a negative effect on employee outcomes, including their advancement to leadership positions (Desai, Chugh, & Brief, ; Hoobler, Wayne, & Lemmon, ; Lyness & Judiesch, ).…”