Publisher
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Place of Publication
Chattanooga (Tenn.)
Abstract
This project aims to examine how the use of flexible work arrangements influence career earnings and promotions at work. The study will focus on the flexible work arrangement of telecommuting because of telecommuting’s surge in popularity over the last decade and the need for more studies assessing telecommuting’s effects. Research shows many benefits are associated with flexible work arrangements like job satisfaction, increased productivity, decreased turnover, and organizational savings. Flexible work arrangements, however, have been shown to potentially impede wage growth and other career advancing opportunities (e.g. promotions). For example, the use of FMLA policies as a flexible work arrangement and its impact on wage growth is commonly referred to as a parenthood penalty. While telecommuting has become more common in the workplace, people are still reluctant to engage in this flexible work practice for several reasons with the potential for career harm being a major concern. However, there is limited research of the impact telecommuting has on career harm in relation to salary and promotions. A major hurdle for researchers assessing the impact of telecommuting on career harm revolves around data collection methods and proper documentation of telecommuting practices by organizations. Ideally, an entity or researcher would gather longitudinal data from respondents over several years to compare those who engage in telecommuting and those who don’t. Additionally, many organizations have yet to maintain detailed records of an employee’s use of telecommuting practices in their own organization. Consequently, the manager is often responsible for monitoring an employee’s performance and it is usually up to the manager’s discretion on whether or not an employee will be allowed to telecommute. This decision by the manager adds another variable to the relationship between telecommuting and career harm, manager support. The existing literature comparing telecommuters to non-telecommuters conflict. Some reports show the positive impact telecommuting has on career earnings, while many others show career dampening results. The goal of this study is to assess the relationship between telecommuting and career harm by gathering years of historical data from respondents concerning their salary, promotions, intensity of telecommuting, manager support, organization characteristics, type of job, and career ambition. The data will be analyzed through fixed effect regression and mediation analyses on manager support and career ambition.
Date
10-26-2019
Subject
Industrial and organizational psychology
Document Type
posters
Language
English
Rights
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Included in
Investigating the Relationship between Telecommuting and Career Harm
This project aims to examine how the use of flexible work arrangements influence career earnings and promotions at work. The study will focus on the flexible work arrangement of telecommuting because of telecommuting’s surge in popularity over the last decade and the need for more studies assessing telecommuting’s effects. Research shows many benefits are associated with flexible work arrangements like job satisfaction, increased productivity, decreased turnover, and organizational savings. Flexible work arrangements, however, have been shown to potentially impede wage growth and other career advancing opportunities (e.g. promotions). For example, the use of FMLA policies as a flexible work arrangement and its impact on wage growth is commonly referred to as a parenthood penalty. While telecommuting has become more common in the workplace, people are still reluctant to engage in this flexible work practice for several reasons with the potential for career harm being a major concern. However, there is limited research of the impact telecommuting has on career harm in relation to salary and promotions. A major hurdle for researchers assessing the impact of telecommuting on career harm revolves around data collection methods and proper documentation of telecommuting practices by organizations. Ideally, an entity or researcher would gather longitudinal data from respondents over several years to compare those who engage in telecommuting and those who don’t. Additionally, many organizations have yet to maintain detailed records of an employee’s use of telecommuting practices in their own organization. Consequently, the manager is often responsible for monitoring an employee’s performance and it is usually up to the manager’s discretion on whether or not an employee will be allowed to telecommute. This decision by the manager adds another variable to the relationship between telecommuting and career harm, manager support. The existing literature comparing telecommuters to non-telecommuters conflict. Some reports show the positive impact telecommuting has on career earnings, while many others show career dampening results. The goal of this study is to assess the relationship between telecommuting and career harm by gathering years of historical data from respondents concerning their salary, promotions, intensity of telecommuting, manager support, organization characteristics, type of job, and career ambition. The data will be analyzed through fixed effect regression and mediation analyses on manager support and career ambition.
Department
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Dept. of Psychology