There is a time and a place for work: comparative evaluation of flexible work arrangements in Canada

Abstract

Purpose

Using the Canadian General Social Survey of 2016, a large nationally representative dataset, the present paper compares different types of flexible work arrangements in their associations with employee wellbeing and organizational outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

The dataset contains 7,446 observations. Informed by the past scholarship, eight outcomes of job satisfaction, work-life balance satisfaction, organizational belonging, job motivation, perceived advancement prospects, perceived job security, workplace social capital, and turnover intentions are investigated.

Findings

First, employees with both flextime and flexplace, and only flextime, have a significantly higher job and work-life balance satisfaction. Second, the possibility of working from home without any discretion over timing does not elicit positive wellbeing outcomes. Third, the results show that the combination of flexplace and flextime is synergistic. Fourth, rather unexpectedly, the positive associations of the FWAs with work-life balance satisfaction are stronger among men and women without dependent children. Finally, there are significant positive associations for the combination of flexplace and flextime, and flextime alone, with other outcomes, such as organizational belonging and job motivation, especially among men.

Practical implications

Given the nonrandom assignment of the workers into the FWAs, the results only reflect ceteris paribus correlations.

Originality/value

This is the first Canadian study of flexible work arrangements, using a large nationally representative dataset.

Citation

Dilmaghani, M. (2021), "There is a time and a place for work: comparative evaluation of flexible work arrangements in Canada", International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 42 No. 1, pp. 167-192. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJM-12-2019-0555