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We apply the sociological lens of linked lives to show how household contexts channel transitions to self-employment in ways strongly differentiated by gender. We investigate the impact of demographic transitions to marriage, cohabitation and having children on the transition to selfemployment using fixed-effects models on 10 waves of the UK's nationally representative survey, Understanding Society. Men's transitions to selfemployment and separately to business ownership are remarkably impervious to the arrival of a new child in the household. In contrast, second births raise the odds of self-employment for women and have a strong and statistically significant association with business ownership, highlighting the role of birth parity as a household influence. Within the subset of opposite-sex couples, lives are indeed linked: a partner's long hours precipitate the other partner's transition into self-employment for men and women. However, the effect is asymmetric to the extent that women are much more likely to have a partner working long hours. Marriage is associated with a much higher likelihood of transitioning to business ownership for both men and women, which does not hold for selfemployment overall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Unpaid overtime—describing a situation where extra hours are worked but not paid for—is a common feature of the labor market that, together with other forms of wage theft, costs workers billions of dollars annually. In this study, we examine the association between unpaid overtime and mental health in the Canadian working population. We also assess the relative strength of that association by comparing it against those of other broadly recognized work stressors. Methods: Data were drawn from a survey administered to a heterogeneous sample of workers in Canada (n = 3691). Generalized linear models quantified associations between unpaid overtime, stress, and burnout, distinguishing between moderate (1−5) and excessive (6 or more) hours of unpaid overtime. Results: Unpaid overtime was associated with higher levels of stress and burnout. Relative to those working no unpaid overtime, men working excessive unpaid overtime were 85% more likely to report stress (prevalence ratios [PR]: 1.85, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.26−2.72) and 84% more likely to report burnout (PR: 1.84, 95% CI: 1.34−2.54), while women working excessive unpaid overtime were 90% more likely to report stress (PR: 1.90, 95% CI: 1.32−2.75) and 52% more likely to report burnout (PR: 1.52; 95% CI: 1.12−2.06). The association of excessive unpaid overtime with mental health was comparable in magnitude to that of shift work and low job control. Conclusions: Unpaid overtime may present a significant challenge to the mental health of working people, highlighting the potential role of wage theft as a neglected occupational health hazard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using 2009 to 2015 American Community Survey (ACS) data, this article estimates the effect of the prevalence of long hours and short hours of work in a husband's field of work, as defined by his undergraduate degree field, on the labor market outcomes of skilled married women. When individuals work in fields that require longer hours of work, their spouses experience spillover effects. The labor market outcomes of female spouses are more negatively affected than are those of male spouses. Specifically, female spouses face lower total earnings, hourly wages, employment options, and hours of work for married women with children relative to married men with children or married women without children. Little evidence supports the idea that the rate of short hours of work in a spouse's degree field differentially affects married women with children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do the long work hours required by many high-paying professions inhibit the entry of women? I investigate this question by studying a 2003 policy that capped the average workweek for medical residents at 80 hours. Using data on the universe of US medical school graduates, I find that when a specialty reduces its weekly hours, more women enter the specialty, whereas there is little change in men's entry. I provide evidence that the increase in women is due to changes in labour supply, rather than labour demand. At the residency program level, I document that baseline female representation predicts female entry after the reform. A back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that the reallocation of women among medical specialties due to the hours reduction can close the physician gender wage gap by 11 |$\%$|⁠. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Non-standard work schedules (NSWSs), occurring outside of regular and predictable daytime hours, may negatively affect worker and family health. This qualitative study sought to understand worker perspectives on the health and well-being impacts of NSWSs among full-time, transportation maintainers, correctional, and manufacturing workers. Methods Forty-nine workers participated in 8 focus groups. Data were transcribed and analyzed with ATLAS.ti, using the constant comparative method to identify themes and sub-themes. Results Workers reported that long work hours and irregular and unpredictable schedules posed the biggest obstacles to their well-being. Workers reported that NSWSs were associated with behavior impacts (poor family and social connections, poor eating, poor sleep, lack of exercise recovery), physical health impacts (exhaustion, weight gain) and extended work exposures (increased stress, increased accidents). Conclusions This highlights the importance of developing and implementing effective workplace interventions to address these barriers to health and health behaviors.

Background: Non-standard work schedules (NSWSs), occurring outside of regular and predictable daytime hours, may negatively affect worker and family health. This qualitative study sought to understand worker perspectives on the health and well-being impacts of NSWSs among full-time, transportation maintainers, correctional, and manufacturing workers.Methods: Forty-nine workers participated in 8 focus groups. Data were transcribed and analyzed with ATLAS.ti, using the constant comparative method to identify themes and sub-themes.Results: Workers reported that long work hours and irregular and unpredictable schedules posed the biggest obstacles to their well-being. Workers reported that NSWSs were associated with behavior impacts (poor family and social connections, poor eating, poor sleep, lack of exercise recovery), physical health impacts (exhaustion, weight gain) and extended work exposures (increased stress, increased accidents).Conclusions: This highlights the importance of developing and implementing effective workplace interventions to address these barriers to health and health behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. The videogame industry is a work environment that is emblematic of O'Carroll's (2015) encompassing model of a 24/7/365 working time model of flexibility. We use O'Carroll's model to challenge two myths about videogame developers (VGDs): the long hours of work are in fact unpredictable hours, and flextime HR programs do not allow for real control over working hours. Design/methodology/approach. We use a mixed methods approach (international online survey and 100 Canadian interviews) to analyse the case of VGDs - a different, but similar type of worker to the IT workers analysed by O'Carroll. Findings. We can generalize O'Carroll's model based on the IT case to the VGD case. Based on these two cases, we propose that the rise of project-based work environments is a major explanatory factor of this raising trend in the 24/7/365 model of flexibility. Research limitations/implications. More research examining projectbased regimes in other sectors and settings is required to generalize further Originality/value. Though this model can appear to fit the reality of knowledge work in general, it more accurately describes project-based work in creative environments, which is nearly always knowledge work, but the reverse cannot be inferred. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines young construction industry professionals’ experiences of working long hours from the perspective of the meanings that they ascribe to work time and how these influence the hours that they work. It considers how such notions of ‘qualitative’ time spent on work may shape attitudes and behaviour relating to ‘quantitative’ work hours. The findings show that, for the interviewees, work time has meanings chiefly associated with enjoyment, being professional and being part of a work family. The article contributes to the long work hours literature by broadening our understanding of how young professionals experience long work hours, why they may not always view them negatively and how the meanings that they attach to them can lead to particular patterns of work hours. It also highlights gender differences in this regard. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article examines the quality of part-time employment for solicitors in private practice in Australia. Although full-time jobs based on long hours are dominant in the legal profession, part-time jobs, primarily taken by women, have attracted attention in recent years. The article seeks to answer fundamental questions about the extent and quality of these jobs, and how well they serve the needs of the increasingly diverse workforce. The article draws on recent surveys and in-depth interviews, as well as Census and other secondary data to describe the features of the part-time workforce and to explore aspects of poor quality such as limited access, inferior job content, stalled career progression and narrow schedules. It suggests that the major barrier to improving the quality of part-time jobs is the dominant model of full-time work in law firms, centred on heavy workloads, high targets of ‘billable hours’ and long working hours. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Where working-time options are favourable to part-time ‘mummies’, part-time employment (PT) is likely to expand among other workers. The article adopts a case-oriented comparative approach in the UK and the Netherlands. Efforts to promote PT in the UK are hindered by segmentation and the long-hours culture, but job sharing is promoting an increase in the number of good PT jobs. In the Netherlands, PT is also gendered and segmented; however, access to PT is easier in a context of regulatory support where organizations, already facing short full-time employment and a high rate of PT, are learning to decouple business hours from employees’ shifts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article reports on a research of the consequences of long and nonstandard workhours on different measures of worklife balance of employees. It aims to examine the scientific evidence of the association of worklife balance with employees' long workhours, part-time work, and nonstandard workhours. It states that worktime arrangements affect children's development and marital satisfaction. It also mentions that long workhours affect employees' balance between work and private life.

Introduction This study examines the effect of long-hour work schedules and nonstandard shift work (e.g., night and evening shifts) on the ability of injured workers to maintain productive employment following a workplace injury. Methods Analyses were based on 13 years of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed with one of ten nonstandard schedules as the independent variable and a particular vocational consequences as the dependent variable. Vocational consequences included being unable to perform normal job duties, temporary job reassignment, working less than full time, filing a workers’ compensation claim, and quitting or being fired because of the injury. Covariates in the regression model included age, gender, occupation, industry, and region. Results The most prominent effects of working a nonstandard schedule were a increased risk of being fired (OR = 1.81; 1.15–2.90 CI 95%), quitting (OR = 1.68; 1.20–2.36 CI 95%), or being unable to work full time (OR = 1.33; 1.08–1.64 CI 95%) following an injury, compared to injured workers in conventional schedules. Schedules involving overtime and long working hours generally had a greater impact on vocational consequences following a workplace injury than did schedules involving night, evening, and other nonstandard shift work. Conclusions Occupational rehabilitation professionals need to consider the specific type of work schedule when developing effective return-to-work plans for injured workers. Special precautions need to be taken for workers returning to schedules that involve more than 12 h per day, 60 h per week, and long commutes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Of the many health‐related effects of shift work, disturbed sleep is the most common. This review describes the main observed effects of the three principal shifts (night, morning and afternoon) on patterns of sleep and wakefulness. The mechanism of sleep disruption in relation to circadian rhythms and the specific impact of aspects of shift organization (speed and direction of rotation) are discussed. The most troublesome acute symptoms are difficulty getting to sleep, shortened sleep and somnolence during working hours that continues into successive days off. These are only partially amenable to amelioration by manipulating shift patterns. However, there is no clear indication that chronic sleep problems result from long‐term shift work. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reflects on the impact of long working hours on home–work–family reconciliation from a household perspective. It focuses on discrete interactions between long working hours for households with two parents engaged in paid employment, raising awareness of the integrated nature of work–life balance. Attention is paid to the ‘strong economy paradox’ confronting dual earning households in ‘successful’ cities. Evidence is presented to suggest limited resistance to long hours as well as diverse ways one partner adapts their mode of employment to fit the constraints of the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on Weberian theory of social closure, this article explores how the long hours culture fostered in so many British organizations may act as a means of social closure to exclude women managers from senior positions. The research, conducted in eight different divisions of two UK companies, an airline and a merchant bank, shows that access to the resource of time is vital to be a successful manager. Women are less likely to have equal access to time because of the gendered division of domestic labour, and indeed men's time is often made available to them by their partners at home. At a time when women can offer almost everything that men can in terms of ability, skills and experience, time becomes the differentiating feature which makes men more likely to achieve promotion. The research shows the convergence of patriarchal and organizational desires/interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study Objectives: There is limited knowledge about the prospective relationship between major work characteristics (psychosocial, physical, scheduling) and disturbed sleep. The current study sought to provide such knowledge., Design: Prospective cohort, with measurements on two occasions (T1 and T2) separated by two years., Setting: Naturalistic study, Sweden., Participants: There were 4,827 participants forming a representative sample of the working population., Measurements and Results: Questionnaire data on work factors obtained on two occasions were analyzed with structural equation modeling. Competing models were compared in order to investigate temporal relationships. A reciprocal model was found to fit the data best. Sleep disturbances at T2 were predicted by higher work demands at T1 and by lower perceived stress at T1. In addition, sleep disturbances at T1 predicted subsequent higher perception of stress, higher work demands, lower degree of control, and less social support at work at T2. A cross-sectional mediation analysis showed that (higher) perceived stress mediated the relationship between (higher) work demands and sleep disturbances; however, no such association was found longitudinally., Conclusions: Higher work demands predicted disturbed sleep, whereas physical work characteristics, shift work, and overtime did not. In addition, disturbed sleep predicted subsequent higher work demands, perceived stress, less social support, and lower degree of control. The results suggest that remedial interventions against sleep disturbances should focus on psychosocial factors, and that such remedial interventions may improve the psychosocial work situation in the long run., (© 2015 Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC.)