Each month, we select up to ten publications from those that have recently been entered into the Literature Database.

A year ago, there were approximately 7,720 citations in the Literature Database. As of August 2007, we now have over 8,850 citations.

Direct link to the Sloan Literature Update articles in the Literature Database.

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Henley, J.R., Shaefer, H.L. & Waxman, E. (2006). Nonstandard work schedules: Employer- and employee-driven flexibility in retail jobs. Social Service Review, 80(4), 609-634.
Using interviews with 54 mothers from six different American retail locations, as well as human resource managers from each location, the authors investigate nonstandard scheduling and the resulting variability and unpredictability in the mothers’ schedules. The study revealed that employers’ attempts to assemble a flexible workforce via hiring, scheduling, and policy procedures dominate over employee-driven forms of flexibility. However, several methods for employees to exercise control over parts of their schedules are discussed, as well as recommendations for supervisors’ behaviors and social policies that assist low-income families.

Hill, E.J., Mead, N.T., Dean, L.R., Hafen, D.M., Gadd, R., Palmer, A.A., & Ferris, M.S. (2006). Researching the 60-hour dual-earner workweek: An alternative to the old “opt-out revolution.” American Behavioral Scientist, 49(9), 1184-1203.
This article analyzes the 60-hour work week hypothesis, which suggests that dual-earner couples with children both participate in paid employment, but don’t exceed a combined total of sixty work hours per week. Three groups of married couples with children (full time/full time, 60-hour, and full time/not employed) discussed the interaction of their work schedules with several work and family outcomes. Sixty-hour couples reported greater job flexibility, better work-family fit, improved family satisfaction, and decreased work-to-family conflict. Findings are discussed in comparison to the “opt-out revolution” that reports professional women are leaving the workplace to raise children.

Ozawa, M.N. & Yeo, Y.H. (2006.) Work status and work performance of people with disabilities: An empirical study. Journal of Disability Policy Studies, 17(3), 180-190.

This study investigates the effect of a worker’s disability on his or her employment rate, levels of hourly wages and monthly earnings, and hours of work per week. The authors used the 1996 panel of the Survey of Income and Program Participation and its modules on disability, selecting 32,519 people with no disabilities, 2,678 people with mild disabilities, and 5,320 people with severe disabilities. Findings indicate that the odds of working were 51% less for mildly disabled respondents and 78% less for severely disabled respondents than respondents with no disabilities. Monthly earnings for mildly and severely disabled workers were nearly 21% and nearly 33% less than workers with no disability. Policy implications are discussed at length.

Global Perspectives - Vilà, M., Pallisera, M. & Fullana, J. (2007). Work integration of people with disabilities in the regular labor marker: What can we do to improve these procedures? Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability, 32(1), 10-18.

The authors use qualitative methods to examine the different factors related to work, family, and training and their roles in work integration through “supported employment,” or the training, placement and monitoring of workers with disabilities. Thirty-two professionals from seventeen different Spanish agencies provided information on the interactions of these factors. After these interviews, the authors conclude that it is necessary to involve all people with disabilities in the decisions that affect their lives, and that work integration is just one aspect of social integration. People with disabilities have needs related to community participation as well as work participation, and those who provide services for disabled people must utilize and publicize this concept.

Global Perspectives - Walsh, J. (2007). Equality and diversity in British workplaces: the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey. Industrial Relations Journal, 38(4), 303-319.
This paper examines recent developments in equal opportunities (EO) policy provision and practice in British workplaces, based on key findings from the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS). WERS 2004 is conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry in the UK and has been modified from the previous four versions to include issues relating to equal treatment at work and work-life balance. Some key findings include an increase in the number of workplaces with a formal EO policy, from 64% in 1998 to 73% in 2004. In addition, a growing number of workplaces have enhanced the scope of EO policies to broaden commonly used equal treatment criteria of sex/gender, race, and disability by including new criteria of religion, sexual orientation, and age. The author also considers the prevalence of EO practices, as it has been argued that the adoption of EO policies does not ensure their enactment in workplaces. Findings from WERS 2004 suggest that there is a limited degree of EO monitoring and measurement in British workplaces, which the author argues has implications for the effectiveness of EO policy and practice. The paper also discusses the notion of diversity management and considers the similarities and differences between diversity management and EO in workplaces. Annotated by Uracha Chatrakul Na Ayudhya, Doctoral Researcher, Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom.

Yang, K.K., Webster, S. & Ruben, R.A. (2007). An evaluation of worker cross training and flexible workdays in job shops. IIE Transactions, 39, 735-746.

This report tests the effectiveness of cross training and flexible workdays on workload variability in a job shop made up of six workers and six departments with two identical machines that operates five days a week, four weeks a month. The authors examined the performance of flexible workdays using automatic time off approval, the rate at which workers requested time off, and the level of cross training. They then measured workers’ performances using mean tardiness, mean work-in-progress levels, and means numbers of time-off requests granted per worker each month. Results indicate that cross training universally improved performance, while the impact of flexible workdays depends on factors such as policy, cross-training, and workload variability.

Goldsmith, E. (2007). Stress, fatigue, and social support in the work and family context. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 12(2), 155-169.

This literature review examines three components of the work and family interface—stress, fatigue, and social support as a stress reducer—and details various theories and research findings related to these topics. Special attention is paid to the variety of disciplines that relate to and study work and family. The importance of studying work and family as well as possible directions for future research are discussed.

Global Perspectives - Koczberski, JG. (2007). Loose fruit mamas: Creating incentives for smallholder women in oil palm production in Papua New Guinea. World Development, 35(7), 1172-1185.

This paper explores a payment scheme for oil palm smallholders in Papua New Guinea that pays women separately for their work on their families’ palm oil plots. Before the introduction of this program, workers experienced tension in their homes over labor and income. Women who were not receiving payment for their labor had little incentive to work for the palm oil industry; under the Mama Lus Frut scheme, women collect loose fruit on their family plots and sell it to the production company separately from the main fruit harvest. The authors analyze the tradition of men withholding cash crop income from other family members and within-household conflict over work and wages.

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