Pathways from workplace flexibility to turnover intention: Role of work–family conflict,family–work conflict,and job satisfaction

This study examined the prevalence of workplace flexibility and the mechanisms that allow workplace flexibility to influence turnover intentions through work–family and family–work conflicts and job satisfaction among low‐wage workers in South Korea. Participants included 250 low‐wage workers whose monthly salary was less than 2 million Korean won (approx. $1,900). The study results indicate that low‐wage workers have limited access to workplace flexibility and that workplace flexibility plays a significant protective role in reducing their turnover intention, indirectly by decreasing work–family conflicts and enhancing job satisfaction. This article also discusses the implications of these findings for labor policy and social work practice.     

Working time: implications for sickness absence and the work–family balance

Olsen KM, Dahl S‐Å. Working time: implications for sickness absence and the work–family balance
Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 45–53 © 2008 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. The article analyses the impact of working time on two outcomes: sickness absence and the work–family balance. Working time is distinguished along two dimensions: irregular versus regular working hours and control versus no control over working time. There are three main findings. First, working irregular working hours with no control over time increased sickness absence, for men. Second, irregular hours, particularly with no flexibility, caused distress to the work–family balance, for both women and men. Third, flexibility in the work schedule when working regular hours had no effect on sickness absence nor on the work–family balance. This last finding may be explained by the institutional setting: employees in Norway already have substantial flexibility in, for instance, access to leave of absence. The findings suggest that increasing flexibility may benefit employees who work irregular hours.     

The effects of nonstandard work schedules on workers' health: A mediating role of work‐to‐family conflict

This study examined the relationship between nonstandard work schedules, work‐to‐family conflict, and health status in the USA adult population. Based on pooled data from the 2006, 2010, and 2014 General Social Survey (N = 4,108), this study found that nonstandard work schedules were associated with poor self‐rated health and increased days of poor physical and mental health. Also, results from the causal mediation analysis indicated that the relationship between nonstandard work schedules and health status was significantly mediated by work‐to‐family conflict. These findings suggest that work‐to‐family conflict may be an important mechanism through which nonstandard work schedules affect workers' health status.     

Job‐related stress,social support,and work–family conflict among Mexican workers in a multinational company: A case study of a Korean‐owned,US‐branded former “sweatshop” in Mexico

Due to globalization and outsourcing of commodity production, an estimated 60 million workers are employed in the garment industry by multinational corporations, yet relatively little is known about the work–family tensions experienced by these workers. Building on role stress and job demands–resources theories, this study employed mixed methods to examine job stressors, support, and work–family conflict (WFC) in a sample of 168 Mexican workers in a multinational factory, a rarely studied and underserved population. As hypothesized, results of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that workers experienced high job stress and WFC. Social support from spouses, family, and friends increased the positive association between job stress and WFC, suggesting that culturally relevant obligations increased WFC. This study highlights the need for multinational corporations to implement culturally adaptive, family‐friendly policies. Implications for social workers in multinational work organizations and for future research are discussed.     

Mothers' work–to–family strain in single and couple parent families: the role of job characteristics and supports

For parents there can be negative aspects of how work ‘spills over’ to family. This analysis focuses on mothers of young children and considers how aspects of work–to–family strain differ for single and couple mothers. While there has been increased focus on the work–family strains of mothers, less is known about single mothers and their experience of work–family strain. We might expect that single mothers would have more difficulty in combining work and family, given that they do not have the support of a resident partner to assist with childrearing responsibilities. This paper explores the relationships between several demographic, employment and supports factors and work–family strain. It also examines whether these associations are different according to family form; that is, whether certain factors make the work–family balance significantly worse or better for single mothers than for otherwise similar couple‐parent mothers. The analysis is based on the 2004 Growing up in Australia: the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). This dataset contains detailed family and child data for around 10,000 families, all with at least one child aged 5 or under. With such a large sample size, the number of single mothers is sufficiently large to enable more analyses than is often possible from survey data.     

Cash‐for‐care policy in Sweden: An appraisal of its consequences on female employment

In 2008, Sweden introduced a cash‐for‐care benefit consisting of a flat‐rate sum paid by municipalities to parents whose children were between the ages of one and three and who did not use publicly subsidised childcare. The main object of the reform was to increase parents’ ‘freedom to choose’, but the policy was criticised because of its potentially negative effects on gender equality and mothers’ employment. This study focuses on the effects of cash‐for‐care on female employment in Sweden. The study shows that the adoption of this policy had negative effects on female employment, although primarily in rural areas. Cash‐for‐care was abolished in Sweden in 2016. To evaluate the effects that the policy had on female employment during the time it was in place is important as it indicates what may happen if the policy is introduced again.     

Parents’ and children’s power effectiveness during polyadic family conflict: Process and outcome

Parent–child power effectiveness was investigated during naturally occurring polyadic family conflict with young children involving three or more family members. In 35/39 families, 210 conflict sequences were identified and coded for type of power, power effectiveness, and conflict outcome. Effective use of power overall and by each partner was assessed using two methods: microscopic (target’s response to an actor’s power move during the process of conflict) and macroscopic (power moves related to conflict outcome). Actor findings revealed that parents were more effective using certain types of power microscopically (i.e., simple, legitimate, reward) and macroscopically (i.e., simple, legitimate, questioning), whereas children were more effective using reward power macroscopically. Our findings support the unique qualities of the parent–child relationship and the complex context of polyadic family conflict. The study contributes to the literature on the socialization of young children in the family context.     

Challenges and dilemmas working with high‐conflict families in child protection casework

Social workers within child protection services report that families marked by high levels of conflict between separated parents are among the most challenging cases to handle. Few studies however have focussed on how social workers themselves experience and meet with parents involved in hostile martial interactions. This article reports on a qualitative study involving 31 social workers and provides an analysis of their experiences and dilemmas in working with such families. Findings demonstrate that social workers struggle to find ways to help high‐conflict families and often find themselves at an impasse. Parents involved in such conflict are highly resistant to change, and social workers struggle to engage with them over concerns about their children. Furthermore, findings suggest that social workers lack organizationally allotted time to assist the parents. I conclude by discussing ways in which emotional support, empowering interventions, and strength‐based approaches enable social workers to manage relationships with high‐conflict families. More research on this topic is needed to support and promote better practices for social workers to be more effective in assisting high‐conflict families.     

Family support and family therapy – same difference?

This article discusses the relationship between family support and family therapy and the historical ambivalence between them. Decisions on what form of help to offer families based on effectiveness, efficiency and acceptability are therefore crucial. A review of the characteristics and measures of effectiveness is used to articulate the similarities in both interventions. By illustrating the false dichotomy between them, practitioners in both modes can learn from each other to benefit families.     

Child protection, family support and social work: a critical appraisal of the Department of Health research studies in child protection

This paper provides a critical appraisal of the Department of Health Research Studies in Child Protection and their recommendations for policy and practice. It argues that there are a number of conceptual and methodological problems and a failure to thoroughly articulate and represent the tensions and complexities of child protection work, particularly at the point of allegation and initial referral. In the process it fails to fully appreciate the significance of risk in the current social and political climate, the way front-line professionals, particularly social workers, are held to account and the nature of the responsibilities they carry. As a consequence, the paper suggests that attempts to shift the balance of policy and practice from narrowly defined child protection to family support for children in need may be far more difficult than the research suggests.     

The experience of gender dysphoria for pre‐pubescent children and their families: a review of the literature

In recent years, the experience of gender dysphoria has gained public prominence through an explosion of sensationalized interest in the popular media. However, childhood gender dysphoria remains poorly understood and both parents and children often find themselves having to educate professionals around them. This not only creates a sense of disconnect between family and professionals, but also means that social workers can often be unaware of the myriad of competing perspectives that seek to explain gender variance. This review of the literature seeks to provide interested social workers with an overview of gender dysphoria, current research in the field and theoretical paradigms, with a view to promoting understanding and better practice with families in this little understood field.     

The nature and culture of social work with children and families in long‐term casework: Findings from a qualitative longitudinal study

Social work in the United Kingdom is preoccupied with what social workers cannot do due to having limited time to spend with service users. Yet remarkably little research has examined what social workers actually do, especially in long‐term relationships. This paper draws from an ethnographic study of two social work departments in England that spent 15 months observing practice and organizational life. Our findings show that social work some of the time has a significant amount of involvement with some service users and the dominant view that relationship‐based practice is rarely achieved is in need of some revision. However, families at one research site received a much more substantial, reliable overall service due to the additional input of family support workers and having a stable workforce who had their own desks and were co‐located with managers in small team offices. This generated a much more supportive, reflective culture for social workers and service users than at the second site, a large open plan “hot‐desking” office. Drawing on relational, systemic, and complexity theories, the paper shows how the nature of what social workers do and culture of practice are shaped by the interaction between available services, office designs, and practitioners', managers', and service users' experiences of relating together.     

The interaction effects of scheduling control and work–life balance programs on job satisfaction and mental health

Jang SJ, Park R, Zippay A. The interaction effects of scheduling control and work–life balance programs on job satisfaction and mental health Int J Soc Welfare 2011: 20: 135–143 © 2010 The Author(s), International Journal of Social Welfare © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and International Journal of Social Welfare. The demands of balancing employment and family responsibilities strain the health and welfare of many employees worldwide, and social welfare policy analysts are increasingly attending to the factors that can alleviate such stress. The present study examined associations between the availability of work–life balance programs, employees' authority to arrange their own work hours, job satisfaction, and mental health among 1,293 employees in 50 companies in South Korea. The study is unique in its use of multilevel analysis in examining individual‐ and company‐level variables. The results add to the evidence regarding the positive relationship between the availability of scheduling control and work–life balance policies on the one hand, and job satisfaction and mental wellbeing, on the other.     

The concept of family: Perspectives of Spanish young people in foster care

This article employs concepts from family sociology to explore how ‘family’ is conceptualised in 14 life narratives of young people in foster care in Spain. The article draws on a multi-method approach with young people who are in long-term non-kinship foster care. Seven girls and seven boys aged 10 to 22 took part in the study. The empirical material reveals an interplay between biological preference and foster family affective practices in young people's narratives, illuminating a struggle to make sense of the concept of family in foster care. Most of the participants understand family as shared affective practices sustained through love, commitment, consistent care and reciprocity rather than blood ties. Some show a preference for biological connectivity, while others describe family as determined by rituals and family displays. The key practice implications highlight the importance helping young people positioning themselves in birth family relationships, and supporting their sense of family belonging.     

Social work in a conflict context: Challenges facing social workers with indigenous inhabitants of unrecognised villages in Israel

This qualitative study presents the experiences of social workers whose clients are the inhabitants of unrecognised Bedouin Arab villages in Israel. It used in‐depth, semi‐structured interviews with 25 participants, recruited by the snowball method. These social workers reported that they are caught between their personal and professional values, on the one hand, and employer regulations, government policy and government law, on the other – which greatly limits their ability to fulfil their professional role. The social workers also comment that they are working in a ‘grey area’ in which the government’s policy is unclear. This adds another layer of complexity to their work and reveals the differential implementation of critical social work principles by social workers with different cultural identities.     

Transforming family positions: a conversational analysis of a family social work case

In a discourse and conversational analysis of a Dutch family supervision order, the transformations in family positions are examined. The parents in this case consider their son's drug addiction to be an individual problem. The family guardian succeeds in convincing them that it is a problem which concerns all the family rather than merely a personal issue for their son. By combining a positive and supportive attitude towards the parents with an unrelenting emphasis on the familial character of Marco's problems, the family guardian succeeds in getting the parents to reflect on their own position in relation to their son and their share in the problems in his life.     

Social work education: state of the art

In assessing the appropriateness of contemporary social work education to its context, the article assumes that social work practice and education must relate to its social reality. The article argues that, since the 1970s, that reality has changed in relation to the role of the welfare state, perceptions of economic growth and the independence of the state. As a result, the roles of civil society, the community and welfare personnel have changed, with implications for social work. At the same time, the earlier tendency of social work to avoid the major social issues of the day is no longer appropriate, and the article outlines five major issues needing to be addressed by social work. In conclusion, the article presents four options that social work education should, as a total profession, address, if the profession is to play the roles demanded of it by its contemporary social reality.     

Mapping the journey: outcome‐focused practice and the role of interim outcomes in family support services

Longitudinal costly evaluations will always be important in order to understand the factors that impact on child, family and community well‐being over the long and medium term. However, in a policy era that accords major importance to the achievement of outcomes, e.g. payment by results, ‘outcome theology’ can pose threats to service access and professional morale in family support. It is essential therefore, to ascertain the short‐term outcomes of services in order to capture the trajectory of progress by families under stress. This paper critiques the concept of ‘the outcome’. It traces the development of this trend in policy and describes an alternative but complementary approach, which is based on capturing interim outcomes in family support services.     

Social service systems for vulnerable children and families in low‐ and middle‐income countries: Establishing definitions and key components

Systems strengthening in low‐ and middle‐income countries has long been a topic of concern in global health. By comparison, until very recently, little attention has been paid to the importance of strengthening social service systems to provide a holistic perspective of children's and families' multifaceted strengths and vulnerabilities. This study has reviewed existing literature on the definitions and components of social service systems and provides an analysis of data from key informants in the field of global social welfare. Based on this information, a set of key components is presented and compared, derived from the literature and expert interviews. Existing challenges for the field include establishing consensus on terminology and critical components, implementing and documenting critical components, and linking these components to client outcomes.     

The definition of social work in the United Kingdom, 2000–2010

Dickens J. The definition of social work in the United Kingdom, 2000–2010. This article reviews the approaches that the four countries of the United Kingdom – England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – have taken in recent years for organising, regulating and defining social work. Social work is one of the policy areas that have been devolved to the constituent countries. This has brought extensive organisational changes, multiple policy initiatives and a proliferation of regulatory and advisory agencies. The article focuses on the attempts by these official bodies to define social work, treating the United Kingdom as a case study of the tensions of specifying what social work is and what it should be. The various attempts expose the strains and overlaps between the different agencies, and a bigger struggle to contain and control social work. The article highlights four key dimensions in the enduring debates: values–roles, social–individual, care–control and public–professional.