Work flexibility and worker well-being: Evidence from the United States

Work flexibility can have positive and negative consequences for workers and their families, employers, and society overall. For workers, it is increasingly recognized as an essential determinant of their well-being. Workers seek flexibility to address their personal and family needs, including childcare, eldercare, schooling, and healthcare. Flexibility in terms of work location and schedule gives workers a sense of job control, and increases their job satisfaction, thereby improving their health and well-being. Some of the work-family conflicts associated with contingent work – jobs that workers do not expect to last – can be alleviated by the benefits of work schedule flexibility. Work flexibility can accommodate the needs of many workers, such as aging workers and women who have been joining the workforce in large numbers, by enabling them to allocate resources between work and non-work domains according to their preferences. (author introduction) #P4HEwebinarMay2023