Workplace Flexibility: Realigning 20th-Century Jobs for a 21st Century Workforce (review)

This book details how "market work" has transformed industrial societies in the post-World War II period and it tries to address the failure of workplace culture and public policy in the United States to align itself with this great transformation. The needs of workers and families are sacrificed for the goals and whims of companies, managers, and the market, creating a "current situation [that] is untenable" and which "cannot continue under the present structure," the authors conclude. (349) Flexibility exists for employers, but not for employees. Where flexibility initiatives have been introduced, they are limited in scope, not enforced, and usually carry penalties if used — employees fear that they will lose their jobs, advancement opportunities, pay raises, be labelled as not a 'team player' or otherwise stigmatized by management and then co-workers.

The situation is worsening, not only because of the economic crisis which the authors did not foresee, but because corporate culture has been making unpaid overtime work mandatory as referenced throughout the book, jobs are becoming increasingly precarious (temporary, part-time, without benefits or security), and 30 per cent of employers violate the law by failing to offer the minimum required family and medical leave to employees. (139)

Enforcement is a key theme of the book. Flexibility options that employees do not use, or that are used against employees in these ways and in this context, are not meaningful options. This is the situation in the US. In Europe and Australia it is better, as described in Chapters 11 to 14. In Japan it is worse. (Chapters 15 and 16) In all countries economic globalization is placing negative pressures on the flexibility needs of workers and their families. This is exacerbated by the growing time demands presented by demographic shifts (more elder care being required), longer commuting times to work due to increasing urbanization, and the increasing requirement of two incomes to support a household.

The cultural contrasts in the book offer valuable insight. At one end of the spectrum a female American manager working in the Netherlands calls an employee after-hours to demand additional work. The employee refuses, politely telling the manager this is her own time, her family time. The employee is shocked by the manager's call, and the American manager is shocked by the employee's 'disobedience,' yet soon comes to realize that the Dutch may have a better, healthier approach to work and productivity than her corporate culture has instilled in her. At the other end one finds the karoshi culture of Japan and many disturbingly similar trends in the US (and in Canada) concerning longer work hours, more unpaid overtime and 'face time' expected by corporate managers, the mistreatment of pregnant women in the labour market, etc.

In the 2007 Australian election flexibility for workers was a major platform issue and it helped bring the Labor party to power. Christensen and Schneider explain that by contrast, "safeguards regarding working overtime are not part of the political agenda" in the US. (348) The same can be said for Canada, which is highly integrated into the US economy and is experiencing the same 'Wal-Martized' pattern of economic development, and lacks collective bargaining for workers in many key economic sectors, such as the financial sector. Canada is not discussed in the book, though it is important to note the total lack of national discourse in this country around labour, flexibility, and overwork issues. This is similar to the US, but in sharp contrast to Australia and Europe where these are major and primary election issues.

Surprisingly, even under a conservative government (that of Prime Minister John Howard), Australia moved progressively to a national standard 38-hour work week and maintained much higher minimum wages (267) than one finds in the US or Canada. (Chapters 13 and 14) The 38-hour week contrasts with the 40-hour week official standard in the US and a 44-hour week in Ontario, Canada's...