While the authors note that flexible work can improve job satisfaction and worker commitment to employers, they go on to point out that it can also lead to the intensification of work.
Looking at workers that have reduced hours or work remotely, the authors propose three means by which intensification proceeds:
- imposed intensification
- enabled intensification
- intensification as an act of reciprocation or exchange
They argue that the paradox between increased work intensification, and reported increases in job satisfaction and organisational commitment may be explained by employees trading flexibility for effort, that is, employees ‘respond to the ability to work flexibly by exerting additional effort, in order to return benefit to their employer’.
Kelliher, Clare; Anderson, Deirdre (2010) “Doing more with less? Flexible working practices and the intensification of work” Human Relations, 63(1)
Available at: http://hum.sagepub.com/content/63/1/83