Study level

  • PhD
  • Master of Philosophy
  • Honours

Faculty/School

Topic status

We're looking for students to study this topic.

Research centre

Supervisors

Professor Abby Cathcart
Position
Director, Student Success and Teaching Advancement
Division / Faculty
Academic Division
Professor Paula McDonald
Position
Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research)
Division / Faculty
Academic Division

Overview

Developing and supporting flexible or customised work arrangements is a key HR strategy in many organisations and has been shown to have benefits for both business and individual employees. However, research has also demonstrated the significant problem of policy-utilisation gaps in relation to flexible work, including concerns about unequal access, low uptake amongst men and penalties that result from adjusting standard working arrangements.

Student projects are available in this field of research and there is the possibility of utilising existing and extensive interview data derived from:

  • a large Australian finance organisation
  • the Australian Defence Force.

Flexible work was broadly defined in the data collection and includes short-term, ad hoc adjustments (e.g. changes to start and finish times), longer-term, more formal arrangements (e.g. part-time work), and developmental opportunities (e.g. leadership training). The supervisors will work with students to shape an appropriately scaled project, including for example, through the lens of employee voice, employee silence, strategic HRM or manager-employee exchange.

Keywords

Contact

Contact the supervisor for more information.