This article examines an unanticipated consequence of adopting flexible working practices -that of work intensification. Based on a study of professional workers and in line with other studies, we present evidence showing that flexible workers record higher levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment than their nonflexible counterparts. However, we also report evidence of work intensification being experienced by both those who work reduced hours and those who work remotely. We identify three means by which this intensification occurs -imposed intensification, enabled intensification and intensification as an act of reciprocation or exchange. We argue that the apparent paradox of high job satisfaction and organizational commitment, alongside work intensification can be explained by employees trading flexibility for effort. Using social exchange theory we propose that employees respond to the ability to work flexibly by exerting additional effort, in order to return benefit to their employer.

This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link ABSTRACTInterest in the outcomes of flexible working arrangements dates from the mid 1970s, when researchers attempted to assess the impact of flexitime on worker performance. This paper reviews the literature on the link between flexible working arrangements and performance related outcomes. Taken together, the evidence fails to demonstrate a business case for the use of flexible working arrangements. This paper attempts to explain the findings by analysing the theoretical and methodological perspectives adopted, as well as the measurements and designs used. In doing so, gaps in this vast and disparate literature are identified and a research agenda is developed.

This paper argues that the study of work‐life balance to date has, in the main, adopted a restricted conception of both “work” and “life”, which does not take account of recent developments in life worlds, working arrangements and employment relationships. “Life” has hitherto been viewed as largely comprising caring activities for dependent children, whereas “work” has been premised largely on a traditional model of work, characterised by full‐time, permanent employment with one employer and a conventional understanding of what work involves. This means that extant research and theory only provides a partial view of the work‐life needs and experiences of the workforce. In the paper, we propose extending conceptions of both work and life to incorporate different life worlds and social groups and different working arrangements and employment relationships.

Using exchange theory, this study examines how perceptions of employee voice, the employee-line manager relationship, and trust in senior management are related to organizational commitment. It is hypothesized that the direct relationship between perceptions of opportunities for employee voice and organizational commitment is mediated by the longer-term effects of the perceived employee-line manager relationship and trust in senior management. Multiple regression analysis of a sample of 2,291 employees in organizations undergoing signifi cant change fi nds some support for this hypothesis, highlighting in particular the importance of trust in senior management as a partial mediator of the relationship between employee voice and organizational commitment.

in the Netherlands. She is a member of the Change Management Consortium Research team at Cass Business School, City University in the UK. Her specialist areas of interest include: international HRM; the power, professionalism and roles of the HR department; change management and HRM; and eHRM and new HR delivery mechanisms. Her work has been published in refereed academic journals and practitioner publications, as well as presented at international academic conferences.