1. CEO of Me: Managing work-life
relationships in the Flexible Job
Age
Michigan State University
University Distinguished Professor Ellen Ernst Kossek, Ph.D.
School of Labor & Industrial Relations
East Lansing, Michigan USA
kossek@msu.edu
Website: http://ellenkossek.lir.msu.edu/

2. Overview
 Understand current work life
challenges evidence -based
research
 Identify your own flexstyle and
those you work and live with
 Reflect on vision and tools for
change
Professor Ellen Ernst Kossek, Ph.D. 2
Michigan State University USA

4. FLEXSTYLE
Finding an Approach that Works for You

5. Flexstyles are our
approaches to
managing:
 BOUNDARIES
 ATTENTION
 RELATIONSHIPS
Between our work and personal life.

6. Theme1 : For many of
us, work-life could be
working better!

7. Technology & Changing Work-Life Relationships
Creating Work Engagement Challenges
 Work-Life Paradox: Many individuals are having greater
difficulties being engaged at work (e.g. work-life conflicts
and job role overload) despite the growing use of
 technology tools
 presence of many employer flexibility and work-life policies.
 & its growth is viewed as legitimate problem of everyday life in.
societal and organizational cultures.
 Professor jobs have job autonomy in job design on paper but often
not in how many experience this job.
 Source: Kossek and Lautsch, 2008
7

8. Professional employees face unique
work challenges- Workload and 24-7
availability
 Time/Energy Imbalance: Putting Work
Above Everything Else
 Factors contributing to the
pressures to overwork:
 New Workplace technology makes it easier
to bring work home
 Global interactions require 24 hour
communications
 Competitive Pressures to continually show
you add value and are on career track
Professor Ellen Ernst Kossek, Ph.D. 8
Michigan State University USA

9. Academic Freedom/ ability to work 24-
7 requires high self-regulation.
Take Away Tip:
We must take control of work
–life relationships to self-
manage engagement
Must avoid
-constant multi-tasking &
-overwork from being accessible to E-
work
Must understand not everyone works
the same way
9

10. Linking Positive Work- Life
Engagement to Productivity
 Work –Life engagement increases productivity through
 positive work and home environments
 that challenge us in a positive way
 where we experience “flow”
 Lack of Work Engagement decreases productivity and
performance due to
 increased stress
 poorer health
 role overload
 Turnover, health costs, mistakes, accidents, mood
disorder
 U. S, NIH National Work Family Health Network
 Ineffective work engagement strategy increases switching
costs!

11. Links between Health and WFC
supported in Many Studies
 Portland State University & Michigan State University
(PSU/MSU) study trained supervisors to support grocery
workers’ family and personal lives through family supportive
behaviors.
TYPES OF SUPERVISORY SUPPORT
FOR FAMILY
 Emotional Support for Family
 Practical Support with Scheduling Conflicts
 Work-Family Role Modeling
 Creative Work-Family Management

12. Results of PSU/MSU study published
in Harvard Business Review 2008
Workers supervised by family-supportive managers are
more likely to experience:
 Lower levels of work and family conflict
 Higher job satisfaction
 Lower intentions to turnover
 Higher reports of mental and physical health
Kossek, E. E., & Hammer, L. B. (November, 2008). Work/Life Training
for Supervisors Gets Big Results. Harvard Business Review.

13. National Work Family Health Network
Link Between Work Family Conflicts & Health
 Harvard study of long-term care nurses
and nurse assistants in Massachusetts.
 “Openness” of managers to help/adjust
for employees’ work-family needs (e.g.,
schedules) and the “Creativity” of
managers in applying current policies
predicted employee cardiovascular risk
and sleep duration in extended care
settings.
 http://www.kpchr.org/WORKFAMILYHE
ALTHNETWORK/public/default.aspx

14. National Work Family Health Network
Link Between Work Family Health
Conflicts & Health
Poor work-family practices are associated with
increased risk of cardiovascular disease and
short sleep duration among low-wage
employees in long term care.

15. Theme 2: Flexstyles

16. Flexstyles are our
approaches to
managing:
 BOUNDARIES
 ATTENTION
 RELATIONSHIPS
Between our work and personal life.

18. Boundaries
18

19. ATTENTION
ATTENTION
 divided
 deficit
 scattered
 Switching costs (process losses
from switching)
 Overload
 multi-tasking

20. Relationships
RELATIONSHIPS

21. Theme 3: Self-
Assessment and
Reflection

22. Defining FlexStyle
 The psychological and physical
ways we manage
 Boundaries
 Attention
 Relationships
 between our jobs and personal
lives
22

23. Patterns vary because
everyone has one of 3 main
styles to manage work and
personal life:
 Integrators
 Separators
 Volleyors

24. Separators
Separators
keep work and
personal tasks
and
commitments
divided.
P. 24

25. Integrators Constantly Blend
Professor Ellen Ernst Kossek, Ph.D. 25
Michigan State University USA

26. Volleyers
switch back
and forth
between
integrating
and
separating
the work life
and personal
life.
Integrators blend work and personal tasks
P. 26
and commitments.

27. Know your FlexStyle
 What matters most for well-being:
a) alignment
between your ideal
personal values for how you
would prefer to allocate your life
pie
b) controlof how you manage work-
life relationships
27

28. Self-Assessment: Identifying Your Flexstyle
Pages 32-33 from CEO of Me
Statement Strongly Agree Neither Disagree Strongly
Agree Agree Disagree
nor
Disagree
1. I rarely attend to 1 2 3 4 5
personal or family issues
during the workday.
2. When I’m at home I 1 2 3 4 5
rarely think about work,
so I can fully get away
from my job.
3. In general, I don’t 1 2 3 4 5
take work-related phone
calls or e-mails during
evenings, weekends,
holidays, or vacations.

29. Strongly Agree Neither Disagree Strongly
Agree Agree nor Disagree
Disagree
4. In general, I don’t take work- 1 2 3 4 5
related phone calls or e-mails
during evenings, weekends,
holidays, or vacations.
5. With most of my family and 1 2 3 4 5
friends, I tend not to talk about
work issues as I like to keep work
separate.
6. I do not think about my family, 1 2 3 4 5
friends, and personal interests
when at work, so I can focus.
7. I usually handle e-mails related 1 2 3 4 5
to my family or personal life
separately from e-mails related to
my work.
Calculating your score: Add up
the total number of circles you
placed in each column, and write
the totals in the boxes to the right.

30. TABLE 2-1: Effective and Ineffective FLEXSTYLES
(from Kossek & Lautsch: CEO of Me)
WELL-BEING INTEGRATORS VOLLEYERS SEPARATORS
HAPPINESS
LEVEL
High Fusion Lover Quality time Work or
(Feeling in Family First
Control, work
and personal
life have
positive
relationships)
Low Reactors Job Warriors Captives
(overwhelmed,
overworked,
out of control,
work and
personal life
often feel at
odds )
Professor Ellen Ernst Kossek, Ph.D. 30
Michigan State University USA

31. Don’t assume your style is the best style.
There are different ways to work effectively.

32. Separator Tradeoff:
Stunted Life
Long days (Job or Family Creep)
Others’ misunderstanding about availability
Perceptions about professionalism
Higher switching costs & role restructuring
Lack of buffers, Transition times

33. Integrator Tradeoff:
Manage Switching Costs

34. Volleyer Tradeoff:
Role Confusion

35. Tenets of Flexstyle Trade-offs
 Choose flexstyle aligning with values
 Some flexstyles are not sustainable
 All have pros and cons
 If your life is overloaded, minor flexstyle
changes won’t work because you lack
control or resources.
 If you are undergoing major personal or
professional change, it is likely your
flexstyle is out of alignment.

36. Tips for Navigating your Flexstyle

37. Imagine your Ideal

38. Increase Support

39. Manage Transition Times &
Switching Costs

40. Monitor Yourself and
Experiment

41. What matters most ?
What is the change you could
make that would enrich your
life?

42. Develop work-life plan

43. Compare the two pies
How are they similar to and different from each
other?

44. Negotiation 101

45. Do you need to change?
Remember the Gut Test
 Individual Level:
 Are the cons of your style outweighing the
pros?
 What about your ability to control work life
relationships and values (life pie alignment)?
 Stakeholder Level: Perception is reality:
Feedback from important others in life (family and
work colleagues etc.)

46. CEO of Me: Creating a Life that
Works in the Flexible Job Age
Available from
Wharton School 1. Individuals need help
Publishing, reflecting on values
Amazon.com, Barnes and developing
and Nobles strategies to gain
control.
2. Sometimes
individuals need to
separate particularly
from work or family, &
technology- avoid
switching costs!
3. Take time to Reflect:
has your work-life
situation created
conflicts- if so, time
for change?