Research Methods Seminar BEHV4006

ManagingWorkandFatherhood:Fathers'ExperiencesofWorkplaceFlexibilityinthe Australian Finance Sector

SarahIsmail 20110446

DepartmentofPsychology,WesternSydneyUniversity BEHV4006 Research Methods Seminar

LilyLewington April 20, 2025

Word count: 1198

Managing Work and Fatherhood: Fathers' Experiences of Workplace Flexibility in the Australian Finance SectorFlexibility in the workplace is becoming increasingly popular and favourable ascommunication technologies evolve and organisations implement policies to improve their employees'work-lifebalance(Fan,2020).NomaguchiandJohnson(2014)havehighlighted thatworkplaceflexibility has many benefits, particularly for low-incomeand working-class fathers, as it can reduce the parental stress many experience. However, working fathers

continue to encounter both external and internal challenges when attempting to adopt flexible work arrangements (Ewald & Hogg, 2020), especially fathers in lower-status occupations who view these arrangements as inaccessible (Cook et al., 2020). Although there is asubstantial amount of quantitative data on fathers and their workplace flexibilityarrangements, limited qualitative research has analysed how fathers, specifically Australian fathers, personally experience, perceive and navigate these policies, particularly those within the finance sector. This qualitative study aims to investigate, explore and expand on theexistingliteraturesurroundingfathersandtheirexperiencesinaccessingflexibleworking arrangements.

Previous literature has suggested that fathers often encounter significant challenges when accessing and utilising flexible work arrangements. Kaufman (2017) noted that workplaces often create barriers that reinforce traditional gender roles despite the increasingrise of men in caregiving roles (Mott, 2023). Recent research has consistently highlighted that fathers are less likely than mothers to request for flexible working arrangements, despite their desire for the same work-family balance (Cooper & Baird, 2015; Moran & Koslowski, 2019). Recent research conducted by Baxter & Warren (2021) for the Australian Institute for Families supports this, as they highlighted that only 38% of employed fathers reported using flexible working hours compared to 58% of mothers doing so. These findings demonstrate that although formal policies are in place, workplace flexibility continues to be a significant issue for fathers, suggesting that there may be underlying workplace cultural and structural issues that affect flexibility. According to Williams et al. (2013), men who try to seek flexible work arrangements frequently encounter a femininity stigma and are perceived as lesscommitted to their professions compared to their employees. Reid (2015) highlights that femininity stigma appears to be more prevalent in high-status professions and rolestraditionally viewed as masculine, such as the finance sector. However, according to Skinner et al. (2015), workplace hierarchy significantly impacts access to flexibility in lower-status workers, as they highlighted that they often face more challenges despite the formal policythat is in place. The results of the previous studies are contradictory, as they both indicate that workers of different statuses encounter more significant challenges when attempting to access workplace flexibility. Consequently, additional qualitative research is necessary to gain abetterperspectiveandunderstandingoffatherstryingtoaccessworkplaceflexibility.

While many studies have established what workplace barriers exist for fathers who have issues with workplace arrangements, little qualitative research has been conducted to gain an in-depth understanding of fathers subjective experiences, awareness, and access tothese arrangements. A qualitative study conducted by Ladge et al. (2015) revealed that fathers often find themselves torn between workplace expectations and their personal desires to beinvolved parents. However, Ladge et al. (2015) did not explore the reasoning behind these feelings, which indicates that there is a need for further qualitative research to better understand fathers personal feelings and experiences with workplace flexibility.

As a result of previous research that highlights the barriers fathers face when trying to better care for their family and manage a work/care balance, it is crucial to develop a more comprehensive understanding of what Australian fathers experience and how they navigate flexible work arrangements, particularly across status levels within the finance sector. This qualitative study aims to expand on existing literature by examining fathers subjectiveexperiencesregardingworkplaceflexibilitypolicies andpractices.This studyaimstoaddress the following research questions:

1. Whatarethesubjectiveexperiencesofflexibleworkplacepoliciesandpracticesfor men who are fathers working in the finance sector?

2. Howdomenwhoarefathersworkinginthefinancesectoradoptflexibleworking practices to negotiate the work/care balance?

Method

Participants

Five male participants were recruited to participate in a doctoral thesis that aimed to explore fathers' constructions and experiences of workplace flexibility. All participants lived in Australia, were fathers and worked in the finance sector at the time of the interviews.

Cameron worked as a Senior Home Lending Specialist, Andrew as a Program Manager, Marco as a Principle engineer (bank), Darren as a Personal Home Lending Executive, and Brendan as a Personal Banker. All other demographic variables that were collected areillustrated in Table 1. All participants engaged in a semi-structured interview, which included open-ended questions that focused on asking participants about their awareness of flexible work policies, their use of such flexible working arrangements, and how they balanced theirroles as fathers and employees. Interviews began with introductions and backgroundquestions, which were followed by a discussion of their work routines, flexibility in their workplace, and their perception of workplace support regarding fatherhood responsibilities.

Dataanalysis

Interviews with participants were transcribed, and an inductive thematic analysis was conducted. Braun & Clarke's (2006) six-step approach was utilised for this current study, with the sixth step being this report itself. To begin employing Braun & Clarke's (2006) thematic analysis approach, the first step was to become familiar with the data. Interview transcripts were initially analysed to thoroughly understand all participants' experiences with theirawarenessofworkplaceflexibility andhowtheymanageboththedemandsofbeingafather and an employee.

After becoming familiar with the data and developing a good understanding of it, the second step was to generate codes manually and systematically as a way to search for specific and consistent themes. Examples of initial codes that were labelled were 'scared of judgement from peers', 'fatherhood culture', 'no voice', 'consequences', 'fear', and 'workplace hierarchy'. The third step from Braun & Clarke (2006) involved analysing all codes and grouping them with similar codes to generate potential themes. For example, 'workplace attitudes towards flexibility' had codes such as 'pressure', 'overcompensating', 'productivity', 'hierarchy', and 'trust'. These codes eventually led to the development of an initial set of themes.

ThefourthstepinBraun&Clarke's(2006)approachhelpedrefinethosethemesto better correlate with the interview transcripts. For example, 'workplace attitudes towards

flexibility' was further refined and reconstructed to 'Hierarchical position determines After this process, flexibility'. step5began,whereclearnamesanddescriptionsweregiven to two primary themes.

Table1

Participantdemographics

Results

The thematic analysis produced two primary themes labelled 'Hierarchical positiondetermines flexibility' and 'The paradox of flexibility'. Both themes reflected how participants felt, perceived and managed flexible work arrangements regarding their role as fathers and employees in the financial sector.

Hierarchicalpositiondeterminesflexibility

The initial theme that was identified explores various perspectives on flexible work arrangements and the impact an employee's status level (low, medium, and high) in thefinance sector can have on a father's experience when attempting to find an equal balance between his professional and personal responsibilities. While some participants reported that flexibility was available, others reported facing challenges from management, their jobresponsibilities, and their colleagues.

Access to flexibility depended on an employee's hierarchical rank and washighlighted through most interviews with participants. Brendan stated that "it really depends on where you are in the hierarchy" (pg.23), emphasising that employees considered high or medium status have greater access to flexibility." Cameron supported Brendan's statement as he said, "Anyone in the middle management group, I'd say pretty much all of them wouldhaveflexibleworkingarrangements"(pg.9).Andrew,whoisconsideredtobe ahigh-status worker, discussed his personal experiences regarding flexibility.

Andrew says:

Flexibility is there if I need to, and I'll work from home. The technology facilitates it, I can be on the phone, and we have Skype meetings, so there's not necessarily a need for me to be here physically in the room all the time, so you know, it's at mydiscretion if I want to work from home (pg.11).

WhenAndrews' experience is compared to Brendan's and Cameron's, who are consideredlowand medium-statusworkers,itisevidentthathigh-statusworkershavemore access to workplace flexibility.

Low-status employees in the finance sector often hold customer-facing positions, and their physical presence is highly valued in comparison to those in high-status roles. This may contribute to why those higher on the hierarchy have more flexible arrangements. Brendan and Darren have both expressed their frustration with the lack of flexibility given toemployees in lower-status positions. Brendan says, "I can't" (pg.21) when asked if he uses flexible working arrangements as a customer-facing employee. Darren was also asked if he would request work-from-home days, and he replied with, "I don't feel like that would be taken favourably" (pg.20) and that, "it's totally different to the back-office situation, it's adifferent story for them" (pg.21).

Marco is a high-status employee who says in his interview, "I'm responsible for the delivery of the things that I'm delivering, so I'll come in late if I have to do something likehelp the kids kind of get ready for school" (p.9). Marco is not in a customer-facing employee, and Andrew also supports that high-status workers have leniency with physical presence,saying, "there's not necessarily a need for me to be here physically in the room all the time, so you know, it's at my discretion if I want to work from home" (pg.11)

The interviews revealed that employees in high-status positions generally perceived flexibility and work-from-home days as available, whereas those in customer-facing orlower-status positions felt that flexibility wasn't attainable, and if it was, it was inadequate for their personal needs. The interviews conducted for this study ultimately revealed that fathers in lower-status positions within the finance sector encounter significant challenges whentrying to adopt flexible working practices to balance their work and personal lives as fathers.

Theparadox offlexibility

While participants generally viewed flexible work arrangements as beneficial and progressive, this theme explores and discusses how flexibility would allow greater family involvement but also has adverse effects such as social judgements, longer working hours and increased pressure for more productivity.

Throughout Cameron's interview, he described feeling supported by highermanagement; however, he was also feeling subtle judgment from coworkers, saying that There were often some underhanded remarks when I was leaving at four thirty, and

you know, just general comments like "you're slacking", and it was usually delivered in a humorous way, but when it's delivered in a humorous way a number of times it's probably more of a belief than a joke (pg.8).

Cameron also stated that although he still completes and maintains his workresponsibilities with his flexible work arrangements, he felt judgement from his coworkers, stating, "I feel like they think I'm slacking a little bit, but there's nothing I can really do about that, and I will keep going to pick up my kids" (pg. 9). The pressure from coworkers led tofathersworkinglongerhourstoprovetheircommitmentwhenprovidedwithsomesortof flexibility.

Darren saysIguessthereissometimesalittlefeelingofguiltaboutit.Itendtothinkthat,whether it's perceived or real, there's an elementof mistrustif you'reworking fromhome, like people don't always believe that you 'are' working when you're working from home - when quite often you're working more than what you would in the office (pg.17).

Marco similarly stated, "I work more hours in a day when I work from home" and, "when you work from home or remotely, you have to deliver" (p.11), highlighting theexpectation tooverperformwhenprovidedwithflexibility.

The interviews with participants further highlighted the dilemmas fathers encounter when utilising their flexible work arrangements to achieve a balance between their professional responsibilities and personal lives as fathers. Unlike the first theme, all levels of status in the finance sector felt the pressure to overperform and overcompensate whenworking from home.

Discussion

ThisstudyaimedtoexploreAustralianfathers'subjectiveexperiencesofworkplace flexibility within the finance sector.Athematic analysis revealed two primary themes

highlightinghowworkplaceculture,statuslevel,andperceivedexpectationscaninfluencea father's access to flexible workplace arrangements.

This current study supported the findings from Skinner et al. (2015) as fathers inhigher ranking positions had more control over their work and life balance, while those in lower-status positions, particularly in customer-facing roles, reported limited access and

greaterfearofjudgment.ThefindingsfromCooketal.(2020)werealsosupportedas participants in lower-status positions perceived flexibility as unavailable to them.

Althoughparticipantsbenefitedfromflexibleworkingarrangements,findingsfromthisstudy also aligned withWilliams et al. (2013) findings, where men who had more flexible working arrangements were seen as less committed to their careers due to the "flexibility stigma".

Participantswerefoundtobeovercompensatingbyworkinglongerhours,whichalso supports Moran & Koslowski's (2019) findings.

While this study provided valuable insight, there were limitations. The small sample size of five participants limits the generalisability of the findings, and future research should aim to use a larger sample. This study also only looked at fathers who worked in the finance sector, which affects the validity of the study towards the general population, and futureresearch should aim to use a more diverse sample with participants from different

occupationstogainadeeperunderstandingofhowfathersacrossorganisationalcontexts experience and perceive workplace flexibility.

The findings from this study emphasise the need for workplace organisations to look further than just implementing policies and should also aim to address structural dynamics and stigmas, which have been proven to shape how accessible flexibility is in the workplace.

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