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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of part-time work on absolute wages. The empirical focus is wages and working hours in three selected sectors within private services in the Danish labour market – industrial cleaning, retail, hotels and restaurants – and their agreement-based regulation of working time and wages. Theoretically, this analysis is inspired by the concept of living hours, which addresses the interaction between working hours and living wages, but adds a new layer to the concept in that the authors also consider the importance of working time regulations for securing a living wage.

The paper builds on desk research of collective agreements and analysis of monthly administrative register data on wages and working hours of Danish employees from the period 2008-2014.

This analysis shows that the de facto hourly wages have increased since the global financial crisis in all three sectors. This is in accordance with increasing minimum wage levels in the sector-level agreements. The majority of workers in all three sectors work part-time. Marginal part-timers – 15 hours or less per week – make up the largest group of workers. The de facto hourly wage for part-timers, including marginal part-timers, is relatively close to the sector average. However, the yearly job-related income is much lower for part-time than for full-time workers and much lower than the poverty threshold. Whereas the collective agreement in industrial cleaning includes a minimum floor of 15 weekly working hours – this is not the case in retail, hotels and restaurants. This creates a loophole in the latter two sectors that can be exploited by employers to gain wage flexibility through part-time work.

The living wage literature usually focusses on hourly wages (including minimum wages via collective agreements or legislation). This analysis demonstrates that studies of low-wage work must include the number of working hours and working time regulations, as this aspect can have a dramatic influence on absolute wages – even in cases of hourly wages at relatively high levels. Part-time work and especially marginal part-time work can be associated with very low yearly income levels – even in cases like Denmark – if regulations do not include minimum working time floors. The authors suggest that future studies include the perspective of living hours to draw attention to the effect of low number of weekly hours on absolute income levels.

The subject of part‐time work is one which has become increasingly important in industrialised economies where it accounts for a substantial and growing proportion of total employment. It is estimated that in 1970, average annual hours worked per employee amounted to only 60% of those for 1870. Two major factors are attributed to explaining the underlying trend towards a reduction in working time: (a) the increase in the number of voluntary part‐time employees and (b) the decrease in average annual number of days worked per employee (Kok and de Neubourg, 1986). The authors noted that the growth rate of part‐time employment in many countries was greater than the corresponding rate of growth in full‐time employment.

The purpose of the paper is to show that a defining characteristic of the UK retail sector is the high number of women it employs but there remains an enduring under‐representation of women in its management positions. The majority of women in the industry work part‐time and this paper aims to explore the factors that impact upon the career progression.

In the paper, 1,000 questionnaires were completed by store staff in three leading retailers, supported by interviews with store staff and SME retailers in the UK's East Midlands region.

The paper finds continuing barriers to career progression for women working part‐time in retailing. Despite family friendly employment policies becoming an increasingly important feature of modern work organisations, career progression was informed by a traditional concept of a career based on full‐time working.

The paper was limited to one sector. There is a need for further studies into women's career progression in other sectors reliant on female employment.

The findings in the paper have implications for promotion policies, training and development provision and line management practices if retailers are to maximise the potential of the women they employ.

The paper suggests that retailing is an industry where a significant number of women are working below their potential despite organisational policies supportive of diversity and equality of opportunity.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the experience of female part-time professionals with employee and managerial positions with the utilisation of flexible work arrangements in a corporate environment in the country with a full-time dominated work culture. The data represent a rare case study of the work environment in a Czech branch of one multinational company. This paper focusses on the position of female employees working part-time in professional and managerial positions. The reason for such an arrangement is their attempt to combine career and care for pre-school children. This paper evaluates the effects of flexible work policies in an environment where part-time work for female professionals is rarely available and, therefore, precious. In particular, this paper discusses conditions under which these arrangements are available and its impact on gender equality.

The paper represents a rare case-study of an organisational environment. The seven analysed interviews derive from a larger study on the corporate environment which included 35 interviews and a series of participatory observations. In the analysis, the following questions are discussed: What is the position of employees working within flexible working arrangements in a specific corporate culture? Which aspects of flexible working arrangements affect the professional recognition and evaluation of the employees? To what extent and how do flexible working arrangements affect employee satisfaction with their working and private lives?

The data reveal the diverse and often subtle forms of discrimination and exploitation of working mothers, who use the flexible working arrangement as a work-family reconciliation strategy. Female employees working with alternative working arrangements do not have equal bargaining power in comparison to other employees, regardless of whether they are professionals, and sometimes in managerial positions. At the formal level, the part-time professionals are restricted in pay and in access to the company benefits. In the informal relations within the workplace, their work lacks of sufficient recognition of colleagues and superiors. Overall, part-time work for female professionals and managers leads to an entrapment between the needs of their family and the expectations of their employer.

The research reveals the practical limitation in introducing policies the work-life reconciliation policies. The results show the need to focus on promoting better conditions for employees working part-time. Also, it shows that managerial and highly demanding professional positions can be executed on a part-time basis if the work environment is open towards accepting this arrangement. Moreover, the findings outline the possibilities of developing workplace practices in the Czech Republic in a woman-friendly direction.

Specific legislative arrangements should be enacted, providing better protection for employees in non-standard employment. At the same time, the incentives for employers to enable part-time working arrangements should be provided.

The amount of research on female professionals working part-time or from home is rather limited in context of the post-communist countries. The paper discusses the “double” tokenism of the women working in the leadership positions and at the same time in flexible working arrangements in the full-time working culture.

The expansion of part‐time or reduced hours working into skilled, managerial and professional jobs is increasing. This expansion is generally viewed positively. Not only does it herald a change of status for part‐time working but also suggests that organisations are taking Equal Opportunities policies and specifically, family‐friendly policies, seriously. However, the emerging literature in this area suggests that part‐time working within professional roles poses a considerable HRM problem. Using an explicitly pluralistic perspective, this paper presents the results of a case study into the management of part‐time working in a UK police force. It is argued that part‐time working has different meanings for managers and part‐time employees, producing conflicting needs and expectations that are not readily reconcilable. The cultural and institutional factors that reproduce these differences are explored and the implications for human resource management are identified.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the employment trajectories, aspirations, work‐life balance and career mobility of women working as part‐time managers.

In‐depth, semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 16 female part‐time managers and four of their line managers in public and private‐sector organizations. Interviews explored women's career trajectories before and after the transition to part‐time work and focused on career mobility, aspirations and work‐life balance.

The part‐time managers in this sample held varied careers while working full‐time but careers stalled once a transition to part‐time work was made. The majority were career focused, worked intensively and felt frustrated with their lack of mobility and career progression while working part‐time. The majority worked in excess of their contracted hours and did not experience an appropriate reallocation of work when they reduced hours.

This paper is of value to both researchers and policy makers. Policy implications point to the limitations of the current UK legislation on the right to request flexible working. The paper states that further research would be beneficial on the ways in which managers employed on part‐time and other flexible contracts, operate successfully in organizations, with the aim of championing alternative working patterns and breaking down traditional long hours cultures which act as a barrier to women and part‐time workers.

This paper explores the employment profiles and experiences of a little studied and rare group of female workers.

This article has a threefold purpose. First, it presents an overview of part‐time employment within the European Community in the context of current labour market trends. Second, it discusses the advantages and disadvantages associated with part‐time working and third, it outlines the factors supporting a future expansion of part‐time working.

This article outlines the longitudinal consequences for men who participated in the work‐sharing couples study which was a Norwegian, experimental research project in the early 1970s. The aim of the original project was to promote gender equality and a better work/life balance in families; the design involved both spouses working part‐time and sharing childcare and housework. This paper aims to present the results of a longitudinal follow‐up study of the participants in the work‐sharing couples study. In this paper the work‐sharing men's part‐time adaptations and the impact of the work‐sharing arrangement on their careers is the main focus.

The original project had a small scale, interventionist design based on couples working part‐time and sharing childcare and housework; effects were documented by questionnaires and time diaries. In the follow‐up study 30 years later, retrospective life‐course couple interviews with the original participants were used. The current paper is based on an analysis of the couple interviews with a particular focus on the men's careers.

Obtaining part‐time work was not difficult, and working part‐time was mostly uncomplicated for the men. Neither did their working part time for a substantial amount of time have negative career effects, and they were rather successful professionally. Their experiences as work sharers were mainly positively valued at their workplaces as adding to managerial skills. For those who did not have a managerial career, this was due to personal choice rather than any negative effect of working part‐time.

Changing men's adaptations to work and care is high on the agenda in family research as well as in policy making and the findings from this study contributes to new knowledge which is of interest in research as well as policy making.

The original project was unique internationally, and so is the longitudinal follow‐up of this experiment. The work‐sharing men's part‐time adaptations and the longitudinal impact on their careers provide new and contra‐intuitive insights into the question of men, work and family.

Discusses the long existing and confusing problems of establishing the relationship of who is, and who if not, a dependent worker. Reflects developments which have occurred in British law as it affects the employment field, plus an evaluation and analysis of some of the different types of employment relationships which have evolved by examining, where possible, the status of each of these relationships. Concludes that the typical worker nowadays finds himself in a vulnerable position both economically and psychologically owing to the insecurity which exists.

Studies of the work “choices” of mothers are plentiful – from the factors that influence occupational selection to the reasons why women work or “opt out” when they have children. However, we know little about how subjective preference for full or part-time work is “aligned” or “misaligned” with mothers’ objective work status. Based on qualitative interviews from the MacArthur Network’s “Transition to Adulthood and Public Policy” study, we consider the “alignment” of objective work intensity (full vs. part time) and subjective preferences, finding that one-third of the working mothers in the sample are “misaligned.” At the same time, the majority preferred full-time work: two-thirds (66 percent) either wanted to work full time and did so, or wanted to work full time but were actually employed part time. One-third of the working mothers had a preference for part-time work (although some worked full time). Only 12 percent of the working mothers in the sample were able to work part time and desired this arrangement. Furthermore, regardless of the alignment of their objective work status and preference, the majority of these mothers emphasized self-fulfillment and intrinsic satisfaction though work.