Work-Family Enrichment and Motiuation in the light of Flexible Working Arrangements

Abstract

Due to the covid pandemic the last couple of years have been dominated by a higher level of flexible working arrangement (Eiffe, 2021). In response to the new working life organizations have become more employee centric, and offer more flexible policies (Rastogi, Rangnekar & Rastogi, 2016). The organizations aim to facilitate for the employees to juggle different roles. We investigated employees from two companies with flexible working arrangements, and what characterizes their experiences of motivation and workfamily enrichment. The investigation of their motivation was based on selfdetermination theory, specifically autonomous vs controlled motivation. Employees with flexible work arrangements report higher levels of autonomy than others (Vargas-Llave, 2020), and flexible working arrangements offer autonomy to choose when and where to work (Hill et al., 2008). Our research examines the employees´ experiences with flexible working arrangements by using three different narratives: working mainly from home, mainly from the office, and hybrid. After interviewing 13 participants from the two companies, we outline findings and discussion in connection to theory to be able to reach a conclusion. We propose that individuals working hybrid, experience a higher level of work-family enrichment and feel more in balance between work and family. We also propose that the feeling of autonomy is highly influencing the participants motivation. These propositions have important implications for theory and future research on work-family enrichment, motivation, and flexible working arrangements.