Ellen Galinsky, Kelly Sakai, and Tyler Wigton explore the “time famine” among American
workers—the continuing sense among employees of not having enough time to manage the
multiple responsibilities of work and personal and family life. Noting that large shares of U.S.
employees report feeling the need for greater workplace flexibility to enable them to take better
care of family responsibilities, the authors examine a large-scale community-engagement initiative to increase workplace flexibility voluntarily.
Using the 2008 National Study of the Changing Workforce as a primary source of data, the
authors begin with an overview of the prevalence of flexibility in today’s American workplace.
They track which categories of employees have access to various flexibility options, as well as the
extent to which employees with access to various types of flexibility use those options. Findings
from the study indicate that the majority of employees want flexibility but that access to it varies,
with more advantaged employees—those who are well educated, have high salaries, and work
full time, for example—being doubly advantaged in having greater access to flexibilit