Working for yourself may lead to better health as well as greater fulfilment, suggests Marylyn Carrigan...
In February this year a review of working hours by the Cochrane Library identified that those people who choose their own working hours enjoy better physical and mental health. Employees who have control of their hours may experience better blood pressure and heart rates, and flexible working is also suggested to impact positively on mental health.
Mums to entrepreneurs
This comes as no surprise, as my co-researcher Dr Jo Duberley of the University of Birmingham and I have uncovered similar findings about quality of life and wellbeing among women entrepreneurs. We have been studying mothers who have started their own business, as part of a British Academy funded project examining work-life balance. The women we have spoken to have all taken the plunge and set up their own business, many of them working from their homes.
Juggling the demands of family and work is a constant nightmare for any parent. How do you cope with school holidays? A sick child or elderly relative? Time off to see the school play? These are all familiar scenarios for women who today face intensifying pressure to be both ‘good mothers’ raising well-balanced children, and ‘good employees’ who contribute to the economic wellbeing of society. While starting your own business is not an option for every woman, one of the benefits of being self-employed, it would appear, is that you can manage the business around the family’s needs, removing some of the pressure that comes from there being only 24 hours in each day!
Long hours, but more happiness
It was apparent from the discussions we have had with female entrepreneurs that they work extremely long hours: answering email in their pyjamas before the kids wake up; managing the school run, meals, cleaning, after school clubs, as well as ‘quality time’ with the children are all fitted around heavy work demands. Once the kids are in bed, many return to their desk to carry on where they left off earlier in the day.
Despite working these ‘second shifts’ nearly all the women reported feeling much happier, more fulfilled and more motivated to work than they had been in their previous jobs. Partly this was explained by the fact they were now able to call the shots about when and how they worked without having to justify their fragmented work patterns to a grudging employer, or feel guilty about taking time out for the school assembly.
flexibility ´a mixed blessing´
However, a note of caution should be sounded. While the autonomy of self-employment does bring with it freedom and control over their lives, it is also clear that flexibility is a mixed blessing for many women – as it appears they inevitably find themselves taking on greater responsibility for child care and domestic chores. Working for yourself can also bring greater job insecurity, lack of pension and low wages, which can take its toll upon wellbeing and quality of life.
Even so, despite the financial and emotional risks involved, it would appear the freedom that comes from taking control over your working hours has the potential to deliver a significant health benefit for those ‘mompreneurs’ who reinvent their working lives.
Read more about the scope of our research project Managing the interface between home and work in family businesses: the experience of copreneurs and entrepreneurs
Dr Marylyn Carrigan is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at The Open University Business School, and Deputy Director of ISM-Open
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Comments
Interesting thought...if women are so innovative then why as a society are we not developing and utilisizing this resource further. I suspect sexism is in action (yet again).
Haider is right. The mum's in our study often drew upon their personal networks and word of mouth to generate business. Personal contacts and family (particularly grandparents)were also a strong feature of their support systems (work and home), that underpinned their ability to juggle their commitments.
I'd agree with the two-edged finding. The term 'entrepreneur' is a loaded one, with it immediately conjuring images of swashbuckling Silicon Valley types. In reality, for most people setting up their own business, is a far less glamourous, self-employment option and associated with an uncertain income stream and reliance on a small number of potential customers.
In the early 1990s I was training would-be entrepreneurs in various Tory inspired unemployment reduction schemes. It was quite laughable how the consultants who had drawn up the training materials imagined that running your own business would involve running advertising campaigns and employing people. In reality what worked was word of mouth and doing an assortment of odd jobs to keep the money coming in.
Do men feel the same benefits of working for themselves as women, and to what extent, do they find themselves working a second shift if based in the home rather than the workplace? Is this a female phenomena, or is the contribution that entrepreneurial men make being overlooked?