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29Wright and Yaeger

Women and Work: A Call to Transform Corporate Culture to Include More Flexibility

Meghan C. Wright, PhD Texas Wesleyan University

Therese F. Yaeger, PhD Benedictine University

Meghan Wright is currently an Assistant Professor of Management at Texas Wesleyan University, Fort Worth, Texas. She teaches courses in International Business, Organizational

Behavior, Business Statistics and Management Theory. Much of her research projects focus on the path of female middle managers after exiting corporate progression tracks, women in leadership, work life competencies, the impact of entrepreneurship education to entrepreneurial activity, and organizational effectiveness. During her two academic years at Texas Wesleyan, she has developed a Women in Leadership Forum that bridges classroom theory and application of concepts in the workforce. Additionally, she is advisor to the newly formed Entrepreneurship Club on campus and coaches the Enactus team on a project developed to impact the local community around the university. Meghan holds a BS from Monmouth College, an MS in Education, and a PHD in Organization Development from Benedictine University.

Therese Yaeger, PhD is Professor in Benedictine University’s OD programs. She has served in numerous managerial roles during her 25- year professional career. She has

authored over 100 articles including 12 books. Recent publications include “Global Organization Development: Managing Unprecedented Change” with Sorensen and Head. Yaeger is a Past Chair of the Management Consulting Division of the Academy of Management, and Past President of the Midwest Academy of Management. Therese received her PhD from Benedictine University.

Abstract

This study explores women in the workforce and

workplace culture through qualitative interviews

in an effort to illuminate how job fl exibility plays

a role in attracting, retaining, and developing

talented women. With the fi ndings of how job

fl exibility plays a role in integrating the four

domains of work, home/family, community,

and self we provide opportunities for the fi eld of

Organization Development (OD) to position itself

as the vehicle for organizational change to include

more fl exibility in workplace culture. Women want

to live their espoused values which happens when

work and life domains integrate and there is also

time for community and self domains. This paper

has implications for OD consultants regarding ways

to bring about change to introduce more fl exibility

to the workplace culture to facilitate this desire.

Keywords: women and work, workplace

fl exibility, corporate culture, opt-in, organization

development

Meghan Wright Assistant Professor of Management at Texas Wesleyan University, Fort Worth, Texas. She teaches courses in International Business, Organizational

Behavior, Business Statistics and Management Theory.

Therese Yaeger, PhD in Benedictine University’s OD programs. She has served in numerous managerial roles during her 25- year professional career. She has

authored over 100 articles including 12 books. Recent

“It [the future] should create the opportunity for individuals to make meaningful choices about how to integrate the two (work and life), and as a result create a better overall quality of life.”

Edward E. Lawler III, 2014

30 Organization Development Journal l Winter 2016

In the Summer 2005 issue of the

Organization Development Journal, author Laura

Bierema stated “there are many pleas for research

on women in the work context, but few published

studies” (p. 8). A better understanding of women

in the work context would surely lead to an

organization’s ability to adjust corporate culture in

a way that attracts, retains, and develops talented

women. This research begins to illuminate what

has occurred since Bierema’s 2005 statement

regarding women in the work context. An interest

in the phenomenon of women in entrepreneurial

organizations who left a corporate career track in

middle management was the starting point of this

study as conversations with corporate executives

and entrepreneurs revealed there was a drain on

female talent within the corporate landscape.

The corporate executives expressed concern for

a drain on talent and entrepreneurs spoke of the

exit from this corporate culture. At this point, it

became apparent that talking to women who exited

the corporate culture to start their own businesses

might reveal more about what was happening in

the workforce. These conversations, an interest in

learning more about female entrepreneurs who left

the corporate culture, coupled with an interest in

revisiting the findings of a 2013 study in order to

contribute to this request by Bierema, and offer an

invitation to the field of Organization Development

Contact Information:

Meghan C. Wright, PhD Phone: 717.531.7592

Texas Wesleyan University 1201 Wesleyan Street Fort Worth, TX 76105

Email: [email protected]

Therese F. Yaeger, PhD Phone: 630.829.6207

Benedictine University 5700 College Road Lisle, IL 60532

Email: [email protected]

31Wright and Yaeger

(OD) consulting is the objective of this article.

The paper begins with developments in

corporate culture that instigate a desire for women

to leave the corporate culture, hence the “opt-out”

era (Belkin, 2003; Graff 2007; Cannon, 2009). We

conclude with defining opportunities for the field of

OD to assist with changes to workplace culture to

incorporate more flexibility.

Literature on workforce history

Extant literature on the history of women in

the workforce begins to shed some light on how the

corporate culture often stems from a white, male

perspective with minimal integration of a female

perspective. It also depicts barriers women have

faced for decades when “climbing the proverbial

corporate ladder” to management positions within

the organization.

Three streams of literature are provided here

for this study: women in the workplace; the plight of

women in management; and the workplace culture.

Starting with a history of work in the United States

seemed a logical step in order to understand what

the US has endured over the past five decades and

how the nature of work has evolved. With a clear

understanding of the nature of work, the next phase

was to understand women in the workforce as well

as their impact at the management level within the

organizations. Since this study is also intended

to learn more about women and work, the final

stream explored workplace culture, specifically

within corporations, and the lack of sensitivity to

conflicting work and life domains.

History and Nature of Workforce. During

the 1970s, prosperity from previous decades began

to erode and an increased number of women joined

the workforce with poor pay and recognition from

the job. Legislation was introduced to “redress the

balance” through creation of the Equal Pay Act of

1974, the government’s way of ensuring the same

pay for the same level of work (Woodd, 1999;

Mattis, 1999). Alternatives to work arrangements

and schedules were offered with the introduction of

the notion of “telework” and telecommuting which

were a result of the technological advancements

made in the early 1970s. The management of the

responsibilities at home related to family, as well

as those from the workplace, were often exhausting

for women, in part because of the anxiety and stress,

as well as other emotions that went along with both

domains (Beatty, 1996). Thus, telecommuting

helped (or was intended to help) reduce the stress

from handling both environments and opened the

door to promotions into management positions;

however, as technology continued to advance,

it became more difficult to define boundaries

of the work and life domains since they were

geographically situated in the same location. At

this point, telecommuting began to be a difficult

32 Organization Development Journal l Winter 2016

work arrangement to manage due to work and life

domains being so connected.

According to the U.S. Department of

Labor, the number of women in some type of

managerial field nearly doubled during the 1980s.

This situation contributed to a heightened interest

in organizational culture as women introduced a

leadership style different from the male-dominated

norm known for previous decades (see Parker and

Fagenson, 1994, p. 12). As Lund (2003) notes,

“Managers became increasingly aware of the ways

that an organizational culture can affect employees

and organizations” (p. 219) with scholars and

practitioners alike conducting research and writing

articles to contribute to this knowledge base

(Lawler, 2014).

History and plight of women in

management. Radical changes were evident in

the 1990s as women felt even more pressure to

work hard to break through the proverbial “glass

ceiling” while also meeting the needs of home and

family. The challenges of “moving up the ladder”

while balancing children and spouses and often also

taking care of parents or other older family members

were enormous (Ilies, Schwind, Wagner, Johnson,

DeRue, & Ilgen, 2007; Valcour, 2007; Mescher,

Benschop, & Doorewaard, 2010). Being able to

work smarter rather than longer and harder had its

privileges and is a major focus today for Catalyst

(a non-profit organization founded in the 1960s by

Felice Schwartz to advance women in the workplace)

in assisting talented women with remaining

competitive in the workplace. As a result of the long

work hours and work ethic, the playing field began

to level, and more women were promoted to middle

and upper management positions. Many women felt

radical change was taking place, with corporations

buying “sponsorships” in women’s groups to show

support for women and target them as consumers

(see U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce, 2010).

This was a significant improvement from what

had been reported by Bierema when working with

a 2005 women’s networking group at a Fortune

500 consumer products company. Women in this

networking group cited failure of the group to bring

about change in the culture of the organization due

to the “maleness” of the organization and perceived

challenging of the status quo (p. 10). Measured

against the way things once were, progress during

this decade was commendable; however, much

remained to be accomplished.

With the radical changes in the 1990s came

more shifts in corporate culture at the turn of the

century. Continued advancements in technology

(Woodd, 1999) allowed employees to be constantly

connected to work through personal digital

assistants, smartphones, iPads, and other handheld

devices (Sullivan & Mainiero, 2007). With this

33Wright and Yaeger

constant connectedness to work as well as the

overwhelming demands to perform as women in

hopes of getting noticed and promoted to the “next

best thing” in the company, came an increased

conflict between work and life domains. Women

were feeling the need to make a choice between

work and life. Arguably, two other domains desiring

attention had not been addressed yet, namely self

(mind, body, and spirit) and community (friends,

social groups, and relationships in general). Thus,

a catchy news editorial written by Lisa Belkin,

regarding the “opt-out” revolution, was the front-

page story of the New York Times (2003). Belkin

awakened the country to the phenomenon of highly

talented females leaving jobs, specifically corporate

jobs, at record rates but was unable to contribute to

corporate cultures understanding the implications

for this issue and how to bring about change to

combat it. Belkin attributed the reason to a desire to

be stay-at-home moms. Unfortunately, only a very

small number of women were interviewed, with a

significant presence of convenience sampling (only

Princeton graduates), making Belkin’s conclusion

merely an editorial version of interviews rather

than empirical research. Belkin’s study did not

involve other women who may have left to seek

better opportunities or a work culture more aligned

with their espoused values. This study was not

in contradiction to Belkin but rather a way to

add scientific evidence through interviews with

females from all regions of the US to understand

the corporate exit. Implications from this mass

exodus of women leaving corporations to seek

better opportunities and more flexibility began to

affect the corporate-suite pool, as women did not

seek that end-goal which significantly decreased

the talent pool of women in large corporations (U.S.

Women’s Chamber of Commerce, 2010).

Workplace culture (corporations). The

choice women faced because of continued conflict

between work and life domains was not the result

of negligence on the part of corporations or large

organizations. Attempts had been made to mediate

this conflict through introducing policies and

procedures to change the culture of organizations.

Many organizations began to recognize the

dissatisfaction felt by women and introduced

telework, telecommuting, alternative work

schedules, flexible hours, and other opportunities

(Woodd, 1999; Ellison, 2004; Galinsky, 2011;

Grant-Vallone & Ensher, 2011; Wilburn, 2011;

Sullivan & Mainiero, 2007; Golden, Veiga, &

Simsek, 2006; Bailyn, Rayman, Bengtsen, Carré, &

Tierney, 2001). These were valiant attempts, but

not enough to make a significant change.

Possibly the efforts fell short due to an

inability to fully understand the root problem, and

implement policies and procedures that solved the

34 Organization Development Journal l Winter 2016

problem. Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) reviewed

earlier literature about the sources of conflict,

which they said (as defined by Kahn et al, 1964, p.

19) was the “simultaneous occurrence of two (or

more) sets of pressures such that compliance with

one would make more difficult compliance with the

other” (p. 77). This conflict makes participation

in the life (work) domain more difficult because

of participation in work (life). In sum, these two

domains are interrelated and one domain can

interfere with the other at any given time in either

direction. For example, as the primary caregiver

of children, the mother is the one typically faced

with this conflict as she is called to leave work

and return home to care for a sick child (Eagly &

Carli, 2007). This example of conflict between

work and life (family) is just one of many and is

commonly associated with women rather than men

and attributed to the so-called maternal instinct.

However, only addressing this issue of women

working through work and life domain conflicts does

not take into consideration the growing number of

men considering a “lean out” (Irvine, 2015, p. 40)

in an effort to share more of the parenting burden

and mediate the domain conflicts.

Despite some organizations’ willingness

and readiness to change in an effort to meet the

demands associated with the work and life domains

of women, such changes were not enough to retain

many highly-talented women. Women continued

to “opt-out” for a myriad of reasons (Cannon,

2009; Gambrell, 2005; Acholonu, 2011; Herbreard,

2010; Belkin, 2003; Kuperberg & Stone, 2008;

Hill, Mead, Dean, Hafen, Gadd, Palmer, & Ferris,

2006; Graff, 2007; Mainiero & Sullivan, 2005).

The culture was still not one in which work and life

domains could be integrated to the point of meeting

the values espoused by these women. Moreover,

organizations were still not making significant

strides in breaking the “glass ceiling” (Mattis, 2004;

Winn, 2004; Jones, 2009; Eagly and Carli, 2007).

The hurdles discussed thus far that women

face as they aspire to management jobs can be so

arduous that they choose to abandon efforts to make

it to the top (Mainiero & Sullivan, 2005) because

the lack of integration with the four domains is

unobtainable. For these women, the time spent

trying to get noticed and promoted was also spent

balancing the life and work domains and being

satisfied with this process. Women have been

looking for satisfaction at work, which comes from

job satisfaction, rewards, and work-life balance

(Gersick & Kram, 2002) rather than conflict

(Woodd, 1999). Additionally, they wish to feel

satisfied with life in general as these two domains

compete for attention.

Shift in workplace culture. At this point,

it is time to break the cycle (Zaleski, 2015) of

35Wright and Yaeger

schedule and are considering the notion of “leaning

out” (Irvine, 2015, p. 40). This discussion of men

and flexibility goes beyond the scope of this paper;

however, it warrants mentioning since we now

have some interest from the male perspective in the

organization which may give this culture change

more traction. Authors agree that further research

on this is warranted and could be a logical extension

to this study.

Methodology

The participants in this study were women

who had exited a middle management position

(or higher) within a corporate career path that

was generally described. The study occurred in

2012-2013 with 15 women interviewed either

face-to-face or in a virtual setting. A preliminary

research call was distributed to members of the

Women’s Small Business Development Center

in a monthly newsletter, provided at a Women in

Leadership conference in Chicago, and also through

professional networks and academic conferences.

Interviews of participants were recorded and then

transcribed with a manual coding process using

Atlas.ti. Finally, an interrater was used to verify

themes and add a layer of reliability to the research

findings.

Findings

One of the core challenges for women in

the workforce, as discovered in this study, is the

women unable to integrate the four life domains at

satisfactory levels to achieve fulfillment. Notable

women such as Sheryl Sandberg and Anne Marie

Slaughter caution that it is not possible to have it

all at one time (Zaleski, 2015; Sandberg, 2013;

Slaughter, 2012), but rather it is possible to figure out

a way to make these four domains coexist at some

satisfactory level. In order to do this, as suggested

by these research findings, women are exiting the

corporate arena which poses to be a barrier to them

being able to come close to integrating the domains

of life, work, self, and community. It is time to

break the cycle of corporate careers demanding

so much time and devise a way to shift from what

is commonly known as the white, male corporate

culture (Bierema, 1996) into one that integrates all

domains. This shift involves the inclusion of more

flexibility in the workplace.

Male work context and workplace

culture. As suggested by Jessica Irvine (2015)

upon review of the 2012 Diversity Council of

Australia study, one-fifth of men surveyed had

seriously considered exiting the organization citing

issues of workplace flexibility. Men are faced with

even more challenges as Irvine describes because

of the lack of masculinity that accompanies such

desires to have flexibility in work. With fathers

sharing more of the childrearing responsibilities,

men have a desire to engage in a more flexible

36 Organization Development Journal l Winter 2016

I could have continued to grow within

Company X, no problem moving, getting

promoted, but again as I looked at that… it

did nothing to fulfill me personally and that

is what I missed. (P8)

There are some things that were

dramatically different for me when I was

able to call my own shots, set my own

schedule, be more authentic in who I was

and really start to focus my things like faith,

family and community service. All the

things that had taken a back seat including

family [when in a corporate position]. (P6)

I have that choice to leave to pick up my

kids from school and it doesn’t mean that

I am necessarily finished working at two

o’clock when my kids get out of school but

it is just that I adjust my schedule around

school and I have the flexibility to do

that. And I think that to me has been the

definition of success or what I’m looking for

and what gives me the flexibility as being an

entrepreneur. (P2)

Participants also address the corporate culture and

obvious misalignment of values where some level

of integration between two domains of work and

life is realized.

That flexibility piece is huge. And that

was the piece I hated the most in corporate.

need for flexibility. The definition is similar to

having control over tasks and scheduling but more

specifically involves more freedom in general. It

was a sense of having control over the four domains

and being able to integrate them at levels that aligned

with their espoused values. Thirteen women (87%)

desired this flexibility to integrate values into the

daily life in order to have fulfillment. Excerpts from

the interviews related to this category are below.

Excerpts from participants interviewed

discussed what flexibility looked like once they

opted-in to a new workplace culture independently

created:

I have the ability to manage my time and

I didn’t have that freedom under corporate

America because it was always project or

preparing for presentation and working 10

to 12 hours a day was pretty standard in the

companies I worked in. (P1)

I love the fact that I can take my work

anywhere and I can work anytime of the

day I know what needs to be done and not

everyone can do that (P9)

I really wanted to have more balance,

more flexibility and those things that go

along with quality-of-life. (P8)

My business life and my personal life

are really just basically a lifestyle for me [as

entrepreneur]. (P13)

37Wright and Yaeger

with all 15 women. They expressed a strong desire

to have this flexibility, not just in their schedules

but also in general work. Although in many

ways organizations have tried to incorporate such

flexibility as presented earlier in the paper, the

efforts still fall short. Flexibility remains something

women are seeking as they search for an appropriate

career that fosters the ability to integrate not only

the work and life domains but also domains of self

and community.

For these women, when flexibility existed,

as the above excerpts indicated through independent

creation of workplace culture, they enjoyed more

time for what they considered to be important;

namely, developing relationships and being able

to spend time in those relationships. Within the

constructs of the relationships were most often

a reference to family, which included spouse and

children but also extended to parents, friends, and

colleagues (home, family, community, and arguably

the self domains).

Discussion

It comes as no surprise that not having this

flexibility in the corporate culture led to an exit

from said culture by the 15 women interviewed for

this study. Arguably, not all cultures are guilty of

not offering this attribute to employees; however, it

seems naïve to believe the participants in this study

are unique. Once flexibility became a component

It didn’t seem like they had yet adopted that

type of thinking in a more flexible way on

how work gets done. (P14)

No one in corporate [is] looking for

face time from me and no one is telling me

I cannot go. It also results in the flexibility

for my team, and not all CEOs have this

approach, but I believe that I want that

for myself and I also want it for my team

because I know that people on my team really

want it. So I actually tend to hire a lot of

women who have young children and work

incredibly hard and incredibly well and then

have flexible hours. For me it’s just about

balancing my family and not balancing…

the just trying to keep them afloat kind of

balancing…but really enjoying my time

with my family and my time at work. (P2)

Entrepreneurship can allow you to

have that relationship with your family

and still help your children and maybe

even grandchildren that I feel you can get

that more as an entrepreneur. We need to

teach women how to do it. We need to give

them skills to use their talents while also

integrating their life into their work. (P9)

Mentioning flexibility as a key component

of being able to integrate values into the work and

life domains was pervasive in the conversations

38 Organization Development Journal l Winter 2016

The findings of this study are specifically

presented to inform women desiring more flexibility

which may ultimately result in fulfillment in the four

domains. This discussion provides opportunities

for the field of OD to be the group to bring about

change to corporate culture for better alignment with

humanistic values. It brings the “pink elephant” in

the room to the table for discussion with empirical

research to support it. Women are hesitant to enter

a discussion about workplace flexibility at the risk

of leaving an impression that considering one’s self

and one’s three other domains is more important

than company vision and purpose. However, men

as well are interested in more flexible arrangements,

but are not yet willing to talk about it in a male-

dominated workforce due to the stigma and

“masculinity harassment” from colleagues (Irvine,

2015, p. 40).

Changing workplace culture

Changing the culture of corporations has

been discussed by Lawler and Worley (2011) in

Management Reset: Organizing for Sustainable

Effectiveness book and again by Lawler (2014) in

his reflection on progress and possibilities since the

1970s. These authors posit that organizations need

to “attract the right individuals” (p. 240) by having

an employer brand that indicates the culture of the

organization both implicitly and explicitly. This

is a way to make the organizational effectiveness

of the lives of those interviewed, the integration of

domains became more possible and apparent.

Women who left a large organization or

corporation have been said to had “opted-out”

(Belkin, 2003; Kuperberg & Stone, 2008) — a

phrase often associated with a return home to tend

to motherly aspects of life. However, the issue is

far more complex and involves more than a mere

exit from the workplace. As stated before, at a

minimum, these women can put a talent drain on

an organization which ultimately impacts diversity

in the workplace (a known driver of innovation).

When looking at the exit from this perspective,

it then becomes apparent the field of OD is in a

position to bring about workplace culture change.

The reasons cited by the 15 surveyed for this study

indicated that the two domains of work and life are

not intersecting at all or at a minimal level. For them,

fulfillment means living their values and enjoying

alignment of their values in their everyday life.

Specifically, being able to enjoy the presence of the

four domains (two presented in the initial research

and two more during the revisiting process) at some

level: 1) Work; 2) Home/family; 3) Community

(friends, social groups, etc.; 4) Self (time to take

care of one’s mind, body and spirit) as if they were

drawn as a Venn diagram with overlapping of these

four circles (domains) different for every person

(Friedman, 2014).

39Wright and Yaeger

control of flexibility the integration was improved

in line with espoused values. As Mainiero and

Sullivan (2005) stated, the integration of the four

domains while in the corporate culture was not

possible and this study has revealed that women

were more successful at integration when outside

the corporate culture.

Implications

The call for opportunities for OD is at the

heart of this study as these women expressed desires

that parallel OD’s humanistic roots. We should

consider using the many instruments available to

assess the culture of an organization, and the desires

of the employee as a foundation to better understand

how to consult and work with corporate women.

OD has proven successful in improving the culture

of organizations, as evidenced in scholarly and

practitioner journals and at academic conferences

for decades.

A call for OD women. An opportunity

exists to build on early OD pioneers such as Edie

Seashore, Billie Alban, Barbara Bunker, Elsie

Cross, and Jane Mouton (Brown & Orr, 2010) to

bring about dramatic change which would enrich

the field of OD. These thought leaders worked to

“alter the awareness of men” and ultimately bring

about change in an effort to help the field evolve.

Now is a critical time to once again help the field

evolve into one that may improve corporate culture

more sustainable through retention of employees

and more engaged employees. Lawler (2014) also

states, “it simply is not possible for organizations to

retain skilled knowledge workers and at the same

time have rigid rules about when and how individuals

manage the balance between their work lives and

personal lives” (p. 162). In the case of these female

participants, it may have been easier for them to

know whether this would be a fit; however, as these

participants began their career, the life and work

domains may have not been a significant priority,

or this may have been the only option available

to gain experience and have some type of income

after college. Understandably, the change in the

life domain evolved, which may run parallel to the

timing of the misalignment progression. Therefore,

the misalignment may have occurred over time

rather than being identifiable before beginning

work in a given corporation. As stated by Bierema

(2005) nearly one decade ago, “organizations

need to critically evaluate their cultures and take

conscious steps to address inhospitable environs

for women and other marginalized groups” (p.

17). Considering the existing culture and the level

sensitivity to life domains, specifically for those

women seeking flexibility so that integrating work

and life is easier, and value fulfillment is possible. It

is worth noting, these women may not have gained

total integration of the four domains but by being in

40 Organization Development Journal l Winter 2016

and life satisfaction is a logical first step (Wright,

2013). The idea that talented women are “opting-

in” to alternative work options should be of concern

to them as they struggle with retention of this group.

Elevating this concern is the notion that workplace

diversity correlates to higher productivity, increased

levels of innovation, and finally a more profitable

company. Upon reflection of literature and the

findings of this study, it is evident that both men

and women would benefit from culture change

that would add more flexibility to the workplace

and integrate humanistic values to the workplace

culture. At the heart of this issue is the need for

OD consultants to answer this call by mitigating the

continued conflict unaddressed by organizations,

through the inclusion of more workplace flexibility

to facilitate the ability to integrate domains.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

to integrate more flexibility in the workplace and

assist with creation of more “work-life policies

and programs” (Chalofsky, 2008). Working

with corporations to understand the perspective

of talented women exiting, and “opting-out”,

(Kuperberg & Stone, 2008) of corporate careers

to have more work flexibility and leveraging a

path to change corporate culture seems risky yet

worthwhile. Women in OD have been influential in

practice for many years (Kaplan, 2015) and the time

has come to stand up to organizations and suggest a

change to the corporate culture.

How flexibility specifically looks is not

something that can be prescribed but needs to be

developed in a way that does not “undermine

corporate culture.” Rather, flexibility becomes the

new culture (Kossek, Thompson & Lautsch, 2015,

p. 6). Considering all users and non-users will be

important to ascertain that relationships are not

strained, users of flexibility policies are not isolated,

and fairness exists (Kossek, Thompson & Lautsch,

2015).

Conclusion

The biggest challenge facing female OD

consultants interested in taking on this task will be

getting organizations to see this as a critical issue.

By providing evidence to corporate executives

that women are “opting-in” to a workplace outside

corporate careers for more workplace flexibility

41Wright and Yaeger

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Chalofsky, N. (2008). Work-life programs and

organizational culture: The essence of

workplace community. Organizational

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Eagly, A., & Carli, L. (2007, Sept.). Women and the

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Ellison, N. (2004). Telework and social change:

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Friedman, S. (2014). Work + Home + Community

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