Workplace Flexibility Policies and Wage Growth: Do Organizational Characteristics Matter?

Jennifer L. Glass, University of Iowa
Mary C. Noonan, University of Iowa

This paper explores the wage trajectories of workers using flexible work practices to see how employers evaluate such workers under a variety of organizational settings. Earlier research has shown markedly lower wage growth for professional and managerial mothers who use flexible work arrangements when their children are small (Glass, 2004). Fathers and non-parents who use the same workplace policies have not been carefully evaluated. This study estimates fixed effects models of respondents in the 1989-2002 panels of the National Longitudinal Study of Youth to assess the comparative impact of having a flexible schedule, working from home, and working reduced hours on the wage growth of mothers, fathers, and non-parents. We further explore differences in the size of wage penalties based on occupational sector, firm size, and occupational characteristics such as customer or client contact and supervisory authority.