Russell Mathews, Assistant Professor, Louisiana State University
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Website: https://sites.google.com/site/opresearchteam/
Research Interests and how relates to Concept of Sustainable Workforce
Dr. Matthews' primary area of research is on the work-family interface, and how successful management of demands and opportunities in the work and family domains affect an individual’s long term health and wellbeing. At a conceptual level Dr. Matthews is interested at understand the mechanisms behind how experiences in one domain can spillover and affect functioning in a second domain. Current and past research efforts have explored such possible mechanisms as personality, the role of inter-domain transitions, perceived psychological contract breaches, and the importance of resource recovery. Dr. Matthews also conducts research on methodological issues as they relate to the examination of the work-family interface. In particular he has published several newly validated work-family measures. A consistent theme across his research is the application of complex research designs (e.g., longitudinal, dyadic) using advanced statistical analyses (e.g., structural equation model, relative weights analysis).

Lonnie Golden, Professor of Economics and Labor Studies, Penn State University
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Website: http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/l/m/lmg5/
Research Interests and how relates to Concept of Sustainable Workforce
His research focuses on working hours, work scheduling, well being consequences, FLSA overtime law, overwork, daily time use, work-life balance and students’ work hours. The duration of working hours is a crucial factor in determining not only workers' immediate, but long term well being.  Employees having some control or discretion over the timing of the work hours is not only a mediating factor, but also an independent factor in workers' subjective well being.  Thus, understanding the labor demand and institutional (law, policy) forces underlying the determination of work hours would be key in establishing job and workplace features that promote, rather than undermine, labor that is both productive and healthy over the long term.

Natalie Smith, PhD Student, University of Queensland, Australia
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Website: http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/l/m/lmg5/
Research Interests and how relates to Concept of Sustainable Workforce
My interest stems from a passion for sustainable work practices developed from my own experience working as an IT consultant on a part-time basis when I became a parent. Because I was exposed to a variety of roles and organisations, I found some roles easier to manage than others, and some situations easier to manage than others.  It got me thinking about whether work could be redesigned to make it more "manageable" (sustainable) not just for parents but for the likes of my colleagues who were struggling with what appeared to be the insatiable demands of the modern workforce. This is my first foray into research, but it seems a great time to do it.  Work design research seems to be just coming out of mothballs in recognition that the workforce and work envt has changed substantially in the last 30-40 years.  I am hoping this research will contribute not only to better understanding of what can and can't be done part-time, but provide insights into how the mega-extreme jobs in prof services might be able to be reconstructed to be more sustainable.

Brona Farrelly, PhD Student, School of Political Science and International Studies, University of Quessnsland, Australia
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Research Interests and how they Relate to Concept of Sustainable Workforce I am currently undertaking a doctoral study which seeks to examine the individual and organisational factors that determine how successfully employees can combine career progression and parenthood. In particular, it focuses on the impact of gendering processes within organisations and how individuals negotiate parental and employee role identities in this context. The study has both theoretical and practical aims: firstly to contribute towards theoretical development around the intersection of career progression and parenthood in an organisational context, and secondly to identify possible avenues to address current organisational processes which discriminate against those with caring responsibilities. A case study approach is utilized, focusing on general staff employed in three distinct occupational groups at an Australian university.

The research is being undertaken in the context of the continuing career penalty associated with motherhood. While the ‘motherhood penalty’ is widely acknowledged, and a broad range of family friendly and parental leave entitlements that have potential to ameliorate the issue exist, workplace inequalities persist between those with and without parenting responsibilities. It is now widely recognised that it is necessary to move beyond policy provision towards engendering deeper cultural change within organisations. While the need to examine the various constraints which an organisation faces in implementing family supportive policies has been identified, much of the literature to date focuses on formal policy provision or employee perceptions about the extent to which organisations are supportive.  I hope to provide a more nuanced account, by examining how gendering processes interplay with a range of formal and formal interactions in the workplace and how this contributes to the development of what I term ‘family adaptive’ workplaces.