Digi-housekeeping: the invisible work of flexibility
Whiting, Rebecca and Symon, G. (2020) Digi-housekeeping: the invisible work of flexibility. Work, Employment & Society 34 (6), pp. 1079-1096. ISSN 0950-0170.
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Abstract
From an analysis of everyday practices of flexible working captured in video diaries, a form of pervasive but invisible support work is identified and presented. Labelled ‘digi-housekeeping’ this is work that is required to maintain the digital tools that enable flexible working, and incorporates the tasks of clearing, sorting, preparing, provisioning and trouble-shooting. Through the sociocultural processes of responsibilization, personalization and work extension, interpreted here as emblematic of wider neoliberal contemporary work arrangements, digi-housekeeping is devalued and made invisible, characterising these tasks as not ‘real’ work. Classifying these tasks as not ‘real’ work is a new kind of boundary work that supports the continuing displacement of work activities onto individual workers. It is argued that such tasks need to be made visible in order to address feelings of work intensification.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | Accepted for publication by Sage Journals. Reuses restricted to non-commercial and no derivatives. |
| Keyword(s) / Subject(s): | Digi-housekeeping; digital technology; flexible working; invisible work; work intensification |
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Business and Law > Birkbeck Business School |
| Depositing User: | Rebecca Whiting |
| Date Deposited: | 09 Mar 2020 09:55 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Aug 2023 17:58 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/31185 |
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