灵活工作制能否留住照料行业的女护理员?——基于城市养老院护理员的职业选择研究

Can Flexible Working Arrangements Retain Female Care Workers in the Aged Care Sector?Career Choices of Care Workers in Nursing Homes of Urban China

已有研究强调劳动报酬过低是老年护理员流失的主要原因,但本文认为女护理员身兼家庭照料和劳动参与双重身份,处于时间贫困状态,仅从经济维度难以充分理解该群体的职业选择。基于2016-2019年对上海和北京两家养老院的调查,本文考察了灵活工作制对护理员择业产生的影响。本文有三个主要发现。首先,中国城市老年护理员严重短缺且劳动报酬相对较低,使得雇主愿意在正规工作场所增加工作灵活性从而吸纳中年女护理员。其次,灵活工作制的建立取决于养老院资金和人力等组织资源,资源受限的雇主会运用非正式制度弥补正式制度的不足。最后,传统性别角色文化系统和社会保障系统的性别差异化设计阻碍女护理员延长职业生涯,而工作系统灵活性的增加难以抵消结构性阻力。因此,中国城市老年照料行业仍然普遍面临护理员流失的困境。本文表明,解决时间贫困对于吸引和留住护理员非常重要,仅靠经济激励效果有限。本文对降低护理员流失拓宽了政策思路。

Unlike the existing studies which have highlighted low payments as the main cause for the loss of care workers in the old age care sector,this research argues that female care workers who also have family caregiving responsibilities are challenged by time poverty.Based on field work in two nursing homes in Shanghai and Beijing from 2016 to 2019,this research explores how flexible working arrangements in the old age care sector of urban China affect the career choices of female care workers.The research reveals three main findings.First,employers who face a severe labour shortage and low ability to provide wages offer more work flexibility to attract middle-aged female care workers.Secondly,the availability of flexible working arrangements depends on the financial and human resources of the nursing homes.Resource-constrained employers tend to supplement with informal practices.Thirdly,the traditional gender role culture and the gender-differentiated social security system discourage female care workers from entering or staying in the sector,regardless of work flexibility.As a result,the old age care sector still suffers from high turnover and shortage of care workers.This research suggests that addressing time poverty is also crucial for retaining care workers and that financial incentives alone are insufficient.This suggestion has important policy implications.