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Hiding in Plain Sight: Co-Enacting the Sustainable Worker Schema in a Consulting Firm

Author

Listed:
  • Emily D. Heaphy

    (Isenberg School of Management, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003)

  • Špela Trefalt

    (School of Business, Simmons University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115)

Abstract

This inductive study of 44 consultants in a prominent consulting firm examines how consultants set work-life boundaries without getting stigmatized and how they develop their workplace relationships into sources of help for this process. Within this organization, dominated by the ideal worker norm, we found a hidden, self-sustaining network of consultants who delivered excellent work while violating the ideal worker norm without stigmatization. Their way of working was based on a coherent set of beliefs about work and the work-life interface we named the sustainable worker schema , which contrasted with the ideal worker schema in all ways except in the ultimate goals: high performance and excellent work. Essential to this way of working was not only effective management of boundaries between work and life outside of work ( work-life boundaries ) but also effective management of boundaries around each work task or project ( work boundaries ). Consultants who embraced the sustainable worker schema worked fewer hours and achieved higher satisfaction with work-life balance than their counterparts. Together, these findings highlight the importance of embracing the centrality of work in work-life research; underscore the power of invisibility when challenging the ideal worker norm; and paint a rich picture of boundary work as a network-level phenomenon.

Suggested Citation

  • Emily D. Heaphy & Špela Trefalt, 2024. "Hiding in Plain Sight: Co-Enacting the Sustainable Worker Schema in a Consulting Firm," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(4), pages 1271-1298, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:35:y:2024:i:4:p:1271-1298
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2020.14201
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