"It's Messy...But I Feel Balanced": Unpacking Flexible Workers' Rhythm-Making Practices Using an Asset-Based Approach

Abstract

Flexible work is increasingly pursued as a means of achieving work-life balance, particularly as growing caregiving responsibilities for children and aging family members shape workers' lives. Yet most HCI research has examined flexibility primarily through productivity and organizational perspectives, with less attention to how it intersects with workers' personal and family responsibilities. To address this gap, we conducted a qualitative study with 20 workers in Singapore engaging in flexible arrangements to manage paid work and care responsibilities. Using an asset-based lens, we show that flexibility is not a static benefit but a continual practice of rhythm-making. Participants maintained rhythms by drawing on temporal and spatial assets, negotiated them through relational and institutional dynamics, and sustained them through intrapersonal assets such as self-care and positive reframing. Our study reframes blurred boundaries as resources rather than disruptions and offers design implications for technologies that support flexible workers' everyday rhythm-making practices.

Figures (5)

• Figure 1: (a) Design probes workbook and supplementary materials; (b) Activity 1 of design probes workbook, where participants were invited to express their routines by arranging fabric pieces on the page.
• Figure 2: Participants' probe responses visualize the felt intensity of blurred temporal boundaries between work and care: (a) P2 arranged his fabric overlapping in a line, representing his "back-to-back" (P2) day balancing care and work from home; (b) P20 placed 5 fabric pieces in a connecting circle to represent the "stress that comes one after another in one day" (P20)
• Figure 3: (a) P20’s shared work desk in her living room, intentionally arranged to support simultaneous supervision and work; (b) P21’s baby’s cradle (pink cloth) positioned besided the living room, enabling continuous monitoring during work; (c) P21’s couch next to his baby’s cradle, where he works while rocking her to sleep. All photos were taken by participants as part of Design Probe Activity 2.
• Figure 4: Photos from P22’s probe activity (Activity 2) illustrating her attempts to carve out workspace at home. These images show how unequal power dynamics and unsuitable physical settings constrained her ability to work: her husband’s room (left) was available only temporarily and under his conditions; the living room corner (center) became too messy and stuffy; and the children’s study (right) was physically uncomfortable.
• Figure 5: Participants’ responses to the Ministry of Manpower’s Flexible Work Arrangement request form (design probe activity 4): They described its rigid requirements for fixed times, frequencies, and end dates as misaligned with the ongoing and unpredictable nature of caregiving. "I don’t know how to state frequency as its ongoing needs." (P12) (left); and "How do we know when caregiving ends?" (P5) (right).