‘Greedy work’ and social costs: going beyond gender pay gaps

M. Manjula () and Deepa E
Additional contact information
M. Manjula: Azim Premji University
Deepa E: Azim Premji University

DECISION: Official Journal of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, 2024, vol. 51, issue 4, No 9, 545-550

Abstract: Abstract Claudia Goldin’s landmark Nobel Prize in Economics on labour economics and gender pay gap among educational and occupational strata has generated discussion around an interesting concept called ‘greedy work.’ Greedy work, as Goldin explains, is a job that pays disproportionately more on a per-hour basis, when people work a greater number of hours, or more importantly, has less control over those hours. This article argues that greedy work results in much larger social costs than just gender pay gaps. The social costs of greedy work find expressions in poor work–life balance, an organisational work culture that creates unhealthy competition, and skewed perceptions of distributive justice at the workplace. These outcomes are interrelated and transcends gender boundaries. The article concludes, transparency, procedural clarity, and a work culture, that encourages work that is cooperative in nature, could potentially minimise these social costs. Discussion around the social costs of greedy work gains relevance in the context of the recent debates around the linkage of longer work hours and nation’s productivity.

Keywords: ‘Greedy work’ Gender pay gap; Social cost; Workplace justice; Work culture; Work–life balance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s40622-024-00414-y Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:decisn:v:51:y:2024:i:4:d:10.1007_s40622-024-00414-y

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/journal/40622

DOI: 10.1007/s40622-024-00414-y

Access Statistics for this article

DECISION: Official Journal of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta is currently edited by Rajesh Babu

More articles in DECISION: Official Journal of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta from Springer, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().