Delve podcast: New Normal: Ideal Workers, Gender Equality, and COVID-19 with Alyson Gounden Rock

What do “ideal workers” look like today? New research explores the history of gender differences in work and points to a more equal—and genuinely ideal—future of work for all. In episode 5 of the second season The "New Normal" podcast series, PhD Candidate Alyson Gounden Rock from the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University joins journalist Dave Kaufman to discuss gender inequality in the world of work, how the study of work and gender affects opportunities for women, and how the COVID-19 pandemic could lead to a shift in workplace norms, with gender equality finally being achieved.

Gounden Rock’s research looks at the past 50 years of careers studies and work-family studies. “One of the expectations that we have of workers is that they will be available in certain temporal windows, 9:00 to 5:00 particularly, which makes it very difficult for many workers to fit that that norm,” says Gounden Rock. Looking forward 50 years, she sees the COVID-19 pandemic as a seminal moment in history: “COVID has changed everything. It's changed the mobile way of work.”

For more insights, listen to the full interview with Alyson Gounden Rock on the Delve podcast and read the research paper: From ideal workers to ideal work for all: A 50-year review integrating careers and work-family research with a future research agenda - ScienceDirect

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Founded in 2019, Delve is the official thought leadership publication of McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management. Under the direction of Professor Saku Mantere, inaugural Editor-in-Chief, Delve features the latest in management thinking that stretches perspectives, sparks new ideas, and brings clarity to decision-makers at all levels and across sectors.