Although there is a great deal of research documenting that work-family conflict is a problem, the literature offers much less in the way of practical managerial guidance. Equipped with the well-documented premise that support from the immediate supervisor or manager is associated with diminished work-family conflict, the authors aimed to bridge the science-practice gap by articulating (a) the effective ways in which a manager can demonstrate support and (b) what can be done to equip and encourage managers to be supportive. The authors' review draws on leader-member exchange theory and empirical research as well as the emerging work on idiosyncratic deals to derive five recommendations for managerial practice. Recommendations address managerial training, empowerment, and motivation, in addition to the type of context (i.e., supportive work-family culture) and tools (i.e., work-life job analysis) expected to be most useful to a manager's efforts to address employees' work-family conflict.In the work-family literature, there has been a great deal more research documenting the antecedents and consequences of work-family conflict than work on
This qualitative research examines how supervisors respond to the work-life balance needs of their employees. Supervisors from a Fortune 500 company were surveyed regarding their responses to employees' requests for work-life accommodations. Responses representing 1,150 employees' requests were content coded to explore trends and were clustered into meaningful categories. Data show that schedule changes and flexibility were the most commonly requested work-life accommodation and that such requests were accommodated 58% of the time. Supervisors responded to requests for work resources and modifications to daily work 81 and 44% of the time, respectively. The most frequent barrier to accommodating employees' request was lack of authority. Results provide insight into the ways that work organizations can support and empower supervisors to facilitate employees' work-life balance.Decades of research exploring the work-family interface have demonstrated that employees often experience conflicts between their work and personal spheres of life (e.g., Eby, Casper, Lockwood, Bordeaux, & Brinley, 2005). The changing nature of the work makes it increasingly essential to understand how such conflict can be alleviated (for a review, see Major & Germano, 2006). As life expectancy increases, more workers are caring for aging parents and are oftentimes finding themselves "sandwiched" between eldercare and childcare responsibilities
The purpose of this study was to investigate the interactive effects of work domain support (i.e., family supportive supervisor perceptions and family supportive organizational perceptions) and economic effect on work-family conflict using a conservation of resources theoretical approach. The authors collected survey data from 195 participants using multiple convenience sampling methods. As they had predicted, work domain support was related to diminished work interference with family. Further, the interaction of family supportive supervisor perceptions and economic impact significantly predicted work interference with family. The nature of the significant interaction implies that when an employee perceives him-or herself to be negatively affected by the state of the current economic climate, supervisor support is especially important for diminished work interference with family. This finding speaks to the need for supervisors to be even more supportive of employees' work-family issues, given current economic conditions. This study is one of the first to investigate the effect of the economy on the experience of work-family conflict.The changing nature of work has blurred the boundaries between work and family domains, increasing the opportunity for work-family conflict to occur (Major & Germano, 2006). Moreover, economic downturn has the potential to exacerbate experienced work-family conflict. With unemployment rates near 10% (Knowles, 2010), the stress of performing well at work may be particularly salient. If an Correspondence should be sent to Heather M. Lauzun,
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