Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the effects of various workplace characteristics on work-family conflict among dual-career couples in India. Design/methodology/approach Primary data based on 393 employees belonging to dual-career couples were analyzed. Using multiple regression analysis, the study has attempted to find out the effects of workplace characteristics on work-family conflict in dual-career couples. Findings The findings indicate that not all workplace characteristics effect work-family conflict in dual-career couples. Out of 13 characteristics, 8 workplace characteristics, namely, development and flexibility, co-worker support, supervisory support, job competence, self-employee control, practicing overtime, flexibility and discrimination, are found to have significant effects on work-family conflict in dual-career couples. Research limitations/implications As this study is limited to the dual-career couples employed mainly in organizations operating in India, these results may not be generalized to other areas such as traditional career couples, self-employed member of couples and in other national contexts. Practical implications It would be beneficial for organizations to understand and implicate that adoption of certain workplace characteristics provide appropriate choices, freedom and environment for dual-career employees, which further encourage them to build effective amalgamation of work and family roles suiting their individual circumstances. Originality/value This study is an important and almost first study on dual-career couples in India on such issues. As a very scant number of researches have examined the impact of workplace characteristics on work-family conflict on such extensive basis, it definitely contributes to HR literature.

Using data from 406 dual-career couple employees in the Indian context, the current study has indicated that favorable perceptions of workplace support variables like work–family balance actions, supervisor support, coworker support, work autonomy, and role clarity lead toward heightened life satisfaction among dual-career couples. However, this relationship is not as simple as it seems. Interestingly, none of the five workplace support initiatives are directly related to the life satisfaction among employees. Bootstrap results via serial mediation model establish that job satisfaction, career satisfaction, and family satisfaction mediate individually and serially the relationships between various workplace support variables and life satisfaction. Being first of its kind, the study has potential to prove beneficial in improving the lives of employees if thorough consideration is given to workplace support in relation to various types of employees’ satisfaction.