Availability and use of work-life benefits: what’s in between?

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between the availability and the real use of work-life (WL) benefits by employees. Most research focuses on adoption, and some studies have analysed the levels of use. However, it is yet to be explained why some firms offer formal WL benefits, which ultimately are not used by employees. Design/methodology/approach – The hypotheses developed here are tested using data from a sample of 146 Spanish private firms, which is very relevant because findings from research developed in Anglo-Saxon contexts cannot necessarily be extended elsewhere. Findings – The results reveal that availability significantly influences the level of use of WL programmes. Both the proportion of women employees in the organization and the formalization of the WL balance culture moderate the relationship between availability and use. Practical implications – These findings hold lessons for practitioners and researchers interested in WL balance and its actual diffusion among employees. Practitioners should consider WL balance in an unrestrictive way, thinking about different kinds of employees and not only women with caring responsibilities. The mere provision of benefits to a small part of the workforce does not guarantee any of the positive outcomes related to WL balance. Originality/value – Aside from exploring the availability-use gap, this research was conducted in a non-Anglo-Saxon context.

Compressed lives: how “flexible” are employer-imposed compressed work schedules?

“…This study also complements other literature that has highlighted a gap between the formal availability and actual use of flexible work practices (Lewis and Humbert, 2010;McDonald et al, 2007;Pasamar, 2015), because it likewise shows how employee control is apt to be a necessary condition for successful workplace flexibility initiatives, and that flexibility without choice is not truly flexible (Kossek and Thompson, 2016).…”

Organizational Work–Life Policies and the Gender Wage Gap in European Workplaces

“…It is unlikely that this relationship works in reverse, as there are too many barriers in the organization to the presence of work-life policies to affect the organizational culture. One such barrier is that employees often have a low sense of entitlement to considerations of family needs, and so even when work-life policies are present, employees often do not use them (Pasamar, 2015). Another barrier may be that time spent working is often seen as representing productivity, commitment, and value, obscuring the positive impact of family-friendly policies on the organizational culture (Lewis, 1997).…”

Supplemental family leave provision and employee performance: Disentangling availability and use

“…Thus, we consider people of (or close to) childbearing age as perceiving family leave as personally useful. In addition, men and women might view work-family policies as existing mainly for the benefit of women because both countries and organizations offer more far-reaching work-family policies to women than to men (OECD, 2017;Pasamar, 2015). In addition women continue to be more engaged in combining work and childrearing and use work-family policies more often than men (Burnett et al, 2010;Kanji & Samuel, 2017;Munn & Greer, 2015;Poortman & Lippe, 2009).…”

“…To date few studies have concerned themselves with disentangling availability and use (for exceptions see Butts et al, 2013;Casper & Harris, 2008). Instead, studies examined the effects of work-family policies without specifying the underlying mechanism, and the majority of studies look solely at availability, sometimes as a proxy for use (Kelly et al, 2008;Kossek & Friede, 2006;Pasamar, 2015). Policy availability may however increase employee performance independent of use because it signals employees that their employer is concerned about them.…”