Changing Work and Work-Family Conflict

Abstract

Schedule control and supervisor support for family and personal life are work resources that may help employees manage the work-family interface. However, existing data and designs have made it difficult to conclusively identify the effects of these work resources. This analysis utilizes a group-randomized trial in which some units in an information technology workplace were randomly assigned to participate in an initiative, called STAR, that targeted work practices, interactions, and expectations by (a) training supervisors on the value of demonstrating support for employees’ personal lives and (b) prompting employees to reconsider when and where they work. We find statistically significant, though modest, improvements in employees’ work-family conflict and family time adequacy and larger changes in schedule control and supervisor support for family and personal life. We find no evidence that this intervention increased work hours or perceived job demands, as might have happened with increased permeability of work across time and space. Subgroup analyses suggest the intervention brings greater benefits to employees more vulnerable to work-family conflict. This study advances our understanding of the impact of social structures on individual lives by investigating deliberate organizational changes and their effects on work resources and the work-family interface with a rigorous design.

Organizational Initiatives for Promoting Employee Work-Life Reconciliation Over the Life Course. A Systematic Review of Intervention Studies

“…In the study by Martin and Sanders (2003) in turn, 42 academics with child behavioral problems experienced lower levels of work stress after receiving parenting training, whereas the another study with Triple P indicated positive effects on work-to-family conflict, family-to-work conflict, occupational stress, and teaching efficacy among 38 teachers who were also parents with at least one child (Haslam et al, 2013). Among 694 employees of whom some had either a child at home or did care for adults, Kelly et al (2014) yielded modest improvement in work-family conflict and having enough time for the family, but clear increases in schedule control and supervisor support for family and personal life. Also, the training of mindfulness had positive effects on increased satisfaction with work-life balance and psychological detachment from work during off-time among 246 employees (Michel et al, 2014).…”

“…Out of nine studies that had an intervention, five studies had randomized group design (Haslam et al, 2013;Kelly et al, 2014;Martin & Sanders, 2003;Michel et al, 2014;van Steenbergen et al, 2008). Only the intervention called STAR was performed at the organizational level being the only intervention with initiatives for both work-related and personal resources.…”

“…STAR included supervisory training on strategies to demonstrate support for employees' personal and family lives, and job performance, and eight hours of participatory training sessions for employees to identify new work practices and processes to increase control over working hours and focus on key results. Furthermore, managers had an additional four hours of training (Kelly et al, 2014). The interventions in the other randomized group designs were quite distinct: the studies by Martin & Sanders (2003) and Haslam et al (2013) applied focus on personal resources, Work-Place Triple P, which includes four group sessions of parent training (2 h/session), four individual telephone consultations (15-30 min/consultation), and a group workbook; these all involved teaching parents 17 core positive parenting and child management strategies.…”

“…Five of the eleven studies comprising 38-784 individuals included in the content analysis had a randomized group design (Haslam et al, 2013;Kelly et al, 2014;Martin & Sanders, 2003;Michel et al, 2014;van Steenbergen et al, 2008), three had an experimental design (Albertsen et al, 2014;Hammer et al, 2011;Moen et al, 2011a), two were longitudinal survey studies (Giardini & Kabst, 2008;Hammer et al, 2005), and one was a panel study with an intervention (Anttila et al, 2005). Following the typology of the company-level initiatives or interventions (Beauregard andHenry, 2009, Brough andO'Driscoll, 2010), none of the studies included fit to the (1) the provision of employee services (fitness benefits etc.…”

“…Thus, we recommend that the intervention explicitly states work-life reconciliation as its aim, involves employees, and is timed for a period with no major reoccurring organizational changes such as major down-sizing, application of complete new organizational structure, or merger. Experiences from STAR intervention combining increased schedule control with supervisor training show that benefits for employees' work-life fit and organizational goals can be enhanced simultaneously even without backlashes in terms of increased work-family permeability and increased work hours (Kelly et al, 2014).…”