Developing individual and organisational work-life balance strategies to improve employee health and wellbeing

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services. AbstractPurpose -Work-life balance (WLB) is an issue of focus for organisations and individuals because individuals benefit from having better health and wellbeing when they have WLB and this, in turn, impacts on organisational productivity and performance. The purpose of this paper is to explore relevant WLB factors contributing to employee health and wellbeing, and to understand the interactive effects of individual WLB strategies and organisational WLB policies/programmes on improving employee health and wellbeing. Design/methodology/approach -Using the data collected from 700 employees located in Queensland, Australia, multiple regression analysis was conducted to examine the variables related to individual WLB strategies and organisational WLB programmes. Several multiple regression models were used to evaluate interrelated relationships among these variables and their combined effects on employee health and wellbeing. Findings -The authors found that employees exercising their own WLB strategies showed better health conditions and wellbeing that those who do not; they were also more capable of achieving WLB. Both availability and usage of organisational WLB programmes were found to help employees reduce their stress levels, but interestingly to have no direct association with WLB and employee health. Several control variables such as age, working hours, education level and household incomes were found to have moderate effects on employee health and wellbeing. Originality/value -Employee health and wellbeing are determined by multiple factors. In distinguishing from prior research in this field, this study discovers an important interface between individual WLB strategies and organisational provision of WLB policies/programmes supplemented by several exogenous factors in addressing overall employee health and wellbeing. The results have implications for organisational delivery of WLB policies and other human resource management practices to support employees.

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“…If there is fault in communication, Aas et al (2008) noted that monitoring and implementation remains the responsibility of leadership (Zhang, et al, 2014;Timmins, 2017). When employees are engaged in the process and given opportunity to communicate openly with leaders, positive increases in welfare, turnover and performance are observed (Zheng, et al, 2015). Many survey respondents (67%, n=60) said they felt committed to their work when management encouraged them to contribute to decision-making as this next interview comment suggests:…”

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“…One reason for this may be that employees are receiving limited feedback and are unsure of their place or performance in the organisation. According to Zheng et al (2015), open and honest feedback enables employees to learn from their mistakes and thrive in their respective industries. Half of the interview participants said they felt underappreciated due to the lack of clear communication or feedback from their leaders.…”

The relationship between workplace characteristics and work ability in residential aged care: What is the role of work–life interaction?

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