The effects of offering flexible work practices to employees with unpaid caregiving responsibilities for elderly or disabled family members

Abstract

Approximately one in 10 employees in Australia, the United States, and Europe have unpaid caregiving responsibilities for elderly or disabled family members. This combination of employment and caregiving roles is problematic when there is conflict between their simultaneous demands. Flexible work practices can be an important mechanism for assisting these employees. However, limited attention has been given to determining the benefits of flexible work practices for these employees, or the process by which these effects arise. We address these gaps via a survey of employees with unpaid caregiving responsibilities for family who are elderly or disabled. Results indicate that greater availability of flexible work practices improves perceptions of workplace support for combining caregiving and employment. This effect was partially and sequentially mediated by disclosure, practice utilization, and practice helpfulness. Additionally, practice availability had a direct positive effect on practice utilization, while disclosure had a direct positive effect on perceived support. Overall, the findings demonstrate the benefits of flexible work practices for employees with caregiving responsibilities. The study also points the way to interventions that can improve the effectiveness of flexible work practices by demonstrating how the potential benefits of these practices are translated into actual improvements in perceived support.

The Interplay of Socioecological Determinants of Work–Life Balance, Subjective Wellbeing and Employee Wellbeing

“…In this study, several social needs were identified: relatedness with supervisor and colleagues, workplace policies, job autonomy and interestingness of job tasks. In other words, organisations can formulate tailor-made workplace policies to fulfil the feasible and reasonable requirements of workers so that workers can flexibly manage the work–life interface [ 109 , 110 , 111 , 112 ]. One notable factor of significance is the attitudes and behaviours of supervisors towards workers.…”

How Culture Shapes Informal Caregiver Motivations: A Meta-Ethnographic Review

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“…As the country context influences outcomes differently (Chung and van der Lippe 2018), organisations should align context with work‐life policies for positive employee outcomes. Australian organisations are facing the challenges of managing a diverse workforce, and flexible working is one of the key incentives to attract new talent and harness the skills and experience of existing employees (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2009; Bainbridge and Townsend 2020). Moreover, as the Australian Government has emphasised increasing female participation rates at the national level (WGEA 2019), the understanding of workplace stigma mechanisms will help organisations to further develop their flexible work policies to accommodate more female employees.…”