Work–Family Intervention Research

Abstract

This chapter reviews the literature on work–family interventions focusing on linkages to evidence-based employee health and well-being outcomes and on return on investment (ROI) in organizations. Work–family interventions include, but are not limited to, alternative work arrangements, family supportive supervisor behavior training, work redesign to increase schedule control, and the provision of dependent care supports. Work–family interventions have the goal of reducing work–family conflict and in turn increasing the health and well-being of employees and the organizations in which they work (Kossek, Hammer, Kelly, and Moen, 2014). Sixteen studies were identified that meet our criteria. The chapter provides a discussion of establishing the work–family intervention value proposition with a focus on ROI, concluding with a discussion of approaches and guidelines for future work–family intervention research and practice.

Finding time over time: Longitudinal links between employed mothers’ work–family conflict and time profiles.

“…There are some positive effects of these interventions on time resources for family and personal life (Davis et al, 2015; Kelly et al, 2011, 2014). Thus far, however, there are few work-family interventions that have targeted employees’ temporal resources and been effectively evaluated in well-designed studies (Hammer, Demsky, Kossek, & Bray, 2016), and thus, much work is needed in this area. Based on our finding that mothers in the three profiles were very distinctive in their levels of perceived time adequacy for children (Figure 2), future interventions could target how employed mothers effectively use their time with child, by providing coaching on the quality of the time and the quality of interactions.…”

Family‐supportive supervisor behaviors: A review and recommendations for research and practice

“…Given recent comprehensive reviews on this topic (see Allen & Martin, 2017;Hammer, Demsky, Kossek, & Bray, 2015;Kossek, 2016) Kossek, Hammer, Kelly, and Moen (2014).…”

“…A promising literature has begun to emerge on FSSB interventions. Given recent comprehensive reviews on this topic (see Allen & Martin, ; Hammer, Demsky, Kossek, & Bray, ; Kossek, ), we only briefly discuss the current state of the FSSB intervention literature and later provide future directions for this work. The Work, Family & Health Network (WFHN), funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is largely responsible for the majority of FSSB intervention research that has been conducted to date, with their rigorous, randomized control intervention studies focused on improving FSSB and control over work time in both professional‐level (i.e., information technology) and lower wage (i.e., health care and grocery stores) industries.…”

Effects of a Workplace Intervention Targeting Psychosocial Risk Factors on Safety and Health Outcomes

“…While few work-family interventions have been developed based on theory and research and evaluated using scientifically sound designs that integrate measurement of the intervention's effects on safety and health outcomes [ 50 , 51 ], there have been increasing employer interest in and experimentation with creating supportive work-family workplaces and flexible work arrangements, schedules, and other work-life and “family friendly” policies [ 42 – 44 , 52 – 54 ]. However, most employers find it challenging to know how to effectively implement these new ways of working [ 55 ] and, specifically, which interventions are most effective.…”