Importance of flexibility for decrasing work-family conflict among employed mothers

Abstract

In this study the role of two types of flexibility, based on time and place, on work-family conflict was investigated among employed women who have at least one child age of 6 or younger. Although the role of flexibility has been studied in previous studies it is novel to compare types of flexibility among mothers in Turkey. Participants were asked to complete a 15 minutes online survey. One hundred and fifty employed mothers who have at least one child age of 6 or younger were participated. In order to test the hypothesis linear regression analyses were conducted. Results showed that for work-family conflict, temporal flexibility is important whereas for family-work conflict operational flexibility is much more important. This study highlighted the differences between flexible work arrangements which is beneficial for human resources departments and public policy practices. Therefore, they can consider new plans which will be developed at workplace for offering flexibility in order to deal with work-family conflict.