The role of life friendly policies on employees' work-life balance

Abstract

An employee's inability to balance work and non-work related responsibilities has resulted in an increase in stress related illnesses. Historically, research into the relationship between work and non-work has primarily focused on work/family conflict, predominately investigating the impact of this conflict on parents, usually mothers. To date research has not sufficiently examined the management practices that enable all ‘individuals’ to achieve a ‘balance’ between work and life. This study explores the relationship between contemporary life friendly, HR management policies and work/life balance for individuals as well as the effect of managerial support to the policies. Self-report questionnaire data from 1241 men and women is analysed and discussed to enable organizations to consider the use of life friendly policies and thus create a convergence between the well-being of employees and the effectiveness of the organization.

Entitlement to Work-Life Balance Support: Employee/Manager Perceptual Discrepancies and Their Effect on Outcomes

“…Hayman () concluded that employees display higher levels of work‐life balance when operating under flexitime work schedules but found no similar positive outcomes for those operating under flexible work schedules (flexiplace and job share). Along the same lines, Yuile et al () report employees’ self‐reported perception of work‐life balance as positively associated with the availability of flexible work schedules but negatively associated with offsite working arrangements; finally, they report no significant association between carers’ arrangements and perceived work‐life balance.…”

“…Numerous HR practices may be implemented within organizations to address concerns for managing one's multiple roles in life. For expediency, researchers tend to group them into broad categories and, while these vary, practices most commonly associated with a balanced lifestyle include flexible work options, options for reduced hours of work, family‐related leave, and other services such as dependent care and domestic support services (Bloom, Kretschmer, & Van Reenen, ; Dallimore & Mickel, ; De Cieri et al, ; Gregory & Milner, ; Lewis & Smithson, ; Yuile et al, ). Given the potential of these HR practices to support individuals in managing their work and nonwork responsibilities, they are generally viewed as quite beneficial for employees and organizations alike (Aryee et al, ; Beauregard & Henry, ).…”

“…Managers have increasingly enforced HR practices to support employees in reconciling work and nonwork responsibilities (Aryee, Chu, Kim, & Ryu, ; Wang & Verma, ). These practices include flexible work schedules, reduced working hours, family services or allowances, and leave schemes (Abendroth & Den Dulk, ; Kassinis & Stavrou, ; Yuile, Chang, Gudmundsson, & Sawang, ). The assumption pertaining to the use of such support practices is that they will have positive effects for both the employees and the organization (Gregory & Milner, ).…”

“…The assumption pertaining to the use of such support practices is that they will have positive effects for both the employees and the organization (Gregory & Milner, ). However, research on these relationships has produced mixed results (Bourhis & Mekkaoui, ; Mauno, Kinnunen, & Pyykko, ; Perry‐Smith & Blum, ; Yuile et al, ), preventing us from drawing safe conclusions about links between HR practices and outcomes. This diversity of findings denotes the need to identify additional factors that may explain the “black box” between relevant HR practices and outcomes for employees and organizations (Aryee et al, ).…”

Work-life conflict in Australian Muslims: is gender important?

“…These studies corroborate the importance considering religion, as religious involvement may be an underlying element in explaining how Australian Muslim workers organise meaning to and experience work and nonwork roles. From a workplace management perspective, workplaces cannot ignore how WLC manifests among Australian Muslim workers because there is clear evidence it can result in negative consequences such as job dissatisfaction, absenteeism and staff turnover (Yuile et al, 2012). If workplaces are going to implement policies and strategies to mitigate the negative impact of WLC, it is important to know what form of conflict Muslim workers are experiencing and why.…”