Reducing Work-Life Conflict: What Works? What Doesn't?

Foreword

We all play many roles: employee, boss, subordinate, spouse, parent, child, sibling, friend and community member. Each of these roles imposes demands on us, which require time, energy and commitment to fulfill. Work-family or work-life conflict occurs when the cumulative demands of these many work and non-work life roles are incompatible in some respect, so that participation in one role is made more difficult by participation in the other role.

The issues associated with balancing work and family are of paramount importance to individuals, the organizations that employ them, the families that care for them, the unions that represent them, and governments concerned with global competitiveness, citizen well-being and national health. Although much has been written about the topic, only a handful of "high-impact" studies have been conducted on this subject in Canada.¹

The 2001 National Work-Life Conflict Study was conducted to address this gap in our knowledge by providing a rigorous empirical look at the issue of work-life conflict. The research study was undertaken with the following objectives in mind:

• to provide a clearer picture of the extent to which work-life conflict is affecting employees and employers in Canada

• to help organizations appreciate why they need to change how they manage their employees by linking conflict between work and life to the organization's "bottom line"

• to expand the overall knowledge base in this area

• to suggest appropriate strategies that different types of organizations can implement to help their employees cope with multiple roles and responsibilities

This research study, and the reports it has generated to date, have given business and labour leaders, policy makers and academics an objective "big picture" view on what has happened in Canada in the last decade, the current situation with respect to this issue, and the costs associated with not addressing the challenges working Canadians have combining work and non-work roles and responsibilities.

The Report Series

This report is the fifth in a series of six as noted below:

Report One: The 2001 National Work-Life Conflict Study puts the series into context by describing the sample of employees who participated in the research and examining the various "risk factors" associated with work-life conflict.

Report Two: Work-Life Conflict in Canada in the New Millennium: A Status Report makes the business case for change by looking at how high levels of role overload, work-to-family interference, family-to-work interference, caregiver strain and spillover from work to family affect employers, employees and their families.

Report Three: Exploring the Link between Work-Life Conflict and the Use of Canada's Health Care System focuses on how work-life conflict affects Canada's health care system (i.e. quantifies the system demands associated with high work-life conflict and attempts to put some kind of dollar value on how much it costs Canada to treat the health consequences of such conflict).

Report Four: Who Is at Risk? Predictors of High Work-Life Conflict identifies key risk factors for role overload, work-to-family interference, family-to-work interference and caregiver strain.

Report Five: Reducing Work-Life Conflict: What Works? What Doesn't? examines what employers, employees and their families can do to reduce work-life conflict.

Report Six: Work-Life Conflict in Canada in the New Millennium: Key Findings and Recommendations from the 2001 National Work-Life Conflict Study provides a summary of the key findings and recommendations coming from this research program.

It is hoped that the production of six specialized reports rather than one massive one will make it easier for the reader to assimilate key findings from this rich and comprehensive research initiative. Each report has been written so that it can be read on its own. Each begins with an introduction that includes the specific research questions to be answered in the report, a summary of relevant background information and an outline of how the report is organized. This is followed by a brief outline of the research methodology. Key terms are defined and relevant data presented and analyzed in the main body of the report. Each report ends with a conclusion and recommendations chapter that summarizes the findings, outlines the policy implications and offers recommendations.

Theoretical Framework

There is a vast academic literature dealing with the issue of work-life conflict. A complete review of this literature is beyond the purview of this series of reports and counter to our primary objective, which is to get easily understood and relevant information on work-life conflict to key stakeholders (governments, policy makers, employees, employers, unions). That being said, readers who are interested in the theoretical underpinnings of this research are referred to the Theoretical Framework, which is shown in Reports One, Two and Three of this series.²

Organization of Report Five

Report Five is broken down into six main chapters. Chapter One provides an introduction to the report, defines key terms and delineates the research objectives. Details on the methodology used in the study are covered in Chapter Two. Included in this chapter is information on the sample, the measurement instrument, the data analysis undertaken in this phase of the research, and the reporting protocols followed. Chapters Three, Four and Five are each devoted to a different set of possible moderators³ of work-life conflict. Chapter Three looks at the link between a number of organizational interventions (i.e. flexible work arrangements, supportive management, supportive services and policies) and work-life conflict. Chapter Four examines the effectiveness of a number of individual coping mechanisms (i.e. having fewer children, delaying starting a family, working harder, prioritizing) on work-life conflict. The relationship between a number of different family coping strategies (i.e. work different hours than spouse, planning family time, gendered division of labour) and work-life conflict is explored in Chapter Five. Each of the results chapters is structured as follows. First, relevant literature that justifies the link between the construct and levels of work-life conflict is summarized. This is followed by empirical data quantifying the effectiveness of the different coping strategies at reducing the four types of work-life conflict included in this analysis (i.e. role overload, work-to-family interference, family-to-work interference and caregiver strain). Conclusions, policy implications and recommendations are presented in Chapter Six.