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

3.5 Family-Friendly Benefits and Supports

Companies have traditionally sought to compare themselves with other organizations, particularly in their own industry, in terms of products, earnings, productivity and innovation. In a "sellers" market for labour, organizations will need to compete in a new arena -- "family-friendliness," which Galinsky, Friedman and Hernandez (1991, p. 21) defined as "the overall responsiveness to employees' family and personal needs in light of business objectives." Family-friendly benefits and programs provide assistance to employees with responsibilities outside of work either directly (e.g. day care) or indirectly (e.g. child care referral service). In 1991, the Families and Work Institute developed a Family Friendly Index to serve as a tool for companies to use in evaluating and comparing their various responses to employees' work and family concerns. It also developed a checklist for the full range of family-friendly policies and programs a company can pursue.

The index covers seven primary categories of benefits and policies (Galinksy et al., 1991):

• flexible work arrangements
• leaves
• financial assistance
• corporate giving/community service
• dependent care services
• management change
• work-family stress management

A discussion of all benefits and policies outlined in this book is beyond the scope of this report. The interested reader is referred to The Corporate Reference Guide to Work-Family Programs by Galinsky, Friedman and Hernandez (1991) for details on how this list was developed and how it can be used.

This study goes beyond simply providing benchmark data on the availability of various benefits and practices to an investigation of whether or not these different supports moderate the different forms of work-life conflict. A similar study was done in 1995 by Thomas and Ganster, who examined the impact of family-supportive policies on work-family conflict and on strain outcomes (depression, job dissatisfaction, somatic complaints, blood pressure, cholesterol and absenteeism). The family-supportive policies they incorporated included dependent care services (i.e. on-site day care, on-site care for sick children, off-site care for sick children, in-home nurse for sick children, before- and after-school care, other special care services for elderly or disabled dependents), information and referral services (for child care, sick child care, on-site parenting seminars, printed material about parenting and special care services), and flexible scheduling. They found that neither information and referral services nor dependent care services had any significant impact on work-family conflict or on the strain outcomes. They found that flexible scheduling was positively related with employee perceptions of having control over their work and family, which was negatively related to work-family conflict.

This study will provide a more detailed and updated look on this same issue. The data on availability and impact of benefits and policies outlined in this report should give managers a tool that they can use to compare their programs to those used by "best practice" employers, evaluate where they stand compared to their competitors, and set strategic goals for new programs and practices.

3.5.1 Are Canadian Firms "Family Friendly?"

Data on the availability and use of family-friendly policies for the total sample are summarized in Table 11. These data paint a mixed picture with respect to kinds of benefits available to Canadian employees.

Table 11: Family - Friendly Benefits

Supportive Benefit	% of Sample Who
	Have Benefit	Use Benefit
Unpaid LOA	83.70%	64.50%
Psychological/health counselling (EAP)	83.10%	59.50%
Family/Emergency days off	75.90%	58.10%
Time off instead of pay	74.90%	58.30%
Short-term personal/family leave	66.20%	50.00%
Flexible work arrangements	49.40%	40.60%
Part-time work/reduced hours/job sharing with benefits	45.30%	39.90%
Personal days off with pay	42.20%	33.70%
Supportive relocation policies	43.80%	28.80%
Tele-work arrangements	21.10%	16.50%
On-site day care	8.10%	5.80%
Child care referral service	7.20%	5.70%
Elder care referral service	6.10%	5.00%

Canadian firms take a reactive approach to employee well-being

Five of the benefits can be considered to be widely available in Canada's larger firms: unpaid leave of absence (LOA, 84%), psychological/health counselling (EAP, 83%), the ability to take an unpaid emergency day off work (76%), the ability to take time off work instead of overtime pay (75%) and the ability to take short-term personal/family leave without pay (66%). Several observations can be made about Canadian employers' approach to work and family and employee well-being from these data. First, virtually all of the commonly available family benefits appear to be based on the premise that the employer should not economically support employees who have to miss work due to family or personal concerns (i.e. unpaid LOA, unpaid short-term leave, unpaid emergency day off work, time off in lieu of overtime pay). The ramification of such an approach is that employees who are experiencing problems in their personal or family lives are also penalized economically if they need to take time off work to deal with the issue. This may, in turn, exacerbate their stress. Second, all of the benefits common in Canadian organizations can be considered reactive (i.e. deal with the work-life issue once it arises) rather than proactive (focus on reducing the probability that the conflict will occur in the first place). Research in the area of change management has shown that reactive approaches to change are often more expensive than proactive strategies. Finally, all of the commonly available benefits help employees deal with problems once they have occurred but do little (with the exception perhaps of EAP) to stop the problem from reoccurring in the future (i.e. treat the symptom, not the cause).

Fewer than half of the Canadians who work for Canada's larger employers have access to progressive family-friendly benefits

Four of the benefits examined in this study are available to just under half of the survey respondents: flexible work arrangements (49%), part-time work with pro-rated benefits (45%), supportive relocation policies (44%) and personal days off with pay (42%). All of these benefits can be considered to be progressive in that they concretely recognize that employees have responsibilities outside of work that need to be supported by the employer. Two of the benefits speak to the issue of workplace flexibility. One is designed to help employees deal with the stresses associated with relocation. One (personal day off with pay) makes it easier for employees to deal with unexpected personal issues without fear of financial repercussions. This last benefit, in particular, is important in that it implicitly gives employees permission to miss work when a crisis occurs and communicates to employees that the employer cares. It is unfortunate that only half as many employees can take a paid day off to deal with an emergency as perceive that they can take unpaid LOA.

Very few Canadian employees have access to formal tele-work programs

Only one in five (21%) employees in this study indicated that tele-work arrangements were available in their organization. The lack of formal tele-work programs is unfortunate given the high number of employees who perform either guerrilla tele-work (16% of the sample) or unpaid overtime at home outside of regular hours (50%). It would appear that employers accept (if not expect) that their employees will have to take work home to complete in the evening or on weekends, but are not willing to let them officially work at home on "their time."

Very few of Canada's larger employers help employees deal with dependent care obligations

Even more troublesome is the fact that less than 10% of the respondents indicated that their employer offered on-site day care (8%), child care (7%) or elder care (6%) referral services.³⁵ The fact that the majority of the 100 organizations in our sample do not help their employees deal with dependent care obligations attests to the fact that many employers are managing according to the "myth of separate worlds." While such separation was possible pre-1970 when many Canadian families had a gendered division of labour (i.e. men worked for pay outside the home, women worked without pay inside the home), it is not realistic today when most men and women in work outside the home for pay.

Use of benefits reflects availability

What benefits do Canadian employees actually use? Not surprisingly, they use what is available (see Table 11). The corollary of this finding is that if employers provided more progressive benefits, then employees would likely use them. The question then becomes, which of these policies help employees cope with work-life conflict. To answer that question, we looked at the relationship between benefit use and each of the four forms of work-life conflict included in this study. To determine which group benefited from what policy we did the analysis twice. Analysis one looked at the impact of gender and job type on the relationship between benefit use and conflict while analysis two focused on gender and dependent care status. The findings are provided in Appendix E. Key findings (R² of .04 or higher; Δ < than .01; Δ = in work-life conflict of 0.3 or greater) are presented in the section below.

Benefits have little impact on work-life conflict

Surprisingly, many of the benefits provided to Canadian employees have little impact on their levels of work-life conflict. This conclusion is supported by a number of findings. First, four of the benefits examined in this analysis, unpaid LOA, time off work in lieu of overtime pay, flexible work arrangements and tele-work, are not associated at all with work-life conflict. This is unfortunate as two of these benefits (LOA and time off in lieu) are commonly available and frequently used. Second, only one quarter of all possible use of benefits by work-life combinations were statistically significant as well as substantive. Finally, the fact that two thirds of the notable findings were observed in the gender by dependent care analysis indicate that job type has little effect on whether or not a particular benefit will help employees cope with work-life conflict. Rather, it is the employee's situation outside of work that influences the effectiveness of the different policies at helping employees cope with work-life conflict. While not surprising, this finding stresses the importance of using demographic information when developing and implementing family-friendly policies.

Employees with high levels of work-life conflict are more likely to use Employee Assistance Programs

The majority of Canadians have access to employee assistance. Almost two thirds (65%) who responded to our survey used EAP services. The data indicate that employees with higher levels of work-life conflict are more likely to use EAP than their counterparts with greater balance. The following picture of who is more likely to seek counselling from EAP emerges from the data:

• those in other positions within the organization with high levels of role overload (Δ = +.3)
• men and women with dependent care responsibilities with higher levels of role overload (Δ = +.3)
• men and women with higher levels of family-to-work interference (Δ = +.3)
• men and women with higher levels of caregiver strain (Δ = +.4)

These findings suggest two things. First, employees with dependent care responsibilities value this benefit. Second, organizations that wish to reduce the costs associated with EAP need to identify other mechanisms to help employees balance work and family.

Employees who use part-time work arrangements are more able to cope with work-family conflict

Fewer than half the employees indicated that part-time work arrangements with pro-rated benefits were available in their organization. This is unfortunate as this work arrangement is very effective at alleviating role overload and role interference. Specifically, part-time work/reduced hours/job sharing with benefits were associated with:

• reduced levels of role overload (-.3 for men in other positions/men with dependent care and -.4 for women in other positions/women with dependent care)
• decreased family-to-work interference for men and women with dependent care (-.3)
• higher levels of family-to-work interference for men and women without dependent care (+.3)
• lower work-to-family interference for men and women when job type is taken into account (-.5)

These findings indicate that part-time work is particularly beneficial for women and employees with dependent care responsibilities. These findings are consistent with those noted earlier in the chapter.

Emergency days off are a lifeline for men and women with dependent care

Canadian employees with child and/or elder care use emergency days off work to try to cope with high levels of family-to-work interference (Δ = +.2 for men and Δ = +.3 for women) and caregiver strain (Δ = +.4). In other words, this benefit is used by employees with dependent care to cope with unexpected problems at home.

Other interesting observations can be made with respect to the use of emergency days off work for family or personal problems. First, women are more likely than men to use this benefit to cope with high levels of role overload (Δ = +.2 for females in managerial and professional positions and +.4 for women in other positions). Role overload is not associated with the use of this benefit for men when job type is taken into account. Second, men and women without dependent care responsibilities are more likely than their counterparts with dependent care to use this benefit when they are overloaded (Δ = +.2 for men and Δ = +.4 for women). Role overload is not associated with the use of this benefit for men and women with dependent care. Third, the use of this benefit is associated with lower levels of work-to-family interference (Δ = -.2) for men and women in managerial and professional positions. Unfortunately, it does not appear to help employees in other positions cope with work-to-family interference.

Several benefits help employees cope with one dimension of work-life conflict Some benefits help employees cope with one dimension of work-life conflict, such as noted below:

• Short-term personal/family leave appears to help employees with dependent care cope with high caregiver strain (Δ = -.3).
• Supportive relocation policies appear to help employees, regardless of job type, cope with work-to-family interference (Δ = -.3).
• Child care referral helps men (Δ = -.3) and women (Δ = -.5) with dependent care cope with family-to-work interference. Women in other positions in particular seem to profit from this benefit (Δ = -.7).

Similarly, we can see that Canadians are selective in terms of the benefits they use to cope with the different forms of work-life conflict:

• Paid personal days off work are used by men and women without dependent care responsibilities to cope with higher levels of family-to-work interference (Δ = +.4).
• Elder care referral services are used by men (Δ = +.3) and women with high caregiver strain (Δ = +.7) and high work-to-family interference (Δ = +.7).
• Child care referral is used by men and women with high levels of role overload (Δ = +.3).
• On-site day care is used by men and women with high family-to-work interference (Δ = +.3).

These data support our contention that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to work-life conflict. It appears that employers need to offer a wide variety of family-friendly benefits to employees if they want to help them cope with the different manifestations of work-life conflict. So the question then becomes, which benefits are used in conjunction with each of the four forms of work-life conflict considered in this study. The answer to this question can be found below.

Men and women who work part time report lower levels of role overload

Part-time work helps men and women cope with role overload (i.e. part-time employees report lower overload than those working full time). While this finding is not surprising (employees who work part time, by definition, spend fewer hours in work per week), what is interesting is the data show that this relationship depends on both dependent care status and job type. Employees with dependent care responsibilities and those in other positions within the organization who work part time report lower levels of role overload. This work arrangement has no impact on role overload for those without dependent care or those who work in managerial and professional positions. This suggests that these employees are either not reducing their work hours by a significant extent, or that they are devoting the time that they are not spending at work to other activities.

Employees with higher role overload are more likely to use EAP and child care referral

Men and women with high levels of role overload (especially those working in other positions) are more likely to use EAP services and child care referral services (when these are available). Since both of these services are in place to help employees in need, this relationship is not surprising. It does, however, reinforce the relationship between role overload and employee stress. It also suggests that employers that wish to reduce the amount they spend on EAP services need to address the issue of workloads.

Employees with higher role overload are more likely to take emergency/family leave

Men and women in other positions with high role overload are more likely to take emergency days off work. For those in management and professional positions, on the other hand, role overload is not associated with the tendency to take an emergency day off work. It is also interesting to note that men and women without dependent care who are experiencing high levels of role overload are more likely to take emergency days off work. For those with dependent care, on the other hand, role overload is not associated with the tendency to take an emergency day off work. Taken together, it appears that these employees are overloaded because of circumstances at work. Identification and reduction of the sources of this role overload should reduce this form of absenteeism (what we referred to as a mental health day in our 2003 Duxbury and Higgins report)

Employees with high work-to-family interference are more likely to use elder care referral and EAP

The findings with respect to work-to-family interference are very similar to those noted for role overload, in that men and women with high levels of work-to-family interference are more likely to use elder care referral and EAP services. Also similar is the fact that employees can reduce work-to-family interference by reducing their work status to part time.

There were, however, several interesting relationships between benefit use and work-to-family interference that are unique to this form of work-life conflict. These include the fact that men and women who make use of supportive relocation policies report lower levels of work-to-family interference (-.3), and the data show that taking an emergency day off work helps men (Δ = -.2) and women (Δ = -.3) in managerial and professional positions cope with this form of interference. It has no such salutatory effect on those in other positions within the organization.

Employees try to cope with family-to-work interference by taking time off work

Men and women with higher family-to-work interference are more likely to take time off work to try to cope with this form of interference. They are more likely to take personal paid days off work (Δ = +0.3) and emergency days off work (Δ = +.4). Employees without dependent care responsibilities but high family-to-work interference, in particular, are likely to try to cope with family-to-work interference by taking short-term personal leave (Δ = +.4). These findings provide a strong impetus for employers to deal with this form of work-life conflict.

The findings suggest several things that organizations can do to help employees with dependent care responsibilities cope with family-to-work interference, including providing child care referral and pro-rated benefits for part-time work. While child care referral reduces family-to-work interference for those with dependent care responsibilities, the impact is most significant for women in other positions within the organization (Δ = -.5).

It should also be noted that, similar to what was observed for short-term personal leave, employees without dependent care responsibilities who work part time report higher family-to-work interference than their counterparts who do not work part time. This reinforces our contention that employees in this group reduce their work time to part-time status (or take short-term personal leave) when their family-to-work interference is too high.

Finally, it is interesting to note that men and women who use on-site day care report higher family-to-work interference (Δ = +.3). It appears that it is more difficult to separate family from work when the child is near by.

Short-term personal leave helps employees cope with caregiver strain

Men and women with higher levels of caregiver strain are more likely to use elder care referral services and family leave days, regardless of job type or dependent care status. The data also show that the ability to take short-term personal/family leave from work helps employees cope with caregiver strain. This finding offers sound advice to employers seeking ways to support those employees needing to deal with aging parents.

The use of benefits by men and women without dependent care

The data reveal a very unique but consistent picture of benefit use by male and female employees without dependent care. They are more likely to take an emergency day off work when their levels of overload are high, and work part time and take short-term personal level as a response to high levels of family-to-work interference.

These data suggest that this group of employees try to deal with work-life conflict by using strategies that allow them to "escape from work.".