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

6.1 Coping with Work-Life Conflict: What Can Canadian Organizations Do?

This section is divided into three main parts. The first part provides critical 2001 benchmark data on the use/perceptions of the following employee-friendly policies and practices in Canadian organizations of 500 employees or more: alternative work arrangements, work-time and work-location flexibility (i.e. perceived flexibility), supportive management, and formal benefits and policies. The second part looks at the impact of gender, job type and dependent care status on the use of alternative work arrangements and perceptions with respect to flexibility.⁴⁸ Gender differences (difference between men and women observed in both the job type and dependent care analyses) are presented first. This is followed by the identification of differences associated with dependent care status (differences between those with dependent care responsibilities and those without such responsibilities regardless of gender) and job type (differences between those in managerial and professional positions and those in other positions regardless of gender). Also included in this section is a discussion of the differences in use/perceptions that depend on both gender and job type and gender and dependent care. The third part of this chapter answers research question 2 by examining to what extent the different organizational supports examined in this study actually help employees balance competing work and family demands. Such information is critical to policy makers and companies seeking advice about what types of work-life policies and practices to implement and how to maximize the benefits they receive given their spending in the area (i.e. maximize their return on investment).

6.1.1 Benchmark Data on the Availability of Family-Friendly Policies and Practices in Canada

The use of alternative work arrangements in Canada is relatively low at this time

Canadian firms look much like they did a decade ago with respect to the use of alternative work arrangements (Higgins and Duxbury, 2002). Just over half (59%) of the respondents work a "regular" work day (i.e. little to no formal flexibility with respect to arrival and departure times; no work-location flexibility). Just under one in four (23%) works flextime, 14% work a compressed work week and 4% work part-time arrangements. Formal job sharing and tele-work programs are rare as only 1.3% of the sample job share while 1% formally work from home.

While some Canadians enjoy high levels of work-time and -location flexibility, many do not

The data paint a mixed picture with respect to the amount of flexibility Canadian employees perceive they have over their work schedule and work location. While a plurality of the respondents (39%) have moderate levels of informal flexibility and one in three respondents has high flexibility (33%), a substantial percent of the sample (29%) feel they have little control over their work time.

Examination of the items that make up the perceived flexibility measure give us additional information on areas where improvement is likely needed. These data support the following conclusions. First, the fact that approximately half of the respondents indicated that it was easy for them to take holidays when they wanted, interrupt work for personal/family reasons and then return, take a paid day off when their child is sick, be home from work in time to have meals with their family, and vary their work hours suggests that many of the companies in our sample have introduced progressive programs to help employees with their parenting responsibilities.

Second, the data testify to the fact that many organizations still see work-life balance issues through a child care lens and have not made substantive progress with respect to the issue of elder care. Just under half of the employees indicated it was difficult for them to get paid time off to deal with elder care concerns -- twice the number who found it hard to get paid time off to deal with a sick child. This finding is unfortunate given the aging of the Canadian population.

Third, the fact that only one in three of the employees in this sample finds it easy to take paid time off work to attend a course or a conference (one in three finds it difficult) is also disturbing as it suggests that career development is not seen as a shared responsibility in many Canadian organizations. Unfortunately, by not looking at career development through a work-life lens, many organizations jeopardize the career advancement opportunities of employees with child care and elder care responsibilities, as their ability to attend training activities in the evening or on weekends is more constrained. The lack of flexibility in this area is likely to be increasingly problematic in a seller's market for labour.

Fourth, the fact that almost 40% of the respondents find it difficult to arrange their work schedule to meet personal or family commitments suggests that many Canadian organizations persist in operating under the "myth of separate worlds." While such a view might have been defensible when the typical Canadian family consisted of a male breadwinner with a wife and children at home, it is untenable in Canada today where the dual-income family is the norm.

Fifth, the fact that 70% of the sample say it is difficult for them to perform tele-work implies that organizations are still reluctant to increase employee's work-location flexibility. The lack of movement in this area is hard to reconcile with the fact that many factors (i.e. advances in technology, the increase in the number of Canadian knowledge workers, the number of Canadian employees who perform unpaid overtime work at home outside of regular office hours) suggest that such work-location flexibility is not only possible but could also offer a competitive advantage in a tighter labour market.

Finally, the fact that three quarters of the sample find it difficult to be home from work when their child gets home from school provides a concrete example of how work interferes with family. These findings also indicate that employers and government policy makers need to expand their discussion of child care beyond the relatively narrow domain of day care to include before- and after-school care. As this study shows, the need for child care does not end when the children start school.

Approximately half of the employees in this study report to a supportive manager

Our previous work in this area has shown that the behaviour of an employee's immediate manager is an important predictor of their ability to balance work and life (Duxbury and Higgins, 1995). The data from this study help us quantify the prevalence of supportive management in Canada's larger organizations. On a positive note, almost half of the employees in this sample (47%) consider that their managers are supportive (i.e. frequently engage in the nine management behaviours that employees find to be supportive). On a more challenging note, just over one in three respondents (37%) work for "mixed managers" who are not consistent in the extent to which they engage in supportive behaviours (i.e. exhibit some behaviours but not others) while approximately one in five (16%) works for managers who rarely undertake any of the supportive actions included in the supportive manager measure.

One in ten of the employees in this sample reports to a non-supportive manager

The results from this study allow us to estimate the number of employees who work for a non-supportive manager (i.e. managers who frequently use the six behaviours that employees have identified as typifying a non-supportive manager). While it is reassuring to note that just over half (57%) of the employees work for managers who rarely display what employees consider non-supportive behaviours, a substantive number of Canadians are not this lucky. Just over one in ten (13%) work for non-supportive managers who frequently engage in non-supportive actions such as focusing on hours, not output, and working long hours and expecting their employees to do the same. Just under one in three of the employees in this study (29% of respondents) works for managers who are not consistent in their behaviour: sometimes they display non-supportive behaviours while other times they do not.

The data paint a mixed picture with respect to the availability of family-friendly benefits

The five benefits 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%)) share two characteristics. First they are reactive in nature. Second, they are cost-effective for the employer as the employee is not paid when taking time off work to deal with personal/family issues.

Progressive benefits such as flexible work arrangements (49%), part-time work with pro-rated benefits (45%), supportive relocation policies (44%), personal days off with pay (42%) and tele-work (20%), on the other hand, are available to less than half of the employees. Virtually none of Canada's larger employers helps employees deal with dependent care obligations (i.e. only 8% of the sample had access to employer-provided on-site day care while 7% were offered child care referral services and 6% were given elder-care referral).

The following conclusions can be drawn regarding the dominant organizational view of work-life issues in Canada at this time: organizations are reactive rather than proactive, employer versus employee centric, built on the "myth of separate worlds" and focus on reducing the symptoms associated with high work-life conflict and dealing with the immediate problem rather than the identification and elimination of the underlying causes of the stress. It is also important to note that many work-life policies seem to be designed to manage the "abuser" -- the employee who takes advantage of supportive policies and programs -- rather than the vast majority of employees who are solid citizens and can be trusted to use the policies when appropriate.⁴⁹

This view of work-life balance economically penalizes both the employee, who cannot balance competing work and family demands, and the company, which is faced with having to deal with the same sorts of work-life issues over and over again.

It is important, however, to note that some progress can be observed in the type of benefits available within Canadian organizations. Some firms have concretely recognized that employees have responsibilities outside of work and support their need for balance by offering flexible work arrangements, pro-rated benefits for part-time work, supportive relocation policies and personal days off with pay. This last benefit, in particular, is worthy of note as it is based on mutual trust and the premise that the employee and the employer are partners with respect to dealing with work-life conflict. The fact that only half as many employees can take a paid day off to deal with a personal emergency as are able to take unpaid LOA again speaks to the dominant view of work life held by employers today.

6.1.2 How Do Gender, Job Type and Dependent Care Status Affect the Use/Perceived Availability of Organizational Supports?

The use of alternative work arrangements has very little association with gender

With one exception (part-time work), the use of alternative work arrangements is not associated with gender. That being said, it is important to note that women were significantly more likely to use part-time work arrangements than men regardless of their family situation or job type. This gender difference in who works part time has been observed in most industrialized nations and has been attributed to the fact that women are perceived by both men and women to have primary responsibility for family and household roles, especially when their children are young. Unfortunately, the research has also shown that women who work part time often pay an economic penalty for this choice (i.e. lower wages, no benefits, fewer opportunities for advancement, reduced pensions).

Women are less likely than men to perceive that they can take paid time off work for family reasons

Women, regardless of their job type or dependent care status, were significantly more likely than men to say that was difficult for them to:

• work at home during the day
• interrupt their work day for personal reasons and then return
• take a paid day off work to care for a sick child or an elderly dependent

Men, on the other hand, were more likely than women to say it was easy for them to accomplish these tasks. These findings are of concern since women in the sample were more likely than the men to have primary responsibility for child care and elder care in their families (Higgins & Duxbury, 2002).

Men and women with dependent care responsibilities are more likely to perform guerilla tele-work

Employees with dependent care responsibilities, regardless of their gender, were more likely to perform guerrilla tele-work (i.e. work from home during regular hours on an as-needed basis) than their counterparts without dependent care. It may be that this group uses this work arrangement in an attempt to combine work with caring for sick dependents or other family responsibilities that keep them at home during the regular work day.

Men and women without dependent care responsibilities are more likely to work shifts

Employees without dependent care responsibilities are, regardless of their gender, more likely to perform shift work than counterparts with dependent care. Why this is the case is impossible to ascertain. It may be that employees with dependent care responsibilities try to avoid this work schedule as they perceive (or from experience know) that such work arrangements make it more difficult for them to fulfill their caregiving commitments. Alternatively, it may be that employees with dependents cannot work this arrangement due to an inability to make arrangements for their children and/or elderly dependents when they are working atypical hours. Finally, it may be that employers have made a deliberate decision to assign their shift work to employees who have fewer obligations outside of work. While their motives in this regard could be altruistic, they might also perceive that such a strategy will reduce absenteeism and turnover.

Men and women with dependent care responsibilities are more likely to find it difficult to arrange their schedule to meet personal/family commitments

There was only one difference in perceived flexibility associated with dependent care status: employees with dependent care responsibilities, regardless of gender, were more likely to say that it was difficult for them to arrange their schedule to meet personal/family commitments. Who has the least amount of flexibility with respect to scheduling work? The data from this study say mothers and females with elder care responsibilities (43% of this group find such tasks difficult). These findings are unfortunate as employees with dependent care obligations are likely to have a greater need for flexibility in scheduling their work. These data also refute the idea that mothers or women with elder care commitments are given preferential treatment in the workplace. In fact, these findings indicate that the reverse may be true. Finally, the findings imply that organizations do not take an employee's family circumstances into account when setting work schedules. In other words, the "myth of separate worlds" still appears to be the operating principle for many of Canada's largest employers.

Managers and professionals are more likely to use flexible work arrangements

Employees in management and professional positions, regardless of their gender, are more than twice as likely as those in other positions to use work arrangements that offer greater work-time (i.e. flextime) and work-location (i.e. guerilla tele-work) flexibility. Those in other positions, on the other hand, are more likely to work a fixed work schedule (i.e. no flexibility with respect to start and stop times) and perform shift-work arrangements that do not mesh well with family rhythms.

Managers and professionals perceive higher levels of work-location flexibility

Two job type differences in the perceived flexibility data are worthy of note. Regardless of their gender, the managers and professionals in the sample were significantly more likely than their counterparts in other jobs to perceive that it was easy for them to work at home during regular hours, but it was difficult for them to vary their work hours. In other words, managers and professionals perceive themselves to have higher work-location flexibility but lower work-time flexibility. While the first finding is consistent with the fact that those in the managerial and professional sample were also more likely to perform guerilla tele-work, the second is not consistent with the data showing that this group is also more likely to use flextime arrangements. This discrepancy is interesting as it suggests that the demands of managerial and professional jobs, which have increased substantially over time, are such that it is difficult for managers to change when they come in or leave, despite the fact that they nominally work flextime arrangements. These results also suggest that work-time flexibility goes down as work loads go up. Interestingly enough, however, the same cannot be said for work-location flexibility. As noted in Duxbury and Higgins (2003), managers spend a significant amount of time per month performing unpaid overtime at home in the evening and on the weekend. It would appear that one benefit of this work style is that tele-work is more accepted at this level of the organization than it is for those in other jobs. The organization may also be more supportive of allowing employees who have demonstrated that they can work productively at home and who have the technology to do so.

Female managers and professionals have lower levels of perceived flexibility

Most of the gender differences in perceived flexibility go away when job type is controlled for. Those gender differences that do exist are between male and female managers and professionals. Female managers and professionals were more likely than their male counterparts to find it difficult to vary their work hours, take their holidays when they want, take time off for a course, and arrange their schedule to meet personal or family commitments. No such gender differences were noted for those in other jobs.

Not only do the female managers and professionals have less flexibility than their male counterparts, their flexibility does not compare favourably to females in other positions within the organization. The female managers were, for example, significantly more likely than females in other jobs to find it difficult to take their holidays when they want, to take time off for a course, to interrupt their work day for personal reasons and then return, to take a paid day off to care for a sick child or an elderly dependent and to be home when their children get home from school.

These findings are very interesting because of what they suggest about females in managerial and professional positions. It is unlikely that women managers and professionals have less opportunity to vary their hours than other employees. Rather, these data suggest that women in these groups are less likely than others to either take advantage of the opportunities for flexibility that are available, or to ask for special favours with respect to leave of absence, work hours, etc. We can only speculate as to why this might be the case. Plausible explanations include the idea that female managers and professionals are more concerned than either their male counterparts or employees in other positions with how their employer will view them if they vary their hours and arrange their day around family commitments, etc. (i.e. concerned that others will label them as being on a "mommy track," perceive that they do not take their career seriously). Alternatively, it may be that women in these groups feel more pressure to set a good example for those who report to them or feel that putting family ahead of work would limit their career advancement. Other studies should try to determine the extent to which these work pressures are self-imposed (i.e. women who get ahead in Canadian organizations are less likely to let family intrude with work) or imposed by the organizational culture (i.e. due to working in an organization that rewards employees who put work ahead of family).

6.1.3 What Can Organizations Do to Help Employees Cope with Work-Life Conflict?

This section has been organized to allow organizations and governments to target their interventions to a particular type of work-life conflict as well as specific groups of employees (i.e. female managers and professionals, women with children). Each of the four forms of work-life conflict explored is examined individually in the sections below. To assist the reader in making sense of the data, the findings have been sorted into the following groups using the strength of the association between the organizational support and work-life conflict as the sorting criteria:

• organizational supports that have a strong association with the form of work-life conflict under consideration (i.e. operationally defined as an R² &ge 0.1⁵⁰)
• organizational supports that have a moderate association with the form of work-life conflict under consideration (i.e. operationally defined as an R² between 0.05 and 0.1)

As a general rule , the higher the R², the stronger the link between the organizational intervention and decreased (or increased) levels of work-life conflict.

Other key pieces of data are then used to paint a more complete picture of the impact of each organizational intervention. To determine how best to target the intervention, we look at gender by dependent care and gender by job type differences in the relationship between the organizational action and work-life conflict. If the interaction term is significant, we know that not all groups will benefit equally from the implementation of a particular support. If the interaction term is not significant, however, we know that all employees will realize the same impact from the support. Finally, we present an estimate of how much the organization can expect work-life conflict to increase or decrease if it focuses on one strategy versus another. In this case, the estimate is provided by looking at Δ (the difference in work-life conflict experienced by someone with high levels of the particular support versus someone with low levels of this support).

6.1.3.1 Coping with Role Overload

Perceived flexibility is the key to reducing role overload

This study has identified a very strong association between higher levels of perceived flexibility and lower levels of role overload. Two forms of flexibility, in particular, seem to be fundamental to the ability to cope with role overload:

• the ability to arrange one's work schedule to meet personal or family commitments
• the ability to interrupt one's work day to deal with a personal or family matter and then return to work

Both of these forms of flexibility increase an employee's ability to deal with family or personal issues (both scheduled and unanticipated) during work hours. In other words, they give employees more control over the work-life interface. Researchers such as Karasek (1979) have shown that increased levels of control are important to helping employees deal with high demands.

The importance of increasing perceived flexibility within the organization as a strategy to reduce role overload is further illustrated by the fact that all other items in the perceived flexibility measure were moderately associated with role overload. By looking at the strength of the association, we can rank order each of these forms of flexibility for their expected ability to reduce role overload. To reduce role overload, therefore, organizations need to:

• increase employees' ability to take their holidays when they want
• increase employees' ability to get home from work in time to have meals with their family
• provide paid days off for employees who need to care for elderly dependents
• provide paid days off for employees who need to care for a sick child
• make it possible for parents to be home when their children get home from school
• give more flexibility with respect to work hours

Furthermore, although the interaction terms are significant in most of these analyses, the picture is still quite clear -- all employees, regardless of their gender, their job type or their dependent care status experience a reduction in role overload at higher levels of perceived flexibility (reductions range from -0.5 to -0.8 in analysis with strong associations and -0.2 to -0.7 in analysis with moderate associations).

There is a strong association between role overload and opportunities for career development

Higher levels of one other form of perceived flexibility, take time off to attend a course or a conference, are is also strongly associated with lower levels of role overload. This result is a little more difficult to interpret. It could be that people with lower levels of role overload are more able to find the time for career development activities. Alternatively, it may be that employees who attend such courses learn ways to work more effectively or efficiently, which, in turn, reduces role overload. In either case, the strong association between the ability to participate in career development opportunities and overload is worthy of note, given the importance of such activities to professional workers and younger employees. These findings give organizations another incentive to deal with the issue of role overload: an increased ability to recruit and retain talent.

Employees who report to a non-supportive manager report higher levels of role overload

How can organizations reduce role overload? A focus on management behaviour in general, and on reducing non-supportive management in particular, should yield substantial reductions in employee role overload. The data point to one management behaviour in particular that is strongly associated with increased role overload: having a manager who has unrealistic expectations with respect to work. Decreasing the extent to which such behaviour occurs within the organization should, therefore, be a high priority in organizations that wish to address role overload.

The importance of developing strategies to reduce non-supportive management behaviours within the organization can be further illustrated by noting the moderate association between increased role overload and:

• working for a non-supportive manager (total measure)
• working for a manager who puts in long hours and expects their employees to do the same
• working for a manager who makes the employee feel guilty about time off work for personal or family reasons
• working for a manager who focuses on hours of work not output

Further examination indicates that all employees, regardless of their gender, their job type or their dependent care status, experience a moderate increase in role overload (Δ = +0.8) at higher levels of non-supportive management.

Employees who report to a supportive manager report lower levels of role overload

Organizations that wish to reduce role overload could also achieve their goals by increasing the number of supportive managers within their organization. Specifically, they need to increase the extent to which managers in their organization engage in the following behaviours:

• effectively plan the work to be done
• make themselves available to answer their employees' questions.
• make expectations clear
• listen to their employees' concerns
• give recognition for a job well done

Although working for a supportive manager results in reduced levels of role overload for all employees (reductions range from Δ = -0.3 to -0.6), the impact often depends on the gender and the job type of the employee rather than their dependent care status.

Finally, it should be noted that the other four behaviours that typify supportive management (i.e. provide constructive feedback, share information with employees, support their decisions, and ask for input before making decisions that affect their work) were also significantly associated with role overload. In all cases, however, the relationship was relatively weak and only significant in the gender by dependent care analysis. This suggests that organizations should focus their initial efforts on the five supportive behaviours outlined above.

Flexible work arrangements do little to help employees cope with role overload

Flexible work arrangements, by themselves, have little impact on employee role overload. The following supports this conclusion. First, the association between working shifts, flextime, compressed work weeks and a regular 9-to-5 work day, and role overload was not significant. Second, the associations that do exist are only moderate in degree and do not yield large changes in levels of role overload. That being said, employers wishing to tackle the issue of employee role overload may find the following data useful:

• Part-time work helps employees with dependent care responsibilities cope with role overload. It seems to be particularly effective for men (decline of -0.5 in role overload) rather than women (decline of -0.2 in role overload), which is interesting since women are more likely than men to work part time.
• Employees with dependent care who tele-work are more able to cope with role overload (decline of -0.3 in role overload).

Family-friendly benefits do little to help employees cope with role overload

Supportive benefits, by themselves, have little impact on employee role overload. This conclusion is supported by the fact that the association between the use of the following benefits and levels of role overload was not significant: on-site day care, use of elder care referral services, flexible work arrangements, tele-work, supportive relocation policies, emergency days off, unpaid LOA, use of paid personal days off work, use of time off in lieu of overtime, and use of short-term personal leave.

Several of the benefits were, however, moderately associated with role overload:

• Use of child care referral services is associated with lower levels of role overload (decline of -0.3) for those with dependent care.
• Employees with higher levels of role overload (especially those in other positions within the organization) are more likely to use EAP services.
• Use of part-time or reduced hours is associated with lower levels of role overload for men and women in other jobs within the organization.

Targeted solutions are, in some cases, required

The ability of many of these different organizational interventions to alleviate role overload depends on the gender, job type and dependent care status of the individual. Which groups benefit the most (i.e. experience the greatest decline in role overload) from the various organizational interventions considered in this study? Which groups benefit the least (i.e. experience the smallest decline in role overload)? The following answers these questions:

• Although high levels of perceived flexibility help female managers and professionals and females with dependent care responsibilities cope with role overload, the decline in role overload at high levels of perceived flexibility is significantly less for employees in these groups than for other groups of employees. This may be because women in these groups, who have more flexibility at work, are expected to do double duty at home.
• Although an increased ability to interrupt one's work day and return, to arrange one's work schedule to meet personal and family commitments and to take time off to attend a course or conference are all associated with a decline in role overload for every group, they provide less of a benefit to female managers and professionals. It is difficult to tell from this study why this group does not receive reduction in role overload at high levels of these forms of flexibility as other employees.
• The ability to interrupt one's work day to deal with a personal or family issue and then return to work helps women in other positions within the organization cope with role overload.
• Working for a supportive manager helps men and women in other positions, in particular, cope with role overload.
• Having a manager who listens and is effective at planning the work to be done helps women in other positions cope with role overload.
• While working for a non-supportive manager is problematic, regardless of gender, job type or dependent care status, there are some very interesting between-group differences about which behaviours are especially problematic in association with higher levels of role overload. For example:
  • Working for a manager with unrealistic expectations with respect to workloads is particularly problematic for employees with dependent care responsibilities and men, regardless of their job type.
  • Working for a manager who puts in long hours and expects employees to do the same is more problematic for employees in other positions within the organization and employees with dependent care responsibilities, regardless of gender.
  • Working for a manager who makes employees feel guilty about time off for personal/family reasons and who focuses on hours of work rather than output is more problematic for female managers and professionals. Interestingly, male managers and professionals with such managers display the smallest increases in role overload.

These findings reinforce our contention that there is no one-size-fits-all solution that organizations can implement to reduce role overload in their workforce. Rather, social role expectations and the organizational context and culture will all influence the effectiveness of the various organizational interventions.