Antecedents and outcomes of implementing flexibility policies in organizations

Abstract

This study examines the antecedents of employees' utilization of various flexibility work arrangements (FWA) on the one hand and job-related outcomes due to their implementation in organizations on the other hand. Data are provided by an original survey administered to employees working in private organizations (N = 480). Workers' uptake of the arrangements is enhanced by their family responsibilities, by FWA availability, by supervisors' support and by co-workers' FWA use. Regarding employee outcomes, FWA availability is related to two of the three outcomes studied. Moreover, a favourable work-family culture is related to our three outcomes, employee commitment, turnover intentions and work-to-family conflict.

Keywords:

• co-workers' utilization of FWA
• flexibility work arrangements
• organizational commitment
• turnover intentions
• work-family culture
• work-to-family conflict

Acknowledgements

We want to acknowledge the advice received from Pr. Diego Pedregal to accomplish this work.

Notes

1. Before administering the survey used in this investigation, we conducted an exploratory qualitative study consisting of more than 70 interactions with employees working at different levels of the organizations' hierarchy. These interactions consisted in several in-depth semi-structured interviews, informal interviews and the assistance to conferences where managers described how their organizations support employees' work-life balance.