Human Resources Practices as Predictors of Work‐Family Outcomes and Employee Turnover

Drawing on a nonrandom sample of 557 dual-earner white-collar employees, this article explores the relationship between human resources practices and three outcomes of interest to firms and employees: work-family conflict, employees’ control over managing work and family demands, and employees’ turnover intentions. We analyze three types of human resources practices: work-family policies, human resources incentives designed to induce attachment to the firm, and the design of work. In a series of hierarchical regression equations, we find that work design characteristics explain the most variance in employees’ control over managing work and family demands, whereas human resources incentives explain the most variance in work-family conflict and turnover intentions. We also find significant gender differences in each of the three models. Our results suggest that the most effective organizational responses to work-family conflict and to turnover are those that combine work-family policies with other human resources practices, including work redesign and commitment-enhancing incentives.

[1]  P. J. Huber.  The behavior of maximum likelihood estimates under nonstandard conditions , 1967 .

[2]  Gil Preuss,et al.  Manufacturing Advantage: Why High-Performance Work Systems Pay Off , 2001 .

[3]  J. Barker.  Tightening the Iron Cage: Concertive Control in Self-Managing Teams , 1993 .

[4]  B. Googins,et al.  Linking the worlds of work and family: Beyond the productivity trap , 1992 .

[5]  L. Bailyn,et al.  Breaking the Mold: Women, Men, and Time in the New Corporate World. , 1994 .

[6]  G. Staines,et al.  Flextime A Viable Solution to Work/Family Conflict? , 1990 .

[7]  S. Eaton.  Work-family integration in biotechnology : implications for firms and employees , 2000 .

[8]  Rosemary L. Batt,et al.  MANAGING CUSTOMER SERVICES: HUMAN RESOURCE PRACTICES, QUIT RATES, AND SALES GROWTH , 2002 .

[9]  E. Greenberger,et al.  Contributions of a supportive work environment to parents' well-being and orientation to work , 1989, American journal of community psychology.

[10]  Phyllis Moen,et al.  Scaling back: Dual-earner couples' work-family strategies , 1999 .

[11]  J. Njoroge,et al.  Compensation , 1946, Encyclopedia of Tourism Management and Marketing.

[12]  E. Kossek,et al.  Work–family conflict, policies, and the job–life satisfaction relationship: A review and directions for organizational behavior–human resources research. , 1998 .

[13]  L. Bailyn,et al.  Designing organizational solutions to integrate work and life , 1999 .

[14]  D. Watson,et al.  General factors of affective temperament and their relation to job satisfaction over time , 1993 .

[15]  G. Bowen.  Effects of Leader Support in the Work Unit on the Relationship Between Work Spillover and Family Adaptation , 1998 .

[16]  Dawn S. Carlson,et al.  The Role of Social Support in the Stressor-Strain Relationship: An Examination of Work-Family Conflict , 1999 .

[17]  John L. Cotton,et al.  Employee Turnover: A Meta-Analysis and Review with Implications for Research , 1986 .

[18]  S. Grover,et al.  WHO APPRECIATES FAMILY‐RESPONSIVE HUMAN RESOURCE POLICIES: THE IMPACT OF FAMILY‐FRIENDLY POLICIES ON THE ORGANIZATIONAL ATTACHMENT OF PARENTS AND NON‐PARENTS , 1995 .

[19]  D. Mesch,et al.  The Impact of Flexible Scheduling on Employee Attendance and Turnover. , 1990 .

[20]  Leslie A. Perlow,et al.  Finding Time: How Corporations, Individuals, and Families Can Benefit from New Work Practices , 1997 .

[21]  O. Mitchell.  Fringe Benefits and Labor Mobility , 1982 .

[22]  Jonathan S. Leonard.  Carrots and Sticks: Pay, Supervision, and Turnover , 1987, Journal of Labor Economics.

[23]  J. McGuire,et al.  Absenteeism and Flexible Work Schedules , 1987 .

[24]  P. Raabe.  The Organizational Effects of Workplace Family Policies , 1990 .

[25]  S. Ronen.  Alternative Work Schedules: Selecting, Implementing, and Evaluating , 1984 .

[26]  Stephan M. Wilson,et al.  The Impact of Job Insecurity on Marital and Family Relationships. , 1994 .

[27]  C. Higgins,et al.  Gender differences in work-family conflict. , 1991 .

[28]  S. J. Goff,et al.  EMPLOYER SUPPORTED CHILD CARE, WORK/ FAMILY CONFLICT, AND ABSENTEEISM: A FIELD STUDY , 1990 .

[29]  P. Voydanoff.  Economic distress and family relations: a review of the eighties , 1990 .

[30]  J. Welch,et al.  Assessing the impact of flexitime on productivity , 1980 .

[31]  J. M. Cortina,et al.  What Is Coefficient Alpha? An Examination of Theory and Applications , 1993 .

[32]  John E. Delery,et al.  An organization-level analysis of voluntary and involuntary turnover. , 1998 .

[33]  John E. Delery,et al.  Modes of theorizing in strategic human resource management: Tests of universalistic, contingency, and configurational performance predictions , 1996 .

[34]  P. Hom.  Employee Turnover , 1994 .

[35]  Robert F. DeVellis,et al.  Scale Development: Theory and Applications. , 1992 .

[36]  Mark Montgomery,et al.  Compensation Structure and Establishment Quit and Fire Rates , 1994 .

[37]  Morris M. Kleiner,et al.  Human resources and the performance of the firm , 1987 .

[38]  E. Hill,et al.  Influences of The Virtual Office on Aspects of Work and Work/Life Balance , 1998 .

[39]  Jean E. Wallace.  It's about time: A study of hours worked and work spillover among law firm lawyers. , 1997 .

[40]  John E. Delery.  Issues of fit in strategic human resource management: Implications for research , 1998 .

[41]  J. C. Swart.  Clerical Workers on Flexitime: A Survey of Three Industries. , 1985 .

[42]  Marybeth Shinn,et al.  Promoting the well-being of working parents: Coping, social support, and flexible job schedules , 1989 .

[43]  Jeffrey H. Greenhaus,et al.  Role stressors, social support, and well‐being among two‐career couples , 1992 .

[44]  T. Thrall.  Work redesign. , 2003, Hospitals & health networks.

[45]  John L. Cotton,et al.  Employee Involvement: Methods for Improving Performance and Work Attitudes , 1993 .

[46]  S. G. Cohen,et al.  What Makes Teams Work: Group Effectiveness Research from the Shop Floor to the Executive Suite , 1997 .

[47]  J. L. Pierce,et al.  The design of flexible work schedules and employee responses: Relationships and process. , 1983 .

[48]  Sharon A. Lobel.  Impacts of Diversity and Work-Life Initiatives in Organizations , 1999 .

[49]  Jacob Cohen,et al.  Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences , 1979 .

[50]  Dawn S. Carlson,et al.  Construction and Initial Validation of a Multidimensional Measure of Work–Family Conflict , 2000 .

[51]  T. I. Miller.  THE EFFECTS OF EMPLOYER-SPONSORED CHILD CARE ON EMPLOYEE ABSENTEEISM, TURNOVER, PRODUCTIVITY, RECRUITMENT OR JOB SATISFACTION: WHAT IS CLAIMED AND WHAT IS KNOWN , 1984 .

[52]  G. Milkovich,et al.  Day care and selected employee work behaviors. , 1976, Academy of Management journal. Academy of Management.

[53]  D. Mf.  Worksite health promotion. An overview of programs and practices. , 1984 .

[54]  Mark A. Huselid.  The Impact of Human Resource Management Practices on Turnover, Productivity, and Corporate Financial Performance , 1995 .

[55]  Jennifer Glass,et al.  The Family Responsive Workplace , 1997 .

[56]  Jon L. Pierce,et al.  Alternative work schedules , 1990 .

[57]  Lotte Bailyn,et al.  Breaking The Mold: Women, Men, And Time In The New Corporate World , 1996 .

[58]  M. L. Cooper,et al.  Antecedents and outcomes of work-family conflict: testing a model of the work-family interface. , 1992, The Journal of applied psychology.

[59]  C. Higgins,et al.  Work-Family Conflict , 1994 .

[60]  J. F. Byrnes,et al.  Costing Human Resources: The Financial Impact of Behavior in Organizations , 1984 .

[61]  D. Ganster,et al.  Impact of family-supportive work variables on work-family conflict and strain: A control perspective. , 1995 .

[62]  R. A. Cooke,et al.  Stress and strain from family roles and work-role expectations. , 1984, The Journal of applied psychology.

[63]  P. Moen,et al.  Promoting Workforce Effectiveness and Life Quality: Early Evidence from the Cornell Couples and Careers Study , 1999 .

[64]  D. Watson,et al.  Negative affectivity: the disposition to experience aversive emotional states. , 1984, Psychological bulletin.

[65]  Susan J. Lambert,et al.  Added Benefits: The Link Between Work-Life Benefits and Organizational Citizenship Behavior , 2000 .

[66]  Julie A. Wright,et al.  Flexible and compressed workweek schedules: A meta-analysis of their effects on work-related criteria. , 1999 .

[67]  Robert Karasek,et al.  Healthy Work : Stress, Productivity, and the Reconstruction of Working Life , 1990 .

[68]  D. Hall,et al.  Relationship of job characteristics to job involvement, satisfaction, and intrinsic motivation , 1970 .

[69]  J. L. Pierce,et al.  ALTERNATIVE WORK SCHEDULES: TWO FIELD QUASI-EXPERIMENTS , 1987 .

[70]  Arlie Russell Hochschild,et al.  The Time Bind: When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work , 1997 .

[71]  Jeffrey H. Greenhaus,et al.  Sources of work-family conflict among two-career couples , 1989 .

[72]  Robert Karasek,et al.  Job decision latitude and mental strain: Implications for job redesign , 1979 .

[73]  Jay S. Kim,et al.  Effects of Flexitime on Employee Attendance and Performance: A Field Experiment , 1981 .

[74]  Jeanne M. Brett,et al.  Family Structure, Glass Ceiling, and Traditional Explanations for the Differential Rate of Turnover of Female and Male Managers , 1996 .

[75]  Jeffrey B. Arthur,et al.  Effects of human resource systems on manufacturing performance and turnover , 1994 .

[76]  Melenie J. Lankau,et al.  Relationships of gender, family responsibility and flexible work hours to organizational commitment and job satisfaction , 1997 .

[77]  Ellen Galinsky,et al.  The 1997 National Study of the Changing Workforce , 1998 .

[78]  S. Jex,et al.  Relationships between time management, control, work-family conflict, and strain. , 1999, Journal of occupational health psychology.

[79]  B. Gerhart,et al.  The Impact of Human Resource Management on Organizational Performance: Progress and Prospects , 1996 .

[80]  Terry C. Blum,et al.  Work-family human resource bundles and perceived organizational performance , 2000 .

[81]  Thomas A. Kochan,et al.  What works at work : overview and assessment , 1996 .

[82]  Jeffrey H. Greenhaus,et al.  Sources of Conflict Between Work and Family Roles , 1985 .

[83]  B. Gutek,et al.  Rational versus gender role explanations for work-family conflict. , 1991 .