Advancing work–life supportive contexts for the “haves” and “have nots”: Integrating supervisor training with work–life flexibility to impact exhaustion or engagement

Author:

Kossek Ellen Ernst1ORCID,Porter Caitlin M.2ORCID,Rosokha Lindsay Mechem1ORCID,Wilson Kelly Schwind1ORCID,Rupp Deborah E.3ORCID,Law‐Penrose Jared4ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. School of Business Purdue University West Lafayette Indiana USA

2. Department of Management University of Memphis Memphis Tennessee USA

3. Department of Psychology George Mason University Fairfax Virginia USA

4. Madden School of Business LeMoyne College Syracuse New York USA

Abstract

AbstractEmployers face many dilemmas in effectively implementing work–life flexibility to support employees' personal lives. A key issue is that some employees hold jobs with limited opportunities for work–life flexibility, making them susceptible to burnout; yet most employers believe they can do little to mitigate this dynamic. Furthermore, even when employees hold jobs with greater access to work–life flexibility, some do not take advantage of their flexibility to more fully engage in work and/or home roles. These issues are further exacerbated when supervisors are unsure of their role in supporting work–life flexibility. We identify work–life supportive context as a key factor that provides solutions to these dilemmas. Drawing on job demands resources theory, we posit that, when organizations provide work–life supportive training to supervisors, it promotes a work–life supportive context (i.e., signaling that the organization is supportive of employees' managing their work–life interface), which mitigates burnout for those with limited work–life flexibility and promotes engagement in work and home roles for those with greater work–life flexibility. Results from a year‐long randomized field experiment suggest that, in contexts with trained supervisors and lower employee control over work schedules and boundaries (i.e., lower work–life flexibility), emotional exhaustion is reduced. In contexts with trained supervisors and higher employee control over work boundaries (i.e., higher work–life flexibility), family engagement increases. Surprisingly, irrespective of job access to work‐life flexibility, supervisor participation in work–life support training did not enhance employee work engagement. Implications of our findings for fostering work–life supportive contexts are considered.

Funder

Department of Psychological Sciences, Auburn University

Publisher

Wiley

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