• Educating Professionals • Creating and Applying Knowledge • Engaging our Communities

Show me the evidence! Identifying and developing evidence-based work-life policies and practices from a systematic review of Australian and international research

Natalie Skinner & Janine Chapman

Today …….

CWL review: • 1,926 AU & international publications (2000 – 2013)

Eby et al (2005)

• 190 work-family studies 1980 – 2002• quantitative psychology/management pubs

Is there anywhere on earth exempt from these swarms of new books?”

(Erasmus, early 16th century scholar)

And further, by these, my sonne, be admonished: of making many bookes there

is no end, and much studie is a wearinesse of the flesh.

(Ecclesiastes, 1611 King James Bible)

 

 We have reason to fear that the multitude of books which grows every day in a

prodigious fashion will make the following centuries fall into a state as barbarous

as that of the centuries that followed the fall of the Roman Empire.(Adrien Baillet, 1685, French scholar and critic, biographer of René Descartes)

CWL review ……2000 - 2013• AU & NZ research in peer-reviewed journals

• Quant + qual

• N = 23 studies of general workforce• N = 43 (select) industry studies

• 10 public sector• 17 health/social services• 16 construction

• Less common: longitudinal• Rare: org interventions

Inclusion criteria

1. The study must include measures of work-life outcomes

• work-family or work-life conflict, facilitation, spillover, interaction,

intersection etc

2. The study findings must be applicable to policy formation and

development

3. The research must be located in Australia or New Zealand

4. The article must be published between 2000 and 2013 in a peer-

reviewed publication.

International evidence - outcomes• 3 x meta-analyses

• consistent: physical & psychological health, job satisfaction• .20 - .40 (burnout, stress)

• mixed: absenteeism, performance, turnover intention• n.s to .29

• 10 x longitudinal studies • consistent: mental health (burnout, psych distress), sickness

absence

• Australian studies (n = 6)• Consistent: psych distress, turnover/absenteeism

Performance & productivity

• Meta-analyses of WLI-perf assoc: .11 - .16

• Complexity – measurement, predictors

• Gilboa et al (2008): job ambiguity strongest predictor of performance

• Indirect relationship via:• Reduced sickness absence / absenteeism

• Greater motivation/commitment/effort (reciprocity norm)

• Libby Holden & colleagues – AU study

• longer hours reduced performance effectiveness & increased

absenteeism

Major policy areas:• Flexibility

• Work hours

• Leave (paid/unpaid)

• Childcare

FlexibilityAustralian studies

• consistent: lower work-life interference (WLI)• mixed: type of flexible work practices

International studies – meta-analyses & longitudinal studies• mixed: impact on WLI

• n.s to -.30

• Nijp et al 2012: job satisfaction, organizational commitment, self-rated perf

• *Best Buy intervention in U.S

Hours

Australian studies (n = 10)• Consistent: higher work-life interference (WLI)

• Mixed: exact number of hours (40 – 41+)

International studies – meta-analyses

• Consistent: higher WLI

• Actual hours & time demands (expectations to work long hours)

• .21 to .27

Leave & childcareWhere is the research on w-l outcomes (& do we need it)?

• Australian qual studies on uptake of leave• Family/parenting strains, turnover

• AWALI – uptake of paid leave (*mothers*)

• AU qual studies on childcare• Women’s employment participation, reduced work-family stress

What does it take …… ?‘Best Buy’ Head Office – U.S

Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE)

• Employee and manager training, executive support

•  Flexible work the norm, regardless of gender, life stage, work role

•  Culture & practices: employees “do whatever they want, whenever

they want, as long as the work gets done”

•  Workers change work arrangements without asking permission

But wait, it’s complicated …….

“boundaryless” jobs & “greedy organisations”

• Task & time autonomy, responsibility for work & outcomes

• Performance linked to job security & promotion • Focus on high commitment to achieving work goals, no matter what the work

hours required to achieve performance targets within strict deadlines

A large number of Dutch workers “find themselves trapped in a cycle of unfinished tasks and after-hours duties despite new laws and regulations that broaden the individual

possibilities to choose the desired amount of working hours” van Echtelt et al (2006)

International studies – meta-analyses• N = 8

• Organisational culture• .27 - .31

• Workload

• .45 - .65

• Educating Professionals • Creating and Applying Knowledge • Engaging our Communities

In sum…..

Policy/practice Evidence Rating

Other considerations

Flexible work arrangements Offer a range

AU (WLI)International (health/ org outcomes)

workload, culture

Work hours (actual & expected) Cap at average of 40–41 hrs (?)

AU & Int Fit with preferences

Paid leave – recreational & parental/care

Encourage/mandate uptake

AU & Int (qual) ? Men’s participation in parenting/ care (AU, Int)

Women’s employment participation

Infant/child health

Psych research: rest & recovery

Policy/practice Evidence Rating

Other considerations

Childcare services Organisations & governments

AU & Int (qual) ? Women’s employment participation

Workload AU & IntQual & Quant

‘deal breaker’

Culture AU & IntQual & Quant

‘catalyst’

Policy is necessary but not sufficient

How do you change workplace cultures?• Make non-standard work practices mainstream

• Not “special consideration” for “privileged few”

• eg Best Buy in the U.S

• Managers & supervisors embody & communicate organisational culture • Supervisor training

• Address “unintended consequences”• Outcomes speak louder than policies

• Protect against economic, social & career penalties

• For employees and supportive managers

• Importance of supportive co-workers

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time

T.S Eliot, Four Quartets

21

24/7 access to email & work tasks

Feel competent,

productive, in control, enjoy

flexibility

Development of collective

norm of being constantly available & responsive

Feelings of compulsion to

remain constantly

connected & up-to-date

Lack of ‘downtime’ in non-work

hours, increased

stress

Mazmanian et al (2013). The Autonomy Paradox: The Implications of Mobile Email Devices for Knowledge Professionals. Organization Science

We shape our tools and afterwards our tools shape us

Marshall McLuhan (1994)

Natalie SkinnerSenior Research Fellow

Centre for Work + LifeUniversity of South Australia(08) 8302 4250

Natalie.Skinner@unisa.edu.au

www.unisa.edu.au/Research/Centre-for-Work-Life/