1. Karen Korabik & Donna S. Lero
HR Policies to Enhance Work-Family Balance: Fostering Organizational Sustainability in Global Context
Karen Korabik & Donna S. Lero
Centre for Families, Work & Well-Being
University of Guelph
Zeynep Aycan
Koç University
Anne Bardoel
Monash University
*With thanks to Tricia van Rhijn

2. Project 3535 Team Members Zeynep Aycan,* Koç University, Turkey
Roya Ayman, Illinois Institute of Technology, USA
Anne Bardoel, Monash University, Australia
Tripti Pande Desai, New Delhi Institute of Management, India
Anat Drach-Zahavy, University of Haifa, Israel
Leslie Hammer, Portland State University, USA
Ting-Pang Huang, Soochow University, Taiwan
Karen Korabik, University of Guelph, Canada
Donna S. Lero, University of Guelph, Canada
Artiwati Mawardi, University of Surabaya, Indonesia
Steven Poelmans, Spain
Ujvala Rajadhyaksha, St. Mary’s University-USA, India
Anit Somech, University of Haifa, Israel
Zhang Li, Harbin Institute of Technology, China .
Names appear in alphabetical order * indicates the Project Coordinator. 2 2

3. Introduction
“Sustainable organizations require a workforce in which employees are given opportunities to continuously develop and renew their knowledge and enhance employability, well-being, and energy to thrive on and off the job over their careers.” Kossek & Berg, 2012 Well-designed HRM policies and programs, together with a positive workplace culture can improve both employee outcomes and organizations’ ROI.
Here we focus particularly on family-friendly policies and practices that can reduce stress and
enhance psychological resources for productive work
FF HR initiatives have been shown to have a + impact on many sustainability indicators, including
Enhanced org commitment, job satisfaction, performance and productivity, as well as decreased stress.

4. Study Purposes
To examine cross-national differences in employees’ use of and satisfaction with HRM policies that can help integrate work and family and promote health and well-being
Determine whether satisfaction with FF organizational policies are related to sustainability indicators (ITO and Life Sat)
Consider the extent to which there are gender differences in policy use, satisfaction and relationship to ITO and Life Sat.

5. Survey Methodology Translation & back-translation Pilot testing
Paper & pencil or on-line
Employees with spouse/partner & dependent child <21 living at home

6. Measures Examined 9 organizational policies flextime
reduced work schedule
telecommuting (work from home with supervisor permission)
emergency absence (leave work with supervisor permission)
maternity/parental leave (beyond legislation with job guarantee)
leave to care for sick family members (unpaid with job guarantee)
childcare facilities (employer provides day care or subsidies)
provision of health insurance (for employee and dependents)
health facilities (available on site)

7. Ratings of Policies
Users rated how helpful each policy was for improving their W-F balance
Non-users (and those to whom policy was not available) rated how helpful each policy would have been for improving their W-F balance
Overall satisfaction with organizational and government family-friendly policies
Helpfulness Scales: 1 = not at all helpful to 5 = extremely helpful
Satisfaction Scales: 1= very dissatisfied to 5 = very satisfied

8. Sustainability Measures
Work-family conflict: time- and strain-based WIF & FIW (Carlson, Kacmar & Williams, 2000)
W-F positive spillover: WTF & FTW* (Grzywacz & Marks, 2000)
Turnover intent (Camman, Firchman, Jenkins & Klesh, 1979) + 1 item from research team
Life satisfaction (Diener, Emmons, Larsen & Griffin, 1985)
Positive spillover scale: 1= never to 5 = always; 2 items omitted due to lack of measurement equivalence
Other scales: 1 = strongly disagree to 6 = strongly agree 8

9. Sample Demographics Country N % men % manager Age (mean)
# children (mean)
Tenure
Australia
200 41 47
40.37
2.07
8.36
Canada
315 62 50
39.90
2.00
10.08
China
240 48 49
39.24
1.02
18.79
India
561 36
37.30
1.62
10.13
Indonesia
306 44 58
37.66
1.92
11.79
Israel
229
38.14
2.88
11.18
Spain
150 60
38.44
1.98
11.13
Taiwan
281 28 38
38.74
1.72
8.08
Turkey
325 51
38.15
1.71
7.22
USA
223 25 46
42.86
2.22
12.23
Total
2830 45 40
38.81
1.87
10.55

10. Frequency of Policy Use by Country
Policy use varies by country – Use reflects availability, awareness, need, perceived benefit, support for use
Most widely used workplace practices were permission to leave work in a personal or fam emergency, health insurance, and flexible scheduling.
Other FF workplace practices used least often by ees in Turkey, Spain and Taiwan, most often in China, India and Israel
AU has missing data on the following policies: telecommuting, childcare and health insurance

11. Frequency of Policy Use by Country

12. Frequency of Policy Use by Country

13. Mean User Ratings of Policy Helpfulness by Country
Flextime: AU, US, Spain & Turkey > India, Indonesia, Israel, & China
Reduced work schedule: AU, US, Spain & Turkey > India, Indonesia, Israel & China
Telecommuting: Spain, Turkey, US & Taiwan > Israel & China
Flextime: Women > men did except in India, Indonesia, China, & Taiwan where men > women
Reduced work schedule: Women > men except in India and Taiwan
Telecommuting: women > men

14. Mean User Ratings of Policy Helpfulness by Country
Emergency Absence: AU, Canada, US, Spain & Turkey, > India, Israel & China
Parental leave: AU & Turkey > others; India & China > others
Leave to Care: AU & Turkey > India, Indonesia & China
Emergency Absence: women > men
Parental leave: women > men except in Taiwan
Leave to Care: ns effect for gender

15. Mean User Ratings of Policy Helpfulness by Country
Childcare: Turkey, Taiwan, the US & Indonesia > Canada & Spain
Health Insurance: Turkey, Canada, US & Indonesia > India, China & Israel
Health Facilities: Indonesia, US, Taiwan & Turkey > AU, Canada, India, and Israel
Childcare: Women > men except in China, Taiwan, & Turkey, where men > women.
Health Insurance: ns
Health Facilities: women> men

16. Mean Non-user Ratings of Policy Helpfulness by Country
Flextime: AU, US, Spain & Turkey > India, Indonesia, Israel, Taiwan, & China
Reduced work schedule: Spain & Turkey > AU, Canada & US > India, Indonesia, Israel, Taiwan, & China
Telecommuting: Canada, Spain & US > Israel, Indonesia, & India
Flextime: Women > men
Reduced work schedule: Women > men
Telecommuting: women > men

17. Mean Non-user Ratings of Policy Helpfulness by Country
Emergency Absence: AU, US, Spain & Turkey, > India, Indonesia, Israel, Taiwan & China
Parental leave: AU, US, Spain, Taiwan & Turkey > India, Indonesia, Israel & China
Leave to Care: AU, US, Spain & Turkey > India, Indonesia, Israel & China
Emergency Absence: women > men
Parental leave: women > men except in China
Leave to Care: women > men

18. Mean Non-user Ratings of Policy Helpfulness by Country
Childcare: Turkey, Spain & US > Canada, Israel & Taiwan > India, Indonesia & China
Health Insurance: Turkey & US > other countries
Health Facilities: AU, Indonesia & Turkey > Canada, India & Israel
Childcare: women > men
Health Insurance: ns
Health Facilities: women> men

19. Satisfaction with Overall Organizational & Government Policies by Country
organizational policies: AU, India & US > Canada, Indonesia, Israel & Turkey > Spain, Taiwan & China
government policies: India > AU, Canada, Indonesia & US > Israel, Taiwan, Turkey & China > Spain
organizational policies: women > men except in India, China &Taiwan where men > women
no significant gender difference for government policies

20. W-F Conflict & Positive Spillover by Country
WIF > FIW in all countries
WIF: Canada, Spain, India, & US > China, Taiwan, Israel, & Turkey > Indonesia
FIW: Indonesia > all others
WTF < FTW in all countries
WTF: India & Indonesia > all others
FTW: India, Indonesia, Spain & Turkey > AU, Canada, Israel, US, Taiwan & China
WIF: Men > women except in India, Taiwan & Turkey where women > men
FIW: women > men except in Australia, US & China where men > women.
Women > men for both WTF and FTW except in China, Spain & Indonesia where men > women in WTF

21. Mean Turnover Intent and Life Satisfaction by Country
TI: AU, Canada, India, Taiwan & China > Spain & Turkey
TI: men> women
Life sat: Taiwan & China < all others

22. Correlations between Satisfaction with Organizational Policies & Sustainability Variables by Country & Gender
Country (n)
WIF
FIW
WTF
FTW TI LS
Australia (79 men)
(116 women)
-.43**
-.42**
-.06
-.08
.07
.29**
.15
.34**
-.37**
-.29**
.17
.32**
Canada (186 men)
(115 women)
-.38**
-.47**
-.03
-.20*
.27**
.20*
.22**
.04
-.39**
-.32**
.42**
China (103 men)
(117 women)
-.14
-.15
.02
.27*
.11
.26*
.05
-.22*
.29*
.18
India (262 men)
(282 women)
.06
.03
-.12
-.09
-.002
-.21**
-.23**
.15*
Indonesia (135 men)
(171 women)
-.21*
-.22**
-.07
-.17*
.08
.13
.10
-.19*
.30**
Israel (111 men)
(113 women)
-.24*
-.04
-.05
.09
-.34**
.33**
Spain (60 men)
(74 women)
-.33*
.25*
.19
-.30*
-.36*
.25
.22
Taiwan (76 men)
(195 women)
.004
-.19**
.21**
-.01
.25**
Turkey (164 men)
(161 women)
-.25**
-.16*
.24**
.31**
.16*
.14
-.02
USA (47 men)
(159 women)
-.53**
-.19
.27
.28
-.45**
-.35**
.57**
.21*
greater satisfaction with org. policies was associated with:
1) lower WIF for both genders in AU, Canada, Indonesia & US and for men in Israel & women in Spain & Turkey
2) higher WTF positive spillover for both genders in Canada & Turkey and for men in China and women in AU, Israel, Taiwan & US.
3) lower turnover intent for both genders in every country except Turkey.
4) higher life sat. for both genders in Canada, Indonesia, Israel, Turkey & US and for men in China & India and women in AU & Taiwan.
* P<.05; ** p<.01; WTF = work to family & FTW = family to work positive spillover; TI = turnover intent; LS = life satisfaction

23. Correlations between Satisfaction with Government Policies & Sustainability Variables by Country & Gender
Country (n)
WIF
FIW
WTF
FTW TI LS
Australia (79 men)
(116 women)
-.18
-.21*
-.25*
-.11
.07
-.10
.03
-.004
-.08
-.23*
.39**
.04
Canada (186 men)
(115 women)
-.15*
-.15
-.06
-.19*
.27**
.05
.21**
-.16*
-.05
.24**
China (103 men)
(117 women)
-.13
.14
.23**
.29**
.13
.31**
.35**
India (262 men)
(282 women)
-.04
.18*
-.21**
-.28**
-.01
.14*
.13*
Indonesia (135 men)
(171 women)
-,21*
-.12
-,10
.10
.02
-.24*
Israel (111 men)
(113 women)
-.03
.09
.08
.18
.23*
.20*
-.35**
-.27**
.16
.24*
Spain (60 men)
(74 women)
-,35*
-.14
.27*
.17
Taiwan (76 men)
(195 women)
-.07
.002
.01
-.09
-.26
.16*
.11
Turkey (164 men)
(161 women)
-.20**
.22**
USA (47 men)
(159 women)
-.38*
-.18*
.23
-.02
.25
-.44**
.32*
Greater satisfaction with government policies was significantly associated with:
1) higher life sat. for both genders in Canada, China, India, & Indonesia and for men in AU & US and women in Israel.
* P<.05; ** p<.01; WTF = work to family & FTW = family to work positive spillover; TI = turnover intent; LS = life satisfaction

24. Discussion There was significant variability due to country in:
policy use
policy helpfulness ratings of users & non-users
policy satisfaction and
Sustainability indicators
Satisfaction with Org policies is related to less WIF in many instances, and with lower intent to turn over in almost all countries.
Women, in particular, perceive FF policies to be helpful and desirable and are more satisfied with Org policies that promote WFB and well-being.

25. Conclusions
WIF>FIW and WTF<FTW implies that work has a more detrimental impact on families than families do on work
Organizations need to do more if they wish to be sustainable, especially to address skill shortages and retain valued workers
By providing W-F policies that employees are satisfied with, organizations can alleviate conflict between work and family life, foster WTF positive spillover, decrease turnover intent, and enhance life satisfaction -- building both human and psychological capital – essential for sustainability.