Barriers to achieving work and family life balance: a qualitative study of the experience of four corporate employees
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Authors
Lee, Vickie Porter
Issue Date
1997
Type
Capstone
Language
en
Keywords
Psychology
Alternative Title
Abstract
The Barriers To Achieving Work And Family Balance is a study that looks at what is happening inside organizations in the workplace of the 1990's that prevents employees from achieving work and family balance. Considering the demanding nature of our organizations due to downsizing and increased competitiveness in the global market place, this study examines the culture of corporate America to determine what barriers exist. It looks at how high tech work impacts and challenges the goal of work/family balance by considering these questions: Will advances in our communication system enable us eventually to lead a more balanced life due to the capability to work almost anywhere? Our current management system relies heavily on the concept of face-time. Will technological advances help to change the culture of organizations by redefining our belief systems? What will the managers need in order to change their current value system? Are the creation of new policies helping them rethink the system that they now use?
In this study human resource managers from the high tech industry were interviewed, and the data were analyzed into theme units of major themes and sub themes. Four major themes appeared identifying the barriers within organizational
culture that prevent employees from achieving work and family life balance. They concern policy, communication, trust, and mixed messages. Policies have proven themselves to be the corner stone for employees to begin to achieve work and family life balance. It is in these policies that employees find the company does provide an alternative to either working 40 hours a week or quitting your job. Although family friendly policy alone is not the answer to work/family life balance, it has begun to shift the attitudes of managers. Communication also arose as a barrier because information about family friendly policies is buried within the human resources department. When policies are openly discussed and practiced, then employees and managers know how to use them to their fullest potential. Trust, or rather the lack of trust, is another barrier that exists in many organizational cultures. Managers who do not trust their employees will not feel comfortable using family friendly policies for fear that the employee will take advantage of the situation and not get the job completed. The last major theme that surfaced was that of mixed messages. Managers often say one thing and then do another. When their words do not match their actions, a mixed message is sent to the employees which can prevent employees from inquiring about and using the family friendly policies that their company provides. These four themes can have harmful effects on the employees and the bottom line. When employees leave their jobs, it costs the company time and money to hire and train someone to take their place. Companies also can lose their competitive edge by not retaining talented employees. The development of a training program that helps managers to extend the policies by increasing the communication among employees and managers and increases trust by reducing the mixed messages that are sent to employees will serve to shift the organizational culture to become truly supportive of work/family life balance.