Drawing on Job Demands Resources theory, a study published recently in Human Resource Management posited that the training of line managers in work-life support will promote a work-life supportive context and as such will be key to providing solutions to the issues that organisations face in supporting employee work-life balance. Using a year-long randomised field experiment at a large public research university, the study found that having a line manager who is trained in work-life support reduces burnout in employees who have little control of when or where they work and increases family engagement of employees who have high work-life flexibility. Work-life support training of line managers was not, however, found to enhance employee work engagement, irrespective of employee job access to work-life flexibility. The study advances Job Demands Resources theory by suggesting that work-life flexibility and work-life supportive line managers are resources that enable employees to effectively control their boundaries and schedules. This, in turn, buffers the negative impact of job demands on employee health and increases employee engagement in their family role. The study contributes to several streams of literature - jobs demands, work-life balance, and leadership.
Read the full article here.
Watch the interview with the author here.
Read a Press Release about the article here.
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Jelena Petrovic
Knowledge Transfer Editor, Human Resource Management
Associate Professor, University of Southampton, UK
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