Handbook of Principles of Organizational Behavior - Soltanieh ...

592 BORIS B. BALTES AND MALISSA A. CLARK
In sum, although XYZ Company had intended to help employees balance their work
and family by offering fl exible benefits, these policies are not having the intended consequences.
First, because top management have not clearly conveyed to company supervisors
that these work– family policies should be encouraged, and every attempt should be made to
accommodate employees who wish to take advantage of them, some supervisors have been
reluctant to grant these flexible arrangements to their subordinates for fear that they would
decrease their work group productivity. Thus, in many ways, these work– family policies
failed in their attempt to help employees balance their work and family, because either the
employees have been denied such benefits or the employees were reluctant to ask for such
an arrangement for fear of demotion or other work- related consequences. Most importantly,
at XYZ Company, the implementation of the work– family policies has actually caused more
damage than benefi t. Specifically, since the flextime and part - time work policies have been
implemented, recent employee satisfaction surveys have shown a decrease in job satisfaction
and organizational commitment. Moreover, turnover has increased from 20% to 28%
since flextime and part - time work were first offered to employees. Thus, not only have these
work – family policies failed to help improve employees ’ work – family balance, they have actually
lowered (based on the employee surveys mentioned above) employee satisfaction and
commitment to the organization. Company XYZ is a prime example of just how important
it is that all company employees, as well as the company culture, is supportive of such policies.
The bottom line is this: if you are going to offer work– family policies to employees, you
have got to do it right.
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