| As workforce demographics and employee values change, many employees face the challenge of balancing responsibilities of work and family. The stress that results from the imbalance of the competing roles has an impact on employee functioning both at work and home. Organization leaders are beginning to see work/family concerns as legitimate employee issues in which the organization can intervene and assist in order to maximize positive workplace attitudes and behaviors. Employee benefits that address such issues are referred to as work/family benefits. The relatively new field of work and family has gained increased research attention during the last decade, however some fundamental issues remain unresolved.; This study addressed several major weaknesses in the field by evaluating employee perceptions of identified work/family benefits. The first part of this research resulted in a list of benefits that employees believed to address work and family issues as well as appropriate benefit definitions. The work/family benefits and their definitions were then used to evaluate individual differences such as gender, responsibility for dependents and work/family conflict for their effect on employee perceptions of benefit desirability, perceived benefit value, familiarity with benefits and stigma associated with benefit use. Results indicated that female employees, employees with dependent care responsibilities, and employees experiencing work/family conflict desire, value, and feel that work/family benefits are helpful in balancing work and family responsibilities. Overall, employees reported familiarity with work/family benefits and little stigma associated with use of work/family benefits. These perceptions did not differ between different groups of employees. Finally, the assessed dimensionality of employee perceptions of work/family benefits found that different groups of employees perceived work/family benefits in multiple dimensions. This finding may indicate that employees perceive work/family benefits in a cognitively complex way.; The outcomes of this study have important implications for both research and practice by providing evidence to questions in the field regarding how different employees view and value work/family benefits. The results should be helpful to human resource managers and benefit administrators as they make strategic decisions regarding benefit needs assessment, benefit offering, and communication/marketing of benefit options. |
