Values and human resources policies: A closer look at the Family Medical Leave Act

The purpose of this study was to examine how values influence American policies; more specifically the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The history of the United States' policies toward employees' rights to leave due to pregnancy or illness has been one of slow progress. Today there are more women in the workforce than ever before, yet the United States has failed to fully accommodate working mothers. After examining other countries, the United States would be wise to consider some liberal changes to their current leave policy. To fully understand how values influence policies in an organization, employees from a liberal organization and from a conservative organization were surveyed to see if the former would prefer a more liberal policy and if the latter would prefer a more conservative policy. While no significant differences were found, the majority of employees from both organizations agreed that the current policy needs some liberal amendments.