Management

A study examined workers ' access to benefits, the extent to which they valued those benefits, and an analysis of variation in work-family time conflict for union and nonunion households. The survey design involved interviews with 520 Ohio respondents who were currently employed or recently unemployed. Findings indicated that union respondents and their households were more favored in access to benefits than nonunion respondents and households. Workers valued benefits to varying degrees; they placed high value on such benefits as pensions, vacations, medical care and hospitalization, and lower value on the newer "family-friendly" benefits such as day care vouchers, family leaves, and cafeteria plans. In looking at the value of benefits, differences between union and nonunion respondents were largely nonexistent. Analysis of the ease with which respondents found time for activities suggested that characteristics of jobs, family configuration, and work arrangements within the home all played a role. Even with job characteristics, family characteristics, and home work arrangements controlled, women still reported greater difficulty in finding free time than men. (Four data tables are appended.) (YLB) * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. filr..;11O