Work-Family Balance of Employees at Work: A Review and Consideration of Family Supportive Programs

The present thesis addressed family supportive programs as a driver of employee work-family balance and examined their utility in organizations. The move towards dual-earners in many households today has led to an increase in interest in family supportive programs in organizations. This thesis examined family supportive programs as it relates to work-family balance and reviews research from three areas of Industrial-Organizational (I-O) Psychology: personnel psychology, organizational psychology, and methods and measurement. An extensive literature review was conducted to synthesize existing research results and conclusions concerning family supportive programs. To locate appropriate research investigating work-family balance and family supportive programs, a thorough search in ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, PsycINFO, EBSCO, and JSTOR using the keywords “family supportive programs”, “work-life balance”, “work-family balance”, “work-family programs”, and “supportive supervisors” was conducted. The present literature review focused only on the journal articles, conference papers, dissertations, and book chapters that were most relevant to the topic of interest. In the personnel section, previous research on selection, training, and performance appraisal and management were discussed as they relate to family supportive programs. Next, existing literature on leadership, organizational support, organizational climate and culture, social support, and work family enrichment, were considered through the organizational psychology lens. Additionally, in the methods and measurement section, some measurement approaches and difficulties in the measurement of family supportive programs were reviewed. Finally, a discussion of how three content domains of I-O Psychology examined intersect to provide a more complete framework for understanding family supportive programs was presented. Taken together, when employees with families are supported, it results in improved job satisfaction and job performance and, ultimately, organizational success. Their implications for science and practice, limitations, and directions for future research on family supportive programs were discussed