Who benefits from work-life programs? Lessons in gender and race from OPM's Federal Work-Life Survey

Engaging the US Office of Personnel Management's inaugural Federal Work-life Survey (2017), this study deconstructs the gender and race differences in employee satisfaction with federal work-life programs. We examine whether women of color employees in particular stand to benefit differently from the federal work-life programs in comparison to their male and white colleagues. Notably, this study operationalizes the federal employee's work-life interference and dependent care responsibilities to determine gender and race-related differences in employee satisfaction with federal work-life programs. Study results indicate that federal employees belonging to historically marginalized racial and ethnic groups are satisfied to a lesser extent with partaking in federal work-life programs than their white counterparts.