Satisfaction with work-family balance among German office workers

Purpose - The paper seeks to examine the relationships between various work demands and resources and satisfaction with work-family balance in a sample of German office workers. Work-to-family conflict is expected to mediate several relationships between dependent and independent variables. Design/methodology/approach - A sample of 716 office workers from two service sector organizations in Germany participated in a comprehensive online survey. Hierarchical multivariate regressions were used to test I he predicted relationships. Findings - Perceived high organizational time expectations, psychological job demands and job insecurity were found to be negatively related to employees' satisfaction with work-family balance. Work-to-family conflict partially mediated those relationships. Social support at work and job control revealed positive relationships with satisfaction with work-family balance, but contrary to predictions this association persisted after controlling for work-to-family conflict. Research limitations/implications - The study used a cross-sectional design and employees' self reports which may be problematic in drawing causal conclusions. Originality/value - The majority of studies in work-family research look at either work-family conflict, or more recently, at work-family facilitation/enrichment, but little research has been conducted on employees' overall assessment of satisfaction with work-family balance. By investigating relationships between various work demands and resources and the mediating role of work-to-family conflict in a sample of German office workers, the study extends previous research and contributes to the work-family literature by clarifying the relationship between work-to-family conflict and satisfaction with work-family balance.