Family-supportive work environments: The role of organizational perceptions

The present study examines global employee perceptions regarding the extent their work organization is family-supportive (FSOP). Data gathered from 522 participants employed in a variety of occupations and organizations indicated that FOP responses related significantly to the number of family-friendly; benefits offered by the organization, benefit usage, and perceived family support from supervisors, FSOP responses also explained a significant amount of unique variance associated with work-family conflict, job satisfaction, organizational commitment and turnover intentions above and beyond the variance explained by the number of family-friendly benefits available by the organization and supervisor support. Results indicated that FSOP mediates the relationship between family-friendly benefits available and the dependent variables of work-family conflict, affective commitment, and job satisfaction. FSOP also mediated the relationship between supervisor support and work-family conflict. The results underscore the important role that perceptions of the overall work environment play in determining employee reactions to family-friendly benefit policies. (C) 2001 Academic Press.