Revised model of the benefits and time flexible work policies for 2002 and 2008 national survey of the changing workforce

Background and Objectives Continued pressure to balance work and life leads to stress that impacts workplace productivity and safety. Employers attempt to address this by supporting workers through policies and programs that support work-life balance, while also positively affecting employers' bottom lines. This study assesses an updated version of Halpern's (1997) benefits of time-flexible work policies model by testing relationships between flexible work policies, employees' stress, levels of commitment to their employer and costs to the origination

Methods Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the fit and performance of the revised model using a nationally representative sample from the 2002 (N=2810) and 2008 (N=2769) National Survey of the Changing Workforce

Results For the 2002 data, SEM results suggest that as the need for workplace policies increased, so did the number of policies offered by the workplace; as the number of policies offered increased, so did employee commitment; as the number of policies increased, stress decreased; as commitment increased, stress decreased; and as stress decreased, costs to the workplace also decreased. For the 2008 data, results differed slightly. Specifically, the number of policies offered was not related to employee commitment. When the two models were compared, fit statistics suggest that the same models applies to both 2002 and 2008 samples.

Conclusion The modified model was a good fit for the data. Differences in magnitude for some of the variables may be explained by different economic conditions across the time points. Recommendations for occupational health professionals will be discussed.