Determinants of Employee Participation in Organizations’ Family-friendly Programs: A Multi-level Approach

Abstract

Many organizations have become more “family-friendly” by initiating programs to help employees meet their family needs. In return, family-friendly organizations are said to benefit from the positive attitudes and behavior of appreciative employees. However, long-term positive outcomes may not emerge if employees are reluctant to participate in work–family programs because they are concerned that their organization or manager does not support their participation. We propose two parallel conceptual models of the complex, multi-level mechanisms behind employees’ decisions to participate in their organization’s family-friendly programs.