Human resource executives' perceptions and measurement of the strategic impact of work/life initiatives

Abstract

AbstractGiven the stresses associated with today's demanding workplaces, work/life (w/l) initiatives continue to grow in importance as an organizational development (OD) intervention. In a period of increasing accountability, it is important for scholars and practitioners to demonstrate how OD interventions, like w/l initiatives, can be used as a strategic business tool to ameliorate the impact of stress in the workplace. To address this gap, the research questions for this study were based on the resource‐based view of the firm (Barney, 1991), while using the Organization Development Human Capital Accounting System (ODHCAS) model (Morris, Storberg‐Walker, & McMillan, 2009) as a basis for generating relevant metrics. This exploratory study used a survey instrument to compare senior human resource (HR) executives' perceptions of the strategic benefit of w/l initiatives in conjunction with their efforts to measure the impact of five types of w/l initiatives as they influence 16 measures representative of the elements of the ODHCAS. Findings from the study extend current research by revealing a relationship between HR executives' perceptions of the strategic impact of w/l initiatives and the decision to measure the impact of said initiatives.