Work–Life Program Participation and Employee Work Attitudes: A Quasi-Experimental Analysis Using Matching Methods

Abstract

Work–life programs (WLPs) have been widely adopted and implemented by public organizations as a means of providing employees with greater choices and flexibility in coordinating their work and personal lives. Although previous research has shown that these programs are positively related to various employee attitudes and behaviors, empirical evidence about whether and how such relationships vary by type of WLP is relatively scant. In this study, we categorize WLPs into two different types—work-oriented and life-oriented programs—and explore whether and how participating in distinct types of WLPs has varying impacts on employee work attitudes. A series of Mahalanobis distance matching is conducted using data from the 2011 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. The results indicate that the use of life-oriented programs has a positive and substantive impact on employee satisfaction and commitment, while the effect of participating in work-oriented programs is not statistically significant.