Organizational Commitment and Constraints on Work-Family Policy Use: Corporate Flexibility Policies in a Global Firm

Academics, policy makers, and human resource professionals advocate flexibility policies as a way to help employees balance work and family and to promote a more committed workforce for employers. This mutually beneficial scenario assumes that employees are interested in work-family policies and per...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sociological perspectives 2004-09, Vol.47 (3), p.243-267
Main Authors: Blair-Loy, Mary, Wharton, Amy S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Business structures
Employee supervision
Employees
Employment
Family Work Relationship
Financial services
Flexibility
Flexible hours of work
Human resources
Management policies
Managers
Men
Multinational Corporations
Occupational life
Organizational Commitment
Parents
Personnel management
Personnel Policy
Psychological aspects
Sociology
Spouses
Work ethic
Work life balance
Work organization
Working conditions
Workplaces
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Summary:Academics, policy makers, and human resource professionals advocate flexibility policies as a way to help employees balance work and family and to promote a more committed workforce for employers. This mutually beneficial scenario assumes that employees are interested in work-family policies and perceive themselves as being able to use them. We examine these issues among managers and professionals in a global, high-commitment firm. Our analysis of individual-level and work group–level factors that contribute to workers' feeling constrained from using a corporation's generous official flexibility policies reveals that those with the heaviest job demands and least supportive work groups are most likely to feel unable to use these policies. Further, this sense of constraint is associated with lower organizational commitment. These findings suggest contradictions in the high-commitment model of employment as it has been applied to managers and professionals in the rapidly changing, competitive financial services industry.
ISSN:0731-1214
1533-8673
DOI:10.1525/sop.2004.47.3.243