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The 1991 General Social Survey of 745 randomly selected workers in the United States assessed the impact of family-responsive human resource policies, such as parental leave, flexible schedules, and child care assistance on organizational attachment. Employees who had access to family-responsive policies showed significantly greater organizational committment and expressed significantly lower intention to quit their jobs. Additionally, child care information referral had a greater impact on affective commitment among employees eligible for that benefit. The data supported the theory that offering assistance to employees in need symbolizes concern for employees and positively influences attachment to the organization. The contrasting theoretical explanation--that people are more attached to companies when they individually benefit from progressive human resource policies--received considerably less support. The practical implication of the study for human resource management professionals is that providing comprehensive family-friendly policies may have a positive impact beyond the individual employees who tap these benefits.
President Bill Clinton's signing of the Family Medical Leave Act in 1993 reflected a shift in U.S. beliefs about work and family. This shift has been fueled by dramatic transformations of both the American workforce and the American family over the past coup]e of decades. Both parents work outside the home in three-quarters of families with children, including over half of families with children less than a year old (U.S. Bureau of Census, 1989). The now-common practice of mothers and fathers participating in both the outside work domain and the home domain produces difficulty in coordinating work and home lives, including arranging for child care, dealing with childbirth absence from work, and caring for sick children or other family members. The Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 mandates 12 weeks of unpaid leave from work for either parent following the birth, adoption, or severe illness of a child. However, unpaid leave is just one human resource benefit that help alleviate work/family conflict.
The so-called "family responsive" human resource policies have been hailed by the popular press (e.g., "Employers try to see if Family Benefits Pay," 1992) and advocates of social change as methods for ameliorating the conflict between working and raising families. Family-responsive policies include flexible work scheduling (e.g., part-time work, jobsharing, and variable starting and quitting times), family-leave policies allowing periods away from work for...