Predicting work engagement, turnover intentions and psychological strain over

time: Organizational support, hindrance and work-

life balance

Carolyn Timms and Paula Brough

Griffith University

Flexible Work Arrangements (FWAs)

• Include Flexi-time, Compressed working week, Telecommuting and Part-time work.

• These policies are often written into official company policy to demonstrate that the organisation is sensitive to employees’ needs

• However take-up of policies by employees depends on organisational culture: supporting or hindering.

Measures• Flexible work arrangements 4 items (Allen,2001) –

can be recoded to availability and use• 11 items from Dikkers et al. (2004)

– Organisational support (4 items)– Supervisor Support (4 items)

• From O’Driscoll (2000)

– Time expectations (4 items)– Negative career consequences (3 items)

Hindrance

Support

Dependent Variables

• Work Engagement 9 items (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2003).

• Anxiety/Depression (4 items) from the GHQ (Goldberg, (1972)

• Turnover Intentions (3 items) from Brough and Frame (2004)

Hypotheses• H1. Hindering organisational culture will be adversely

associated with use of FWAs and the key variables of work engagement, turnover intentions and psychological strain.

• H2. Supportive organisational culture will demonstrate positive associations with use of FWAs and work engagement, turnover intentions and psychological strain.

A third Hypothesis

• First phase of the research took place before the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and the second took place after this event. It was associated with a downturn in employment, consumer confidence and job insecurity.

• H3. It is expected that employees will report lower work engagement, lower turnover intentions and more psychological strain over time.

Participants• 823 Australian respondents T1 and T2, investigated at

a 12 month interval.• 593 (72%) female and 230 (28%) male. • 351 (43%) single, 472 (57%) had dependents and/or

were married• 352 (43%) had university or college degree.• 613 (75%) worked full time and 210 worked part time • Mean tenure = 11 yrs (SD = 9.53)

Control variables

• Gender

• Age

• Marital status and/or dependents

• For longitudinal analyses equivalent T1 criterion variables were controlled

Time Expectations

Supervisor Support

Use of FWAs

Work Engagement

Cross-sectional findingswork engagement

Negative Career Consequences

ns

ns

.13

.16

ns

R2=.12Δ R2 =.07***

F(8, 786) = 14.89, p < .001

Organisational Support

Supervisor Support

Organisational Support

Time Demands

Supervisor Support

Work Engagement T2

Longitudinal findingswork engagement

Negative Career Consequences

ns

-.17

R2=.47Δ R2 =.03***

F(9, 785) = 77.60, p<.001

Organisational Support

Work Engagement T1

Use of FWAs.63

nsns

.63

-.17

ns

Work Engagement T1

Use of FWAs

Time Expectations

Supervisor Support

Turnover intentions T2

Longitudinal findingsTurnover Intentions

Negative Career Consequences

.12

ns

R2=.31Δ R2 =.02***

F(9, 779) = 39.91, p<.001

Organisational Support

Turnover intentions T1

Use of FWAs.63

nsns

.63

.12

ns

Turnover intentions T1

Time Expectations

Time Expectations

Supervisor Support

Anxiety/DepressionT2

Longitudinal findingsAnxiety/Depression

Negative Career Consequences

ns

.08

R2=.26Δ R2 =.03***

F(9, 778) = 30.94, p<.001

Organisational Support

Anxiety/ Depression T1

Use of FWAs.42

nsns

.42

.08

ns

Anxiety/ Depression T1

Use of FWAs

Findings:

At T2 respondents reported:

• Higher levels of work engagement

• More awareness of availability of FWAs

• Reduced use of FWAs.

Findings

• Turnover intentions T2 were associated with being single and organisational time expectations.

• Psychological Strain T2 -biggest predictor was psychological strain at T1, and using FWAs at time 1.

• Work engagement T2 was predicted by being married and/or having children at Time 1.

-non-use of FWAs at Time 1 was a significant predictor of work engagement at Time 2

Implications: organisational• This research demonstrates that formal and informal

processes work together. • Employees need psychological safety to make use of

company policies• Employers need to think through how judgments are

made about employees’ commitment to the organisation• Supervisory personnel need to be educated as to the

efficacious nature of FWAs in allowing talented personnel to continue working in the face of complex personal circumstances.

Implications: Theoretical

This research was conducted during difficult economic times when it was expected that work engagement would decline. However work engagement rose during the course of the research.

• Organisations might more conscious of communicating strategies during tough economic times – this would contribute to work engagement.

Conclusions• FWAs are often provided in order to accommodate

conflicting needs of employees:• However, it is also tacitly understood by workers that the

actual use of the FWAs will undermine their ability to progress their career and could influence their job security

• It is therefore suggested that individual employees might be obliged to use FWAs as a ‘trade-off’ in full knowledge that this will be damaging to their career prospects

• It follows that this would well be deleterious to their engagement with their work

Thank you!