Developing Effective Work–Life Flexibility Policies

08-21-2025

Employers often struggle to implement effective work–life flexibility policies, particularly because some employees have jobs that limit such flexibility, increasing their risk of burnout. Yet employers often feel powerless to address this. Even employees with more flexible roles don’t always use that flexibility to engage more in their work or home lives. These challenges are intensified when supervisors are unclear about their responsibilities in supporting work–life balance.

A study coauthored by the Daniels School’s Basil S. Turner Distinguished Professor Emerita Ellen Ernst Kossek, Clinical Assistant Professor Lindsay Mechem Rosokha and Professor Kelly Schwind Wilson, along with Caitlin Porter from University of Missouri-Kansas City, Deborah Rupp from George Mason University, and Jared Law-Penrose from LeMoyne College, highlights the importance of creating a supportive work–life context as a potential solution. Their paper, “Advancing work–life supportive contexts for the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’: Integrating supervisor training with work–life flexibility to impact exhaustion or engagement,” was a finalist for the 2025 Rosabeth Moss Kanter Award for Excellence in Work-Family Research.

The study offers valuable insights to leaders aiming to build supportive work–life environments through supervisor training programs. Employers often assume that employees in certain roles — like frontline positions — have limited flexibility and unavoidable burnout. However, the research shows that even in jobs with low work–life flexibility, organizations can take meaningful steps to foster a more supportive environment, helping to reduce burnout.

Similarly, many employers believe that simply offering flexible work arrangements, such as remote work and flextime, is enough to improve employees' engagement at work and at home. Yet, consistent with prior research, the findings demonstrate that availability alone does not guarantee positive outcomes. Employees often don't take advantage of these policies due to lack of awareness or fear of negative career consequences.

Drawing on job demands–resources theory, the authors find that training supervisors to support work–life balance can reduce burnout for employees with less schedule flexibility and boost family engagement for those with more flexibility. In a year-long randomized field experiment, emotional exhaustion declined in low-flexibility settings, and family involvement rose where boundaries were more flexible. However, supervisor training did not increase employees’ work engagement, regardless of job flexibility.

To support family engagement, which benefits employee stress and heath while reducing turnover in the long run, organizations need to provide additional support — especially through supervisors who can create a more supportive work–life culture. Overall, the results indicate that training supervisors to support work–life balance benefits employees regardless of how much flexibility their jobs offer. These benefits may differ — improving health outcomes like reduced exhaustion in less-flexible roles, and increasing motivation and family involvement in more flexible ones.

The study finds that companies can gain much from adopting broad supervisor training initiatives aimed at work–life support, which can positively influence employees in different but meaningful ways. These findings also align with recent recommendations from the U.S. Surgeon General urging employers to play a more active role in helping employees manage the boundary between work and personal life.