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Eldercare responsibilities, interrole conflict, and employee absence: a daily study
1Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Journal of Occupational Health Psychology
|July 1, 1996
Summary
Caring for elderly parents can create work-life conflict for employees, leading to job absenteeism. This study shows direct care hours significantly impact employee absence, affecting workplace productivity.
Area of Science:
- Organizational Psychology
- Gerontology
- Work-Life Balance Studies
Background:
- Increasing numbers of employees are balancing work responsibilities with eldercare.
- This dual role can lead to interrole conflict, impacting job performance.
- Understanding the predictors of this conflict is crucial for organizational support.
Purpose of the Study:
- To model the relationship between eldercare hours and employee work-life conflict.
- To examine how interrole conflict predicts partial absence from work.
- To investigate the direct impact of eldercare provision and interaction on absenteeism.
Main Methods:
- Developed a structural equation model to test proposed relationships.
- Collected daily data from 17 employed eldercare providers over 20 workdays.
- Analyzed standardized and pooled data to assess model fit.
Main Results:
- The initial model, linking eldercare hours to conflict and then to absence, showed a good fit.
- A competing model, including direct effects of care and interaction hours on absence, provided a significantly better fit.
- Direct hours spent providing care and interacting with elderly parents directly predicted partial work absence.
Conclusions:
- Employee eldercare responsibilities can directly predict absenteeism.
- Organizations should consider the impact of eldercare on employee work attendance.
- Findings offer insights for developing supportive workplace policies for eldercare providers.