Abstract

The concept of work-life balance is an especially important issue because it affects all members of society. In particular, it is a critical matter for organizations, one that they cannot afford to overlook. The work-life balance policies organizations have in place assist employees by helping them to meet their work-life balance needs. The quality of these policies, in addition to the sincerity of the efforts with which they are implemented and supported, plays a crucial role in employees' subsequent awareness and use of them. Three Montreal area companies participated in this study, which looked at the work-life balance issue by examining employees' perceptions of fit with their organization's work-life balance efforts and the role of socialization. Employees' awareness and use of the policies in place, and how their gender, job type and number of dependants affected this, was also investigated. Finally, how perceived fit, perceived work-life balance and socialization efforts, as well as policy awareness and use, affected employees' commitment to the organization, their perceptions of organizational support, and their turnover intentions was explored. This study found that perceptions of fit and perceived work-life balance were related to one another, that socialization practices were associated with greater awareness of policies, which in turn was linked to lower turnover intentions.