Leaders facilitating flexible work systems for followers

Leaders at all levels of the organization fulfil a critical role in facilitating access to flexible work systems for others. In the presence of formal flexible work policies, leaders act as gatekeepers. Although policies may exist that allow workers to start or end work at different times during the day, whether employees take advantage of this flexibility is largely determined by their leaders’ implicit or explicit permission to do so. Employees need to believe that accessing flexible schedules will not result in adverse effects on their current experiences and future opportunities at work. Leaders’ support for

Leadership inflexible work systems 81 employees accessing flexible work opportunities cannot necessarily be taken for granted: In a recent global survey of over 31,000 employees across 22 developed and developing countries (Willis Towers Watson, 2017), less than half of employees (44%) believed that senior leadership at their organization sincerely endorsed policies that benefit their well-being. If employees sense this ambiguity or lack of concern, they are less likely to approach their leaders with issues regarding their well-being, and less likely to take steps to change the situation, which could include choosing not to access flexible work arrangements. Indeed, research shows that despite their desire to do so, employees will not take advantage of breastfeeding (Weber et al., 2011), personal day (Eaton, 2003), and family-friendly (Wang & Walumbwa, 2007) policies, unless their leaders explicitly encourage their use.

In order for employees to gain real benefit from flexible work policies and programs, leaders need to show active support — in short, they need to display leadership on this issue, the type of leadership that will create a sense of psychological safety among employees (Nembhard & Edmondson, 2006) when considering whether to access flexible work opportunities. We now discuss the benefits of leaders encouraging flexible work systems, and the challenges they may face in doing so.

The benefits

There is no reason for us to provide a comprehensive review of the many benefits associated with flexible work systems; that case is made in a number of chapters in this book. What we do, however, is review the benefits that followers experience when leaders specifically enable and endorse flexible work systems, including the improvements to employees’ mental health, workplace attitudes, and performance.

Employee mental health

Perhaps the most well-documented benefit of flexible work systems for employees is to their mental health, specifically in improving psychological well-being. Across the board, supervisor endorsement of flexible work enhances the benefits these policies generate. For example, research reliably demonstrates that work-family conflict is reduced in the presence of flexible work policies, with these effects strengthened by managerial support (Julien, Somerville, & Culp, 2011; Mesmer-Magnus & Viswesvaran, 2006). In a meta-analysis combining 85 studies and comprising 72,507 employees, Kossek, Pichler, Bodner, and Hammer (2011) found that not all supervisor support generates equal reductions to work-family conflict; instead, supervisor support needs to specifically target work-family concerns. In other words, leaders need to articulate their specific support for work-family balance and the use of flexible hours. Breaugh and Frye (2008) focused on four alternativework policies, namely telecommuting, ability to take work home, flexible work hours, and family leave. Their findings showed that whether or not a supervisor supported these specific alternative work arrangements predicted whether employees would use them.

Breaugh and Frye (2008) went even further, concluding that “the informal actions taken by a supervisor to accommodate family responsibilities may have greater influence on work—family conflict than the use of formal practice” (p. 352). Their statement is important, as it speaks to the indirect or symbolic benefits that accrue when leaders support flexible work.

Supervisor endorsement of flexible work systems also improves other dimensions of health. In one study of 1,200 parents in the US, employees with greater access to work-schedule flexibility that was explicitly supported by their supervisor reported greater work-life balance and, in turn, experienced lower levels of stress, minor physical illnesses, and sleep disorders (Jang, 2009). Additional benefits include reductions in depression, somatic complaints, and blood cholesterol for women (Thomas & Ganster, 1995). Again, all of the beneficial outcomes to mental and physical health are enhanced when the leader encourages the use of such policies.

Employee’s individual workplace attitudes

Research has consistently shown over decades that greater flexibility in work scheduling is associated with positive individually held workplace attitudes. Leader support, again, enhances such benefits. Indeed, when supervisors endorse flexible work schedules, individuals enjoy even greater job satisfaction (Thomas & Ganster, 1995), work engagement (Swanberg, McKechnie, Ojha, & James, 2011), affective commitment and decreased work withdrawal (Wang & Walumbwa, 2007), and turnover intentions (Choi, 2018).

Organizational and employee performance

The literature on flexible work systems and work performance benefits is more mixed, with few studies investigating the collective benefits of flexible work arrangements and supervisor support on objective measures of work performance. However, in one large survey of 92,000 US employees, the effects of family-friendly work policies on organizational performance was moderated by support from top management endorsement and direct supervisor support (Ko, Hur, & Smith-Walter, 2013). Intriguingly, top management support for family-friendly work policies was a better moderator of employee satisfaction, whereas direct supervisor support was stronger in moderating the relationship between family-friendly work policies and organizational performance. Regardless, these findings again point to the importance of leaders at all levels of the organization endorsing flexible work policies if employees are to benefit to the maximum extent possible from their use. That is, although potentially distant in the organizational hierarchy

Leadership inflexible work systems 83 from followers, it is likely that top-level leaders’ attitudes trickle down and affect all other employee attitudes and behaviors regarding flexible work (Schaubroeck et al., 2012).