Managing work-life policies: disruption versus dependency arguments. Explaining managerial attitudes towards employee utilization of work-life policies

What factors shape managerial attitudes towards the utilization of work-life policies? The influence of disruptiveness (Powell and Mainiero 1999) and dependency (Klein, Berman and Dickson 2000) arguments on managerial attitudes is examined using a vignette design. In this study, managers in four financial firms in the UK and the Netherlands were asked to judge hypothetical requests from employees to utilize work-life policies. Findings indicate that managers are mainly interested in the performance of their department or work unit, and work-life policies are often seen as disruptive. However, when the least disruptive request is considered (short-term leave), we find that dependency arguments also play an important role and managers are more likely to respond to their employees’ personal and family needs.