Work and family practices in Japanese firms: their scope, nature and impact on employee turnover

Using firm-level data from Japan, this study examines the effects of four commonly used work and family practices on employee turnover: flextime, maternity leave, child care leave, and nursing care leave. Overall, we find statistically significant associations between work and family practices and female employee turnover in Japan. In stark contrast, we do not find such a statistically significant linkage between work and family practices and male employee turnover. As such, this study highlights the potential moderating effect of individual characteristics such as gender on the relationship between work and family practices and employee attitudes and behaviours.