Work‐life policy implementation: Breaking down or creating barriers to inclusiveness?

Abstract Although many employers have adopted policies to supportthe integration of work with personal and family life, expected positive gains are not always real‐ized. One reason for this gap is that practitioners and researchers often overlook how variation in policy implementation and use by different employee stake‐holder groups fosters a culture of inclusiveness. We discuss four ways in which work‐life policies are implemented (the level of supervisor support for use, universality of availability, negotiability, and quality of communication) and show how these affect the degree to which policies are seen as promoting inclusion or exclusion.These implementation attributes affect whether an adopted policy is perceived to fulfill work‐life needs and act to signal the organization's support for individual differences in work identities and life circumstances. Implications for HR practitioners are discussed. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.