Changing work, changing health: can real work-time flexibility promote health behaviors and well-being?

J Health Soc Behav. 2011 Dec;52(4):404-29. doi: 10.1177/0022146511418979.

Abstract

This article investigates a change in the structuring of work time, using a natural experiment to test whether participation in a corporate initiative (Results Only Work Environment; ROWE) predicts corresponding changes in health-related outcomes. Drawing on job strain and stress process models, we theorize greater schedule control and reduced work-family conflict as key mechanisms linking this initiative with health outcomes. Longitudinal survey data from 659 employees at a corporate headquarters shows that ROWE predicts changes in health-related behaviors, including almost an extra hour of sleep on work nights. Increasing employees' schedule control and reducing their work-family conflict are key mechanisms linking the ROWE innovation with changes in employees' health behaviors; they also predict changes in well-being measures, providing indirect links between ROWE and well-being. This study demonstrates that organizational changes in the structuring of time can promote employee wellness, particularly in terms of prevention behaviors.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Conflict, Psychological
  • Female
  • Health Behavior*
  • Health Promotion*
  • Humans
  • Job Satisfaction
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Male
  • Models, Organizational*
  • Occupational Health*
  • Organizational Innovation
  • Organizational Policy
  • Personal Satisfaction
  • Sleep
  • Stress, Psychological / prevention & control
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Work Schedule Tolerance*