Systematic review on the association between employee worktime control and work-non-work balance, health and well-being, and job-related outcomes.

Nijp, Hyico H.; Beckers, Debby G. J.; Geurts, Sabine A. E.; Tucker, Philip; Kompier, Michiel A. J.

Objectives The aim of this review was to assess systematically the empirical evidence for associations between employee worktime control (WTC) and work-non-work balance, health/well-being, and job-related outcomes (eg, job satisfaction, job performance). Method A systematic search of empirical studies published between 1995-2011 resulted in 63 relevant papers from 53 studies. Five different categories of WTC measurements were distinguished (global WTC, multidi-mensional WTC, flextime, leave control, and "other subdimensions of WTC"). For each WTC category, we examined the strength of evidence for an association with (i) work-non-work balance, (ii) health/well-being, and (iii) job-related outcomes. We distinguished between cross-sectional, longitudinal, and intervention studies. Evidence strength was assessed based on the number of studies and their convergence in terms of study findings. Results (Moderately) strong cross-sectional evidence was found for positive associations between global WTC and both work-non-work balance and job-related outcomes, whereas no consistent evidence was found regarding health/well-being. Intervention studies on global WTC found moderately strong evidence for a positive causal association with work-non-work balance and no or insufficient evidence for health/well-being and job-related outcomes. Limited to moderately strong cross-sectional evidence was found for positive associations between multidimensional WTC and our outcome categories. Moderately strong cross-sectional evidence was found for positive associations between flextime and all outcome categories. The lack of intervention or longitudinal stud-ies restricts clear causal inferences. Conclusions This review has shown that there are theoretical and empirical reasons to view WTC as a prom-ising tool for the maintenance of employees' work-non-work balance, health and well-being, and job-related outcomes. At the same time, however, the current state of evidence allows only very limited causal inferences to be made regarding the impact of enhanced WTC.

WORKING hours; OCCUPATIONAL diseases; WELL-being; JOB satisfaction; JOB performance; EMPIRICAL research; META-analysis

Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, 2012, Vol 38, Issue 4, p299

0355-3140

Academic Journal

10.5271/sjweh.3307