Work-life balance issues in supply chain management organisations in Singapore.

Abstract

With technological advances engendering the possibility of a “24/7” workplace, juggling the demands of work and family has become increasingly difficult. With Work-Life harmony receiving increased attention by organisations and the Singapore government, this industry-specific exploratory research examined the value of implementing Work-Life balance (WLB) initiatives and its impact on various employee outcomes, namely affective organisational commitment (AOC), job satisfaction and employee turnover intentions.

This study has extended previous Work-Life balance research by bringing focus to the Supply Chain Management (SCM) industry in Singapore. Quantitative survey data were obtained from a sample of 271 employees of different levels in the various SCM organisations. Hierarchical multi-regression results demonstrated that both perceived availability and utilisation of Work-Life initiatives were positively related to job satisfaction (B=.12; p=.04 and B=.21; p=.01 respectively) and negatively related to turnover intentions (B=-.15; p=.01 and B=-.21; p=.01 respectively). In contrast, AOC was found to be significantly related to usage of Work-Life programme (B=.21; p=.00), but not availability of such programmes.