Workplace Inclusion and Ethno-Racial Gaps in Work-Family Spillover

Background and Purpose: Work-family scholars and practitioners have consistently found that organizational practices, formal and informal, are linked to employees’ work-family spillover. However, few studies have examined whether such practices have similar consequences across ethno-racial groups—an important gap—given differences in relevant demands and resources, both work-related (such as, access to work-family supportive policies and benefits, interpersonal relationships, and experiences with social exclusion) and non-work-related (such as family structure, household division of labor, caregiving responsibilities and kin support). In this study, we examine ethno-racial differences in work-family spillover and its association with inclusive employer practices, defined as a set of relational practices that make employees feel accepted, valued, supported, and involved, through workgroup support (task-based and instrumental support as well as non-task-based support), a culture of respect and trust, participatory decision-making, and a whole-employee approach that is inclusive of diverse personal or family needs.

Methods: We use a nationally representative sample of U.S.-based employees (N = 1489) from the 2016 National Study of the Changing Workforce, collected by the Families and Work Institute (FWI) and available from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Workplace inclusion is measured through four indicators of workplace inclusion (each consisting of several items, totaling 21) and a composite inclusion score. We conducted confirmatory factor analyses to arrive at the final set of employer practices that were conceptually relevant and met criteria for good fit. Our key dependent variable is work-family spillover, also measured through multiple indicators and CFA. We include both work-TO-family and family-TO-work spillover. Using logistic regression models, adjusted for demographic, socio-economic and occupational characteristics, we estimate and compare probabilities of spillover between white and non-white employees over the distribution of inclusion scores.

Results: We find important differences by direction of spillover. Work-TO-family spillover is high for both groups and negatively associated with workplace inclusion, but ethno-racial differences are not significant; Family-TO-work spillover is high for both groups as well, and there are significant differences between white and non-white employees. It is also negatively associated with workplace inclusion, but only for non-white employees. Overall, the ethno-racial difference in work-family spillover is significantly smaller in more inclusive workplaces.

Conclusions and Implications: Our findings provide new evidence on the role of employer practices in shaping work-family outcomes and indicate that they may be more consequential for non-white employees.