Does enhancing work-time control and flexibility reduce turnover? A naturally occurring experiment

Details

• Personal Author:
  Hill R ; Kelly EL ; Moen P
• Description:
  We investigate the turnover effects of an organizational innovation (ROWE-Results Only Work Environment) aimed at moving away from standard time practices to focus on results rather than time spent at work. To model rates of turnover, we draw on survey data from a sample of employees at a corporate headquarters (N = 775) and institutional records of turnover over eight months following the ROWE implementation. We find the odds of turnover are indeed lower for employees participating in the ROWE initiative, which offers employees greater work-time control and flexibility, and that this is the case regardless of employees' gender, age, or family life stage. ROWE also moderates the turnover effects of organizational tenure and negative home-to-work spillover, physical symptoms, and job insecurity, with those in ROWE who report these situations generally less likely to leave the organization. Additionally, ROWE reduces turnover intentions among those remaining with the corporation. This research moves the "opting-out" argument from one of private troubles to an issue of greater employee work-time control and flexibility by showing that an organizational policy initiative can reduce turnover. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Behavior Fatigue Mental Disorders Mental Health Occupational Health Safety Stress, Psychological
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Turnover Control-methods Employee-health Employees Flexibility Job-analysis Job-stress Mental-fatigue Mental-stress Occupations Opting Out Organizational Change Psychological-fatigue Psychological-responses Psychological-stress Stress Task-performance Work-capability Work-operations Work-organization Work-practices Work-time Control Worker-health Worker-motivation Workers

  More +
• ISSN:
  0037-7791
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Minnesota ; Oregon ; OSHA Region 10 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  69-98
• Volume:
  58
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20042148
• Citation:
  Soc Probl 2011 Feb; 58(1):69-98
• Contact Point Address:
  Phyllis Moen, Department of Sociology, University of Minnesota, 909 Social Sciences Bldg, 267 19th Ave South, Minneapolis, MN 55455
• Email:
  phylmoen@umn.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2011
• Performing Organization:
  Portland State University
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050901
• Source Full Name:
  Social Problems
• End Date:
  20081130
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:bc20dd61d8416686b0e58cc13c602105231191f2dfa200d1c7ac15b0cfdbcfdcdcd39f15e1f5bbb00cb031f0fee05707e7136aad908318aeeb38ba26d96777c1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/194466/cdc_194466_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 427.68 KB ]