Quality of Work-Life Issues, The Needs of the Dual-Career Couple Employee Perceptions of Personnel Practices: A Study of Rural America Barometer for Human Resource Managers (Report‪)‬

ABSTRACT America's work force has undergone a transformation over the past forty years. The Census Bureau reported that in 1997 only 17% of all families conformed to the 1950s model of a wage-earning dad, a stay-at-home mom, and one or more children. Since the late 1950s, growing attention has focused on families in which both partners work; these relationships are called dual-earner marriages. Societal changes such as the number of women entering the workforce and the economic need for two incomes to support a family have impacted the American labor force. Married coupled families in which husband and wife both work accounted for 53.2% of the workforce in 2000. These workers face problems in balancing work responsibilities with home commitment. Literature supports that work-life conflict poses problems to both employees and business. Organizations look to their employees for productivity and efficiency, which is compromised by work-life conflict in the form of absenteeism, decreased employee satisfaction, and poor job performance. Employees look to their employers for personnel practices to help alleviate the stress they experience in balancing home and work responsibilities. Fourteen organizations in northern-lower Michigan participated in this study with employees representative of healthcare, education, banking, insurance, tourism, and the manufacturing industries. A Likert-type scale was used to assess the perception of 278 members of dual-career families on how helpful eighteen personnel practices were in alleviating work-life conflict. The rankings of the personnel practices were examined and implications to business and industry made.