Organizational leisure benefits – a resource to facilitate employees’ work-life balance?
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-10-2021-0428 |
| Published date | 08 December 2022 |
| Date | 08 December 2022 |
| Pages | 585-602 |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
| Author | Claudia Strassburger,Felix Wachholz,Mike Peters,Martin Schnitzer,Cornelia Blank |
Organizational leisure
benefits –a resource to facilitate
employees’work-life balance?
Claudia Strassburger
Institute for Sports Medicine, Alpine Medicine and Health Tourism,
UMIT Tirol, Private University for Health Sciences and Health Technology,
Hall in Tirol, Austria
Felix Wachholz
Department of Sports Science, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
Mike Peters
Department of Strategic Management, Marketing and Tourism,
University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
Martin Schnitzer
Department of Sports Science, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria, and
Cornelia Blank
Institute for Sports Medicine, Alpine Medicine and Health Tourism,
UMIT Tirol, Private University for Health Sciences and Health Technology,
Hall in Tirol, Austria
Abstract
Purpose –Using the job demands-resources (JD-R) model as a theoretical foundation, this study aims to
explore the potential of organizational leisure benefit programs in the interplay of job demands and perceived
work-life balance.
Design/methodology/approach –This article is based on qualitative data collected from semi-structured
interviews with 24 hospitality industry employees in Austria.
Findings –Thematic analysis revealed that organizational leisure benefits can play different roles in the
context of job demands depending on the individual’s perceptions of work-life balance. Three major themes
were identified, showingthat organizational leisure benefits can be a multifaceted organizational resource (1) to
facilitate employees’leisureparticipation, (2) to boost employees’recoveryor (3) to meet the employees’need for
workplace fun. The results also demonstrated the limitations of organizational leisure benefits, showing that in
case employees are constantly experiencing private duties that interfere with recovery during leisure time,
leisure benefits do not play any role regarding their perception of work-life balance.
Originality/value –This study contributes to the scare literature on organizational leisure benefits and
clarifies their potential, and limitations, as an emerging organizational resource.In particular, findings broaden
existing research in the context of the JD-R model by showing that the notion of job resources can stretch
beyond workplace resources and can also encompass organizational leisure support.
Keywords Employee benefits, Job demands, Job resources, Job demands-resources model, Work-life balance
practices, Leisure support
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
People-driven industries, such as the hospitality industry, are characterized by excessive job
demands associated with emotional labor, shift duties and dysfunctional customer behavior
(Robinson et al., 2019;Wong and Ko, 2009). Research has identified demanding work
Employees’
work-life
balance
585
Funding: This work was supported by Tourismusforschungszentrum Tirol (TFZ).
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0142-5455.htm
Received 8 October 2021
Revised 25 April 2022
7 July 2022
28 September 2022
Accepted 9 November 2022
Employee Relations: The
International Journal
Vol. 45 No. 3, 2023
pp. 585-602
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-10-2021-0428
environments as a major source of work-life conflicts, leading to mental and physical health
problems like burnout, depression (Cheng et al., 2018) and high blood pressure (Pienaar and
Willemse, 2008). These outcomes have undesirable consequences for organizations, such as
poorer employee performance (Wong et al., 2020;Zheng et al., 2016) due to absenteeism and
increased turnover intentions (Fong et al., 2018). Given that global skill shortages are among
the most pressing issues for labor-intensive industries (Baum, 2019), employees’work-life
balance (WLB) has been identified as a parameter requiring improvement to attract and
retain talent (Deery and Jago, 2015;Linnan et al., 2019). Therefore, organizational resources
facilitating employees’WLB need to be identified.
Literaturesuggests that employeebenefits are an importantorganizationalresource to meet
employees’work- and life-related needs (Roberts, 2000;Milkovich et al.,2013). Employee
benefits are defined as indirect compensation and encompass a wide range of offerings (Muse
and Wadsworth, 2 012) that can be categorized in financial benefits (e.g. health insurance or
retirement schemes), work-related benefits (e.g. training, a company car and onsite-childcare)
and leisurebenefits comprising recreational offerings(e.g. subsidized gym or spamembership,
staff travel schemes, social events and physical exercise programs) (Deery and Jago, 2015;
Wong et al., 2020). While Jolly et al. (2020) revealed that the level, i.e. the quantity of offered
benefits can significantly influencetalent attraction in the hospitality industry, Berthon et al.
(2005) stressedthat it is vital that employees envisionorganizational benefits as an employer
value proposition, i.e. as a personaladvantage for them.Due to increasing recreationalneeds of
employeesobserved in many industries attributedto the accelerating paceand demands of the
workplace arisingin the context of global competition (Sonnentagand Fritz, 2015), employees
might now view leisure as more important (Snir and Harpaz, 2002;Cheng et al., 2021).
Consequently, one can assume that particularly organizational leisure offerings might be
viewed as advantageous from the employees’perspective. Hence, organizational leisure
benefitshave gained attention at the manageriallevel (Laundon etal., 2019;Renaud et al., 2016),
and numerous companies have implemented leisure benefit systems.
Despite leisure science studies indicating that leisure is vital for restoring strength and
relieving the pressure associated with highly demanding jobs (Iwasaki and Mannell, 2000),
the beneficial impact of leisure benefits on employees’WLB remains rather assumed than
explored (Laundon et al., 2019;Lin et al., 2013;Moore, 2007). This derives from two major
constraints: First, in academic debate it still remains unclear what individuals comprehend as
what organizations consider as a good or healthy WLB (Eikhof et al., 2007), which
complicates exploration of the organizational resources that might facilitate it. So, to date
organizational resources are often researched only in a disconnected manner, or within a
quantitative setting, or not in the context of WLB. Therefore, an understanding of the
interplay is still lacking. Second, the heterogeneity of employee benefits presents a challenge
for both research and practical application (Dulebohn et al., 2009;Jolly et al., 2020); benefits
tend to be viewed as a bundle of reward management strategies while a nuanced appreciation
of the different types of benefits, such as leisure benefits, is lacking (Akgunduz et al., 2019).
However, in service industries, staff costs represent the largest expenses (Jolly et al., 2020) and
benefits are accounting for a growing proportion of remuneration (Shields et al., 2016), so that
empirical evidence on their utility is needed to inform managerial decision-making. This
study addresses these research gaps by applying a qualitative approach to explore
employees’perceptions, acceptance and engagement in leisure programs offered at their
workplace, in the context of job demands and individual perceptions of WLB, to answer the
following questions:
(1) What is the role of organizational leisure benefits in the interplay of job demands and
perceived WLB?
ER
45,3
586
To continue reading
Request your trial