The availability and implementation of work and family benefits in Michigan municipalities.

摘要

During the last two decades much attention was paid to what has been labeled "work and family" issues and family-friendly workplace benefits. Research concerning the need for these types of employee benefits proliferated during the early 1990s. However, since the passage of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), little research has been done to assess the availability and utilization of these benefits, particularly in government organizations.;This study examined the practices of 30 Michigan municipalities to better understand the availability and utilization of work and family benefits. The purposes of this study were to explore what organizational characteristics affected benefit availability, and what factors of organizational communication and/or employee perceptions affected employee utilization of benefits. To obtain benefit availability data and some benefit utilization data, I surveyed 30 personnel administrators from these cities. To obtain the greater part of the benefit utilization data, I surveyed 137 employees from seven different cities.;Two models were developed with 14 hypotheses to test assumptions about benefit availability and use. I employed various methods for my analysis including, crosstabulations, multivariate regression, and one-way analysis of variance. Analysis yielded some interesting results. Overall benefit availability and utilization is still low at Michigan municipalities, however, benefit use was positively correlated to benefit availability. More benefits were like to be offered at municipalities where there were more employees, where more women worked, and where a human resources department was present. Union activity and per capita spending were not correlated with benefit availability. More benefits were used at organizations where employees were provided higher levels of information, where they perceived a need for benefits and where they felt free to use benefits.;This study contributes to research regarding public administration by providing examples of how a sample of public organizations have implemented work and family benefits, and what can be learned from these organizations.