Explanations for the provision-utilisation gap in work-life policy

Purpose - Organisational work-life policies and programs allow employees to have greater control over how, when and where they work but these policies are often under-utilised, particularly by men and career-oriented employees. In what is largely an atheoretical area of literature, the paper aims to theoretically integrate the empirical literature related to the uptake of organisational work-life policies.Design methodology approach - The paper links three related areas of literature: the associations between work-life policies and individual organisational outcomes; explanations for the low uptake of work-life policies in many organisations; and preliminary studies which have explored organisational culture and its relationship to work-life policies. These literatures are integrated to develop a five-dimensional construct, "organisational work-life culture", for testing in future research.Findings - It is suggested that the following five dimensions underlie this aspect of organisational life: lack of managerial support for work-life balance; perceptions of negative career consequences; organisational time expectations; the gendered nature of policy utilisation; and perceptions of unfairness by employees with limited non-work responsibilities.Practical implications - The development and validation of the organisational work-life culture construct requires further research and may result in specific organisational strategies and policies which address the barriers to work-life policy utilisation.Originality value - Based on existing empirical evidence, the paper suggests an original theoretical proposition: that organisational work-life culture is underpinned by five dimensions and explains much of the provision-utilisation gap in work-life policy.