Supportive organizations: Assessing their effect on civil engineers

In the past sixty years the relationship between work and family life, particularly in western industrialized countries, has undergone revolutionary changes. The number of workers with dependant care responsibilities has never before been so high and many struggle to balance their responsibilities as employees with those of parents or carers. Many of the job and organizational factors found to be negatively associated with family functioning are pertinent to civil engineers. Research suggests that work-family balance practices can enhance organizational attachment, improve job performance, increase job satisfaction and lower absenteeism and turnover. However it has also been shown that factors embedded in a company’s organizational culture can undermine these policies rendering them ineffective. Research is underway in at the University of Melbourne to provide a better understanding of work and family issues in the civil engineering profession and in particular the effect of organizational culture. This research area has received little attention to date and the proposed quantitative study will survey 1000 members of the Australian civil engineering profession. The rationale for the work and the methodology being adopted, including details of the proposed measurement scales, are outlined.