The relationship between 'family friendly' employment practices and the well-being and satisfaction of white collar employees in the construction industry

The construction industry is a demanding work environment. Work hours in construction are long and sometimes irregular. Research suggests that employees' participation in work, reflected in work hours, is negatively related to family participation and positively related to divorce rate (Aldous et al 1979). Irregularity of work hours has been identified as the most important variable affecting low marital quality among shift workers (White and Keith 1990). Low profit margins, time and budget constraints and the adversarial nature of the industry place construction industry participants under extreme pressure. The industry is project-based and job security may be lower than in repetitive process industries since continued employment is conditional on successful tendering for new projects in a highly competitive environment. Previous research has found job insecurity to be negatively related to marital and family functioning (Larson et al 1994). Continued employment may require frequent relocation. Given the increasing number of dual career couples (Kamerman and Kahn 1981), commuter marriages are not uncommon. People engaged in commuter marriages have reported significantly less satisfaction with partner and family life than people in single residence families or relationships (Bunker et al 1992). Research is under way to investigate the extent to which male and female white collar construction industry employees in Australia experience conflict between their work and their family life. The relationship between employees' work practices and their perceived quality of work and family life is being investigated. The impact of job demands on psychological distress is also being explored. The rationale for this research and the methodology, including scales to be used in measurement of independent and dependent variables, are presented. Options for making the construction industry a more 'family-friendly' work environment are considered.