The critical role of co-worker involvement: An extended measure of the workplace environment to support work–life balance

This paper extends the work of Thompson, Beauvais, and Lyness (1999, Journal of Vocational Behavior, 54, 392–415) on work–family culture by considering the role co-workers play. The proposed extended measure encompasses non-work spheres beyond the family as it has been established that much of the extant research does not include a large part of the workforce – those without childcare responsibilities (Kelliher, Richardson & Boiarintseva [2019, Human Resource Management Journal, 29, 101]). The extended measure constitutes Thompson et al.'s (1999) three original dimensions plus two additional dimensions: co-worker involvement (support and consequences) and gender expectations. Two quantitative studies confirmed that the extended measure is robust for different types of workers (part- and full-time, males and females). The co-worker dimensions were significantly associated with several outcome measures; however, the gender expectation dimensions added little additional variance in relation to employee outcomes. The results support the inclusion of co-workers as an important dimension of the workplace environment that supports work and life balance.