Why Won't You Leave?: An Evaluation of Employees' Willingness to Take Time Off
Loading...
Date
2018-07-17
Access
Authors
Akers, Shelby M.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
East Carolina University
Abstract
Presently, there is little empirical research that considers why some employees are more inclined than others to take advantage of their organization's leave benefits. This study aimed to explore employees' willingness to take their leave benefits based on various individual and organizational characteristics. Such characteristics studied include perceived work stress, engagement, burnout, perceived gender inequality, work-life balance, leadership/management support, coworker support, and job demands-resources. Employees' willingness to take leave was collectively assessed based on attitudes towards sick leave, vacation leave, and leave included in the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Survey data collected through Amazon Mechanical Turk[registered] from approximately 137 working professionals were analyzed to determine how each of the identified characteristics are associated with employees' willingness to take leave. Results found: perceived job stress, burnout, and work-life balance impact willingness to take sick leave; perceived job stress, burnout, perceived gender inequality, work-life balance, coworker support, and leadership/management support impact willingness to take vacation leave; and perceived job stress and work-life balance impact willingness to take FMLA. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.