Opting to Stay: Does a Work-Time Control Intervention Reduce Turnover?

Erin Kelly, University of Minnesota
Rachelle Hill, University of Minnesota

Media and research evidence suggest that escalating and competing work and life demands push some employees to use turnover as a work-family strategy, opting out of even desirable jobs. Allocating employees greater control over their working time could reduce such turnover by reducing some of the time pressures and conflicts they experience. We investigate the turnover effects of a flexibility innovation (at Best Buy) aimed at realigning workplace culture from face time to measurable results regardless of time at the workplace. We drew on survey data (prior to ROWE- Results Only Workforce Initiative) from a sample of employees (N=788) along with institutional records of turnover over eight months. Multivariate Cox modeling shows the odds of turnover were lower for employees in the intervention, even net of work-family spillover, job satisfaction and other predictors. The ROWE effects are moderated by job tenure, family-to-work spillover, physical symptoms and prior assessments of job security.