There has always been a struggle to find the right balance between work responsibilities and family responsibilities. In fact, many employees prioritize the opportunity for good work-life balance when searching for new jobs or considering whether remote work is a good fit. And while companies can claim to focus on work-life balance, many of the day-to-day actions fall to individual leaders within the organization. New research (Russo et al., 2025) investigated what happens when a team leader is supportive of work-life and work-family balance.
THE RESEARCH STUDY
The researchers performed a two-wave study, gathering data from 435 employees across 56 locations of a large Italian retail store. In the first wave, the employees were asked about the behavior of their leader that supported work-life balance and how “others-focused” their team was. At the same time, managers were asked to report on the characteristics of their job that allowed them to support their employees. In the second wave, managers were asked to report on the performance of their team.
The researchers found that when team members felt support for their work-life needs, they became more “others-focused” in attitude and behavior. In addition, the performance of the team increased. However, when managers were encouraged to focus on the team’s work-life balance above all else, they ran the risk of experiencing emotional overload, which could lead to worse results for the team.
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
Work-life balance is an important part of the modern workplace, with many employees considering it a “make or break” issue. As such, organizations should be particularly concerned with promoting and enabling good work-life balance. Taking the following steps may help:
- Identify when it is appropriate to focus on the work-life balance needs of the team as a whole and when it is appropriate to give one-on-one consideration.
- Make supporting each other a team event. By sharing needs and concerns as a group, employees can create a sense of unity, rally around each other, and improve attitudes within teams.
- Consider the reasonable limits of supporting team members and their families. Be aware of the signs of emotional burnout, especially if those providing support start to become overburdened.
Russo, M., Montani, F., Morandin, G., & Grenier, S. (2025). Being a family supportive team leader: Implications for team emotional climate and performance. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 98, e12563.
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