Work

Offering paid sick and family leave is not enough: Leave supportive supervisor behavior training improves policy use, health, and work outcomes.

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Paid sick and family leave policies provide employees the right to request paid time-off for personal illness or family demands.Yet, they can be underutilized, and their effects show mixed results.Research has underaddressed the disconnect between formal and informal work-family support, clarifying the role of supervisors as contextual resources supporting paid leave.Integrating research on job demands-resources theory, family supportive supervisory behaviors, and work-family policies, we evaluated training designed to increase supervisors' leave supportive supervisor behaviors (LSSB), defined as supervisor behaviors perceived as encouraging employees to access, use, and value paid leave as a resource for managing nonwork time-off demands.We conducted a 6-month field study at two U.S. universities, with random assignment to training (N = 293 managers, 630 employees), and wait-list control conditions (N = 252 managers, 293 employees).The intervention included voluntary online training, behavior self-monitoring, and a webinar.Compared to the control organization, employees in the trained organization reported higher LSSB, greater family leave use, higher job satisfaction, and stronger organizational commitment.Results showed that the intervention was more beneficial for women (higher commitment), employees with childcare demands (higher job satisfaction, improved general health, higher sick leave use), and sandwiched (both child and older adult/ elder) caregivers (higher job satisfaction).Post hoc longitudinal analyses identified that the intervention increased supervisors' role modeling behaviors, which predicted higher employee job satisfaction and LSSB.We provide future implications on the criticality of pairing supervisor training with paid leave to strengthen supervisor support as a contextual resource to improve policy use, health, and work outcomes.

Source: Journal of Applied Psychology

DOI: 10.1037/apl0001395