Balancing work and life: how employee welfare programs influence mental health with a gendered lens

Women more frequently reported lower levels of mental health than men in the sample of Italian employees.

• Cross-sectional study of N = 7180 employees from four Italian companies.
• Data were collected between September 2020 and July 2024.
• This was a descriptive finding, reported before the moderated mediation analysis.

Satisfaction with employee welfare was associated with lower work-to-life conflict, which in turn was associated with better mental health for both men and women.

• The mediational hypothesis was confirmed in a moderated mediation model.
• Welfare satisfaction was linked to mental health through reduced perceived work-life conflict.
• The indirect association held for both genders.

Satisfaction with employee welfare was also associated with lower life-to-work conflict, which in turn was associated with improved mental health for both genders.

• Life-to-work conflict was tested as a second mediating pathway.
• The mediational hypothesis was confirmed for both genders.
• Authors note that welfare appears less effective on this dimension than on work-to-life conflict.

Gender moderated the pathway from employee welfare to mental health via work-to-life conflict, with welfare being less supportive in reducing work-to-life conflict, and thus improving mental health, for women than for men.

• Moderated mediation model tested gender as a moderator.
• The moderation was found for the work-to-life conflict pathway.
• The effect was in the direction of weaker benefit for women.

Welfare programs appear less effective in addressing life-to-work conflict, and the authors suggest this is particularly detrimental for women.

• Authors interpret this in light of women's disproportionate domestic responsibilities.
• The burden was reportedly exacerbated during and after the pandemic.
• Interpretation is based on a cross-sectional design, which limits causal inference.