THE ROLE OF FAMILY-FRIENDLY HR POLICIES IN REDUCING EMPLOYEE BURNOUT IN THE MODERN WORKPLACE

Abstract

Employee burnout has also become an emerging problem in today's dynamic workplace environment in due to increasing work pressures as well as personal responsibilities. Unstructured work-life integration associated with causes like stress, job dissatisfaction, and low productivity. In Sri Lanka, the increase of women in the workforce and families with dual work is a common phenomenon nowadays. Therefore, family-friendly human resource policies have become the preferred method to mitigate employee burnout in today business world. Practices such as paid parental leave, childcare assistance, and flexible leave policies go a long way in preventing work-family conflict and improving psychological well-being. The current research explores the impact of such family-friendly HR policies on employee burnout in a selected organization. This quantitative study used a structured questionnaire to gather data from 120 full-time employees working at a selected organization in Colombo. Employee burnout was measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). The Family-friendly HR policies were assessed based on three key areas which are the availability of paid parental leave, access to childcare support, and the use of flexible leave options. The collected data were analyzed using correlation and multiple regression techniques with SPSS version 26. The results of the study revealed that there is an extremely high negative correlation between family-friendly HR policies and burnout among employees. Among three policy categories, flexible leave policies were ranked as being most successful in preventing burnout. Paid parental leave also reflected a high contribution, followed by access to childcare support. This study shows that family-friendly HR policies help reduce employee burnout. Flexible leave was the most effective, followed by paid parental leave and childcare support. These policies help employees manage both their work and personal life, leading to better well-being and less stress. Organizations should include these policies in their HR strategies to improve job satisfaction and performance. Future studies can look at how these policies affect employee engagement and retention over time.