Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Job dissatisfaction is a significant correlate with adverse business outcomes. This study aims to determine whether and to what extent paid time off is related to job satisfaction. Furthermore, we seek to understand how gender impacts this relationship. Research Design and Approach: A representative sample of US adults (N = 7297) born between 1980 and 1984 surveyed via the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 was analyzed for a 17-year period before the COVID-19 pandemic. Logistic regression and fixed effects modeling, along with 17 demographic and employment-related controls, identified significant relationships. Findings: Results suggest 6 to 10 paid time off days is related to significantly increased job satisfaction for male workers. In contrast, 11 or more paid time off days are needed to observe a statistically significant increase in job satisfaction for all workers and female employees.

Keywords

paid sick leave job satisfaction leave sick leave employee benefits

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Adams

Artz

(2015). Health insurance, familial responsibilities, and job satisfaction. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 36(1), 143–153. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-014-9416-1

Akerlof

G. A.

Rose

A. K.

Yellen

J. L.

Ball

Hall

R. E.

(1988). Job switching and job satisfaction in the U.S. labor market. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 1988(2), 495–594. https://doi.org/10.2307/2534536

Artz

(2010). Fringe benefits and job satisfaction. International Journal of Manpower, 31(6), 626–644. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437721011073346

Brown

Monaco

(2021). Employee access to sick leave before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Monthly Labor Review. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://doi.org/10.21916/mlr.2021.8 (Accessed: 25 January 2024).

Bureau of Labor Statistics . (2022). Leave benefits by work and bargaining status, civilian workers. https://www.bls.gov/ebs/notices/2023/paid-sick-leave-paid-vacation-and-consolidated-leave-plan-provisions-in-the-united-states-december-2022.htm (Accessed: 19 September 2023).

Clark

A. E.

(2001). What really matters in a job? Hedonic measurement using quit data. Labour Economics, 8(2), 223–242. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0927-5371(01)00031-8

Cleary

P. D.

Mechanic

Greenley

J. R.

(1982). Sex differences in medical care utilization: An empirical investigation. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 23(2), 106–119. https://doi.org/10.2307/2136508

COVID-19-Related Tax Credits for Paid Leave Provided by Small and Midsize Businesses FAQs | Internal Revenue Service (no date). https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/covid-19-related-tax-credits-for-paid-leave-provided-by-small-and-midsize-businesses-faqs (Accessed: 20 September 2023).

Dale-Olsen

(2006). Wages, fringe benefits and worker turnover. Labour Economics, 13(1), 87–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2004.03.005

10.

DeRigne

Stoddard-Dare

Quinn

Collins

(2018). How many paid sick days are enough? Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 60(6), 481–489. https://doi.org/10.1097/JOM.0000000000001300

11.

DeRigne

Stoddard-Dare

Quinn

(2016). Workers without paid sick leave less likely to take time off for illness or injury compared to those with paid sick leave. Health Affairs, 35(3), 520–527. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2015.0965

12.

Dolbier

C. L.

Webster

J. A.

McCalister

K. L.

Mallon

M. W.

Steinhardt

M. A.

(2005). Reliability and validity of a single-item measure of job satisfaction. American Journal of Health Promotion, 19(3), 194–198. https://doi.org/10.4278/0890-1171-19.3.194

13.

Donohue

S. M.

Heywood

J. S.

(2004). Job satisfaction and gender: an expanded specification from the NLSY. International Journal of Manpower, 25(2), 211–238. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437720410536007

14.

Employer Costs for Employee Compensation Summary - 2023 Q02 Results (no date). https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm (Accessed: 19 September 2023).

15.

Fact Sheet: The State of Women in the Labor Market in 2023 . (2023). Center for American progress. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/fact-sheet-the-state-of-women-in-the-labor-market-in-2023/ (Accessed: 19 September 2023).

16.

Fetterolf

J. C.

Rudman

L. A.

(2014). ‘gender inequality in the home: The role of relative income, support for traditional gender roles, and perceived entitlement’,. Gender Issues, 31(3-4), 219–237. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12147-014-9126-x

17.

Fuller

Kerr

(2022) (In this issue). The great resignation didn’t start with the pandemic. https://hbr.org/2022/03/the-great-resignation-didnt-start-with-the-pandemic. Harvard Business Review .

18.

Gender Equity Policy Institute . (2024). The free-time gender gap: How unpaid care and household labor reinforces women’s inequality. https://thegepi.org/GEPI-Free-Time-Gender-Gap-Report.pdf

19.

Hackman

J. R.

Oldham

G. R.

(1976). Motivation through the design of work: test of a theory. Organizational Behavior & Human Performance, 16(2), 250–279. https://doi.org/10.1016/0030-5073(76)90016-7

20.

Idson

T. L.

(1990). Establishment size, job satisfaction and structure of work. Applied Economics, 22(8), 1007–1018. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036849000000130

21.

Intro to the Sample | National Longitudinal Surveys (no date). https://www.nlsinfo.org/content/cohorts/nlsy97/intro-to-the-sample (Accessed: 21 September 2023).

22.

Jahan

(2024). Do employers’ offers of paid maternity leave increase women’s job satisfaction? Applied Economics, 57(4), 369–383. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2024.2303621

23.

Judge

T. A.

Locke

E. A.

Durham

C. C.

Kluger

A. N.

(1998). Dispositional effects on job and life satisfaction: The role of core evaluations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83(1), 17–34. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.83.1.17

24.

Judge

T. A.

Thoresen

C. J.

Bono

J. E.

Patton

G. K.

(2001). The job satisfaction–job performance relationship: A qualitative and quantitative review. Psychological Bulletin, 127(3), 376–407. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.127.3.376

25.

Kandrack

M.-A.

Grant

K. R.

Segall

(1991). Gender differences in health-related behaviour: Some unanswered questions. Social Science & Medicine, 32(5), 579–590. https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(91)90293-L

26.

Kaplan

S. A.

Winslow

C. J.

Luchman

J. N.

(2020). What are we working for? Comparing the importance of job features for job satisfaction over the career span. Social Indicators Research, 148(3), 1021–1037. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-019-02231-8

27.

Kim

(2017). Paid sick leave and risks of all-cause and cause-specific mortality among adult workers in the USA. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(10), 1247. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14101247

28.

Kosteas

V. D.

(2011). Job satisfaction and promotions. Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, 50(1), 174–194. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-232X.2010.00630.x

29.

Kosteas

V. D.

(2023). Job satisfaction and employer-sponsored training. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 61(4), 771–795. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjir.12741

30.

Kovner

Brewer

Y. W.

Cheng

Suzuki

(2006). Factors associated with work satisfaction of registered nurses. Journal of Nursing Scholarship: An Official Publication of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing, 38(1), 71–79. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1547-5069.2006.00080.x

31.

Kühnel

Sonnentag

(2011). How long do you benefit from vacation? A closer look at the fade-out of vacation effects. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 32(1), 125–143. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.699

32.

Kumar

Quinn

S. C.

Kim

K. H.

Daniel

L. H.

Freimuth

V. S.

(2012). The impact of workplace policies and other social factors on self-reported influenza-like illness incidence during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. American Journal of Public Health, 102(1), 134–140. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2011.300307

33.

Lee

Park

Shin

(2023). Where are the workers? From great resignation to quiet quitting. National Bureau of Economic Research. https://www.nber.org/papers/w30833 (Accessed: 15 January 2024).

34.

Lowen

Sicilian

(2009). “Family-friendly” fringe benefits and the gender wage Gap. Journal of Labor Research, 30(2), 101–119. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12122-008-9046-1

35.

Mumu

J. R.

Tahmid

Azad

M. A. K.

(2021). Job satisfaction and intention to quit: A bibliometric review of work-family conflict and research agenda. Applied Nursing Research, 59, Article 151334. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnr.2020.151334

36.

Nagy

M. S.

(2002). Using a single-item approach to measure facet job satisfaction. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 75(1), 77–86. https://doi.org/10.1348/096317902167658

37.

National Partnership for Women and Families . (2019). Paid sick days-state and district statutes, National partnership for women and families. https://www.nationalpartnership.org/our-work/resources/economic-justice/paid-sick-days/paid-sick-days-statutes.pdf (Accessed: 9 March 2020).

38.

Olson

C. A.

(2002). Do workers accept lower wages in exchange for health benefits? Journal of Labor Economics, 20(S2), S91–S114. https://doi.org/10.1086/338675

39.

Paid Leave . (no date) DOL. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/wb/featured-paid-leave (Accessed: 18 September 2023).

40.

Ray

Sanes

Schmitt

(2013). No-Vacation. Nation Revisited (Center for Economic and Policy Research).

41.

Sainju

Hartwell

Edwards

(2021). ‘Job satisfaction and employee turnover determinants in Fortune 50 companies: Insights from employee reviews from Indeed.com’. Decision Support Systems, 148, Article 113582. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2021.113582

42.

Spector

P. E.

Allen

T. D.

Poelmans

S. A. Y.

Lapierre

L. M.

Cooper

C. L.

Michael

Sanchez

J. I.

Abarca

Alexandrova

Beham

Brough

Ferreiro

Fraile

Moreno‐Velázquez

Pagon

Pitariu

Salamatov

Widerszal‐Bazyl

(2007). Cross-national differences in relationships of work demands, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions with work–family conflict. Personnel Psychology, 60(4), 805–835. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2007.00092.x

43.

Stoddard-Dare

DeRigne

Collins

Quinn

(2021). Retirement savings among U.S. older adult male workers by paid sick leave, flexible work, and vacation benefit status. Community, Work & Family, 24(4), 357–373. https://doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2019.1677557

44.

United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics (no date) Table 6. Selected paid leave benefits: Access. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ebs2.t06.htm (Accessed: 3 October 2017).

45.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics . (2023, June 22). American Time Use Survey—2022 results (USDL-23-1364). U.S. Department of Labor. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/atus_06222023.pdf

46.

Wages and the Fair Labor Standards Act (no date) DOL. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/flsa (Accessed: 18 September 2023).

47.

Wang

Jing

(2018) (In this issue). Job satisfaction among immigrant workers: A review of determinants. Social Indicators Research, 139(1), 381–401. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-017-1708-z

48.

Wanous

J. P.

Reichers

A. E.

Hudy

M. J.

(1997). Overall job satisfaction: How good are single-item measures? Journal of Applied Psychology, 82(2), 247–252. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.82.2.247

49.

Wegge

Schmidt

K.-H.

Parkes

Van Dick

(2007). “Taking a sickie”: Job satisfaction and job involvement as interactive predictors of absenteeism in a public organization. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 80(1), 77–89. https://doi.org/10.1348/096317906X99371

50.

Westman

Eden

(1997). Effects of a respite from work on burnout: Vacation relief and fade-out. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82(4), 516–527. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.82.4.516

51.

Westman

Etzion

(2001). The impact of vacation and job stress on burnout and absenteeism. Psychology and Health, 16(5), 595–606. https://doi.org/10.1080/08870440108405529

52.

Wething

(2022). Paid sick leave policy impacts on health and care utilization in the United States: why policy design matters. Journal of Public Health Policy, 43(4), 530–541. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41271-022-00371-9

53.

Woodbury

S. A.

(1983). Substitution between wage and nonwage benefits. The American Economic Review, 73(1), 166–182.

54.

Yoon

Khan

M. M.

(2020). The effect of organizational values, work-related compensation, and benefits on job satisfaction of home health aides. Home Health Care Management & Practice, 32(2), 95–104. https://doi.org/10.1177/1084822319890101

Paid Time Off and Job Satisfaction: A Longitudinal Analysis of Mid-Career Employees

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References