Empowering employees through flexi-work culture: The critical role of career and supervisor support in performance

BackgroundThe effectiveness of a flexi work culture is contingent upon organizational and contextual conditions, including work design, team dynamics, career concerns, and supervisory support. Prior research remains fragmented and context-dependent, frequently noting inconsistent policy utilization and variation in flexibility practices. In the insurance sector, robust empirical evidence linking flexible work culture to employee outcomes across sociodemographic contexts remains limited, underscoring the need for systematic investigation.ObjectiveThis study examines the impact of supervisor and career support within a flexi-work culture on job performance, while also investigating demographic variations in employees' perceptions of support in India's insurance sector.MethodAn exploratory, cross-sectional quantitative design was employed. Data were collected from 283 employees of IRDA-listed insurance firms using a structured online questionnaire, which employed validated scales from¹ and.² Analyses were performed using SPSS v26 and SmartPLS 4, employing t-tests, ANOVA, MANOVA, and PLS-SEM to test hypotheses and validate the model.ResultsSupervisor support showed a strong positive impact on job performance (β = 0.66, p < 0.05), while career support exhibited a weak negative relationship (β = -0.054). Demographic analysis revealed significant variations in perceived support based on gender, marital status, age, experience, and family structure. Flexitime and co-working emerged as the most preferred flexible options.ConclusionSupervisor support is a critical determinant of job performance in flexible work settings, whereas career support plays a limited short-term role. The findings extend the Work-Home Culture Model and Stress-Buffering Theory by integrating both support types into a unified FWC framework. Practically, insurance organizations should prioritize supervisor-driven initiatives and tailor flexible options to workforce demographics to enhance performance and retention.