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

Abstract Background Balancing work and private life is challenging, particularly for women, who continue to shoulder more domestic responsibilities than men. This disproportionate burden, exacerbated during and after the pandemic, negatively impacts women’s mental health. While company welfare programs could help alleviate this imbalance, there has been limited research on their effectiveness. Methods In our cross-sectional study ( N = 7180 employees from four Italian companies, data were collected between September 2020 and July 2024), we investigated the role of employee welfare in reducing work-life conflict and enhancing mental health for both men and women. We tested a moderated mediation model in which satisfaction with employee welfare was linked to workers’ mental health through a reduction in perceived work-life conflict. Results Descriptive analyses revealed that women more frequently reported lower levels of mental health compared to men. The mediational hypothesis was confirmed: satisfaction with welfare was associated with lower work-to-life conflict and with lower life-to-work conflict, leading to improved mental health for both genders. Gender moderated the relationship between employee welfare and mental health through work-to-life conflict, with the employee welfare being less supportive in reducing work-to-life conflict and in turn enhancing mental health for women. Conclusions Overall, the results suggest that although welfare programs help reduce work-to-life conflict, they appear to be less effective in addressing life-to-work conflict and this is particularly detrimental for women.