The supportive mentor as a means of reducing work-family conflict

The present study investigated the influence of having a mentor on employee perceptions of work-family conflict. Results from a field survey of 502 employees showed that individuals with mentors reported significantly less work-family conflict, particularly family --> work conflict, than those respondents who did not have mentors. Other important findings indicated that a mentor's support of a protege's efforts to balance work and family demands has significant effects on reducing proteges' work-family conflict and that the role modeling function of mentoring significantly reduces family --> work conflict experienced by proteges. (C) 2001 Academic Press.