"WORK-LIFE BALANCE" AND ITS IMPORTANCE FOR THE WORK PROCESS IN THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY. A PERSPECTIVE OF GENERATION Y EMPLOYEES

The importance of people in the world economy has been emphasized in many previous studies (e.g. Skrzeszewska and Milic Beran, 2015), including the critical role of employees in successful hotel business operations (e.g. Enz and Siguaw, 2000; Davidson, 2003). However, today modern hospitality industry faces a generational change in the labor market. Although generation Y employees create an increasing pool of hospitality workforce, their characteristics may pose real challenges for human resources management (see Kong et al., 2015). This may result from the fact that work does not play a central role in their lives, thus they may be less engaged in work and more likely to leave the organization than the older generations in the hospitality workplace (Park and Gursoy, 2012; Solnet et al., 2012). Therefore, the aim of this study is to identify the importance that employees of generation Y attach to the work-life balance and what its consequences are for the work process in the hospitality setting. More specifically this study develops and tests a research model that investigates the relationships between both work-family conflict (WFC) and workplace support for work-life balance (WSWLB) with work engagement (WE) and its correlation with employees' intention to leave (ItL). Additionally, direct correlations between WFC and WSWLB with intention to leave (ItL) are examined. The research was conducted among contact employees of hotels located in Northern Poland (Pomeranian Voivodeship). Data were collected using a questionnaire survey. The findings of this study provide empirical support that young people want to have more control over their own lives with less interference from their work. Only then will they be more likely to engage in their work and stay in a hotel organization for longer. The research value of this study may result from the fact that, to the best of authors` knowledge, this is the only attempt to measure the correlations between the proposed study context taking into account generation Y employees in the context of the Polish hospitality industry.