Running head: EVALUATING EMPLOYEES BASED ON EMPLOYEE 1

Evaluating Employees Based on Employee Memos

Natalie Naturile

Catawba College

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of Psychology 2222, Experimental

Psychology

April 30, 2018

EVALUATING EMPLOYEES BASED ON EMPLOYEE 2

Abstract

Participants will be thirty-two Catawba College student volunteers, men and women. Participants

will be assigned randomly within sex to be in either the group reading a memo from an employee

who took maternity leave for six weeks, or the group reading a memo from an employee who

took family leave to take care of her elderly mother for six weeks. The manipulations resulted in

between subjects’ design. The purpose of this experiment is to evaluate employees based on

perceptions of the memos they wrote requesting the addition of a family bathroom in the

workplace. One employee just came off six weeks’ maternity leave and will use the family

bathroom for breastfeeding. By evaluating the employee’s, we will see what type of employee

they are, and if this type of employee’s request would be fulfilled.

EVALUATING EMPLOYEES BASED ON EMPLOYEE 3

Workplace Accommodation for Employees

Accommodations for employees have become a huge topic within the workplace.

Regardless of the purpose or reason for accommodation requests, it has raised some question as

to whether it is fair or not for employees/ co-workers to be accommodated when

accommodations incur substantial costs to organizations. There are many pros and cons when

discussing whether workplace accommodation is worth the hassle, cost, and risk. Do people’s

perceptions have a negative effect on employees that have children?

For example, Research shows maternal employment can have a huge negative impact on

the length of breastfeeding (Rojjanasrirat & Sousa, 2010). Participants were low income women

who volunteered to take part in the experiment. Women were placed into five focus groups and

asked questions in interviews regarding maternal employment and breastfeeding. Rojjanasrirat

and Sousa (2010) concluded that women had fears of deciding whether to breastfeed or not

breastfeed when returning to work or not returning to work because it may cause financial

difficulties and the multiple challenges they may face. The women agreed the most important

part of choosing to breastfeed and return to work was staying positive, having a strong

determination, and being educated on breastfeeding. Mirkovic and Scanlon (2016) also

conducted several interviews and had similar results, women who were allowed longer maternity

leave had a greater chance of choosing breastfeeding, as opposed to those who received no paid

maternity leave and faced financial difficulties.

Similarly, Seijts and Yip (2008) performed an experiment to determine the effect of

knowledge on support for workplace accommodations. The purpose was to make sure no

employee had a disadvantage when it came to workplace accommodation for whatever reason

necessary. A random sample was used during this experiment. There were two different
EVALUATING EMPLOYEES BASED ON EMPLOYEE 4

conditions in this experiment. Participants were sent two different scenarios. There was only one

difference between the two scenarios and it was the type of organization the employee worked

for. The scenarios sent to the participants described the struggle of an employee who returned to

work following a three months’ maternity leave. The participants were given ten questions

regarding their knowledge of the benefits of breastfeeding and how important breastfeeding can

be for mother and baby. Then, two hundred twenty participants were left with an open-ended

question, asking whether they believed the accommodation should be added or not. Seijts and

Yip (2008) concluded that the more knowledge co-workers and employees had on the benefits of

breastfeeding and how important breastfeeding is for the mother and baby, the more likely they

were to agree to accommodate female employees. Specifically, Seijts and Yip (2008) found

some benefits of breastfeeding can include less absences from the woman employee for missing

work with a sick infant, children who are breastfeed are less like to get sick as often as those who

are formula fed, and healthcare cost savings for the company. Cardenas and Major (2005) also

agree that the many benefits of breastfeeding not only help the mother and child, but can also

help companies save on healthcare costs. Workplaces that offer flexibility and support reduce the

potential for role conflicts between breastfeeding and employment and increase the likelihood

that breastfeeding will be initiated and maintained for longer durations (Cardenas & Major,

2005). Witters-Green results showed that mothers felt breastfeeding was a way for the mother

and child to reconnect after a separation such as work.

Likewise, Seijts (2004) performed an experiment to determine the effect of workplace

accommodation on co-worker’s perceptions of fairness. Three different conditions were used and

each participant received one of three scenarios: a description of an organization that does not

accommodate a breastfeeding employee, a description of an organization that accommodates a

EVALUATING EMPLOYEES BASED ON EMPLOYEE 5

breastfeeding employee at no cost to her or her fellow co-workers, or a description of an

organization that accommodates a breastfeeding employee at the cost of her fellow co-workers

(covering for Amy while she breastfed her child). Additionally, a scenario was sent within the

research material that explained the hardships a breastfeeding employee may encounter. The

employee who was named “Amy Harvey” had just returned from three months’ maternity leave

and wrote a letter requesting a workplace breastfeeding accommodation. The participants were to

evaluate the request as if they were a fellow co-worker of Amy. Next, participants were to

evaluate the organizations response to Amy’s request. Seijts (2004) concluded that

accommodating Amy was more fair than not accommodating her at all, suggesting most co-

workers believed it was better to add the workplace breastfeeding accommodation rather than

denying it and not allowing Amy a private place to breastfeed other than the restroom. Payne and

Nicholls (2010) recommend that the responsibility to return to paid work and continue

breastfeeding be not only on the mother, but co-workers, employers, unions, and government

policymakers. Allowing women to be good employees and good mothers at the same time,

instead of making them choose between the two (Payne & Nicholls, 2010). In addition, Seijts

(2004) found co-workers with children understood the need and purpose of a private area for

breastfeeding so they felt it was necessary. And people without children rated it less fair for co-

workers rather than those with children, meaning that the co-workers who did not have children

felt it was not fair for them because they would not be getting anything out of the new addition

of the workplace breastfeeding accommodation so they did not see it as necessary. Spitzmueller,

et al. (2015) concluded that perceptions of work-place breastfeeding support and negative

supervisor comments about breastfeeding may impact whether a woman decides to discontinue
EVALUATING EMPLOYEES BASED ON EMPLOYEE 6

exclusive breastfeeding regardless of the negative long-term health issues for the working mother

and her child.

In sum, the effect of breastfeeding, employee perception of breastfeeding, and work

accommodation can place many challenges and difficulties on women returning to work from

maternity leave. These factors can influence or discourage a woman to continue breastfeeding

after returning to work from maternity leave. The purpose of this experiment was to evaluate

employees based on the perception of the memos they wrote requesting the addition of a family

bathroom in the work place. Both need the addition for different reasons. By evaluating the

employee, we would see whether men and women evaluate workplace accommodations

differently as a function of whether the request for accommodation is a function of maternity

leave vs Family Leave Act. I hypothesized the request of the employee would be fulfilled if they

were loyal, valuable, and devoted to the company regardless of the length and type of leave they

took (Maternity or Family Leave Act).

Method

Participants and Design

Participants will be 32 Catawba College students (16 men and 16 women) participating

either as volunteers or for class credit. Participants will be assigned randomly within sex to be in

either the group reading a memo from an employee who took maternity leave for six weeks, or

the group reading a memo from the employee who took family leave to take care of her elderly

mother for six weeks. The manipulations resulted in a 2 x 2 (Sex x Leave type) between-subjects

design. I obtained informed consent from each participant before beginning the experiment.

Stimuli
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Participants read one of two typed memos from two different female employees, who are

returning to work after six-weeks’ leave. The first memo came from the employee who took six-

weeks maternity leave. She is asking the supervisor for the addition of a family bathroom for the

employees to use. She feels the addition of a family bathroom would not only benefit her for

breastfeeding purposes, but add an extra bathroom for all employees and be handicap accessible.

The second memo came from the employee who just returned from six-weeks’ family leave,

during which she took care of her elderly mother. She is asking the supervisor for the addition of

a family bathroom because she feels a newly renovated bathroom would not only add an extra

bathroom for all the employees, but it would also be handicap accessible than the other

bathrooms within the office. Memos can be found in Appendix A.

Dependent Measures

Recall questions were given to participants after they read one of the two memos. The

recall questions are questions referring to what the participant just read, referencing specific

things regarding the target employee. The eight recall questions can be found in Appendix B.

The purpose of the recall questions will be to determine how the participant would evaluate the

employee based on the memo they read. I will count the answers that are answered correctly

from the recall questions by all participants.

The participants also provided several self-report measures. There will be four Likert

scale ratings that will be measured on 7-point scales. The scales will ask the participants how

much they remembered from the memo (with endpoints 1 none of it to 7 all of it), if they found

the memo interesting (with endpoints 1 not at all to 7 very much), if they completed the reading

and questions on time, and if the memo was hard to understand. The purpose of the self-report
EVALUATING EMPLOYEES BASED ON EMPLOYEE 8

measures will be to determine how much the participant remembers from the memo they read

and how they would evaluate the employee based on the employee memo they read.

Procedure

Participants completed the task in a cubicle. They were given instructions on what they

should read, and how to answer the questions, to evaluate the employee based on the memo they

read. They were given a consent form to sign before participating in the experiment. The

manipulation is introduced when the participant reads one of the two types of memos. The

participant will be given five min to read the memo and answer the recall questions that follow.

The memos will be typed and printed so the participants can read them. All participants will read

one of the two memos and answer the same recall questions within five min, then they will be

given three min to complete the self-report. Once the participants have completed the

experiment, I will thank them for participating, debrief them, and allow them to leave.

Results

In order to examine whether men and women will evaluate workplace accommodations

differently as a function of whether the request for accommodation is a function of Maternity

leave or Family Leave Act. A 2 x 2 (Sex x Leave type) between-subjects’ chi-square test was

performed. The percentages from this analysis can be seen in Table 1, Table 2, and Figure 1. A

manipulation check (recall questions) was used to determine how much each participant

remembered from the memo that they read. The chi-square test to examine percentage of

agreement that the employee was conscientious as a function of memo type was not significant
2
(2, n = 33) = 1.66, p = .435, neither was the agreement that the employee was hardworking as
2
a function of memo type (2, n = 33) = 2.30, p = .317. The chi-square test to examine

percentage of agreement that the employee was a good leader as a function of memo type was
EVALUATING EMPLOYEES BASED ON EMPLOYEE 9

2
not significant (2, n = 33) = 4.27, p = .234, as well as the agreement that the employee was
2
devoted as a function of memo type (2, n = 33) = 1.84, p = .398. The chi-square test to

examine percentage of agreement that the employee was devoted as a function of sex was not
2
significant (2, n = 33) = 1.13, p = .945, neither was the agreement that the employee was
2
hardworking as a function of sex (2, n = 33) = 1.15, p = .562, or the agreement that the
2
employee was conscientious as a function of sex (2, n = 33) = 1.91, p = .384. The chi-square

test to examine percentage of agreement that the employee would make a good leader as a
2
function of the sex was significant (2, n = 33) = 12.05, p = .006. 88.2 % of Women

participants thought the female employee to be a good leader, while only 37.5% of men thought

the female employee would make a good leader.

Discussion

The results of this experiment showed that the Memo Type/ all of the characteristics

(devoted, conscientious, hardworking, and good leader) showed no significant results. While the

Sex/ Good Leader type showed a significant difference. My results were similar to (Payne &

Nicholls, 2010) they concluded it was best to allow women to be good employees and good

mothers at the same time, instead of making them choose between the two. My results were kind

of similar to Cardenas and Major (2005) because they concluded that workplaces that offer

flexibility and support reduce the potential for role conflicts between breastfeeding, employment,

and the type of employee. It was extremely hard to match my results with some of my references

due to some big mistakes I made within my experiment which made it a huge struggle to

integrate my results with the literature.

The experiment could have been much better if I would have made some of my

manipulation check (recall questions) into self-report scales, rather than having them as recall
EVALUATING EMPLOYEES BASED ON EMPLOYEE 10

questions. I also failed to ask the participants if they would have allowed the addition of a family

bathroom for the employee that the read the memo on. I feel like My experiment could have been

much better if I could correct these mistakes. In the future, I would like to complete an

experiment similar to this. However, I would change up my manipulation check (recall

questions), I would ask the participants if they would have allowed for the addition of the family

bathroom based on the memo they read, and I would have changed my self-reports a little. I

think with these fixes this experiment could be very worthwhile and I could learn a lot more

about this topic that I find very interesting.

EVALUATING EMPLOYEES BASED ON EMPLOYEE 11

References

Cardenas, R. A., & Major, D. A. (2005). Combining employment and breastfeeding: utilizing a

work-family conflict framework to understand obstacles and solutions. Journal of

Business and Psychology, 20(1), 31-51. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10869-005-6982-0

Mirkovic, K. R., Perrine, C.G., & Scanlon, K. S. (2016). Paid maternity leave and breastfeeding

outcomes. Birth: Issues in Perinatal Care, 43(3), 233-239.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/birt.12230

Payne, D., & Nicholls, D. A. (2010). Managing breastfeeding and work: A Foucauldian

secondary analysis. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 66(8), 1810-1818.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2648.2009.05156.x

Rojjanasrirat, W., & Sousa, V. D. (2010). Perceptions of breastfeeding and planned return to

work or school among low-income pregnant women in the USA. Journal of Clinical

Nursing, 19(13-14), 2014-2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2702.2009.03152.x

Seijts, G. H. (2004). Coworker perceptions of outcome fairness of breastfeeding

accommodation in the workplace. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 16(3), 149

166. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/B:ERRJ.0000038650.91466.4f

Seijts, G. H., & Yip, J. (2008). The effect of knowledge accumulation on support for workplace

accommodation. Journal of Business and Psychology, 22(4), 311-321.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10869-008-9071-3

Spitzmueller, C., Wang, Z., Zhang, J., Thomas, C. L., Fisher, G. G., Matthews, R. A., &

Strathearn, L. (2016). Got milk? Workplace factors related to breastfeeding among working

mothers. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 37(5), 692-718.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/job.2061
EVALUATING EMPLOYEES BASED ON EMPLOYEE 12

Witters-Green, R. (2003). Increasing breastfeeding rates in working mothers. Families, Systems,

& Health, 21(4), 415-434. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0089617

EVALUATING EMPLOYEES BASED ON EMPLOYEE 13

Table 1.

The Distribution of Memo Type and Employee Characteristics

Percentages for the Type of memo participants were given and how they rated the employees

with these characteristics

Practice Conditions

Maternity Family Leave Act

(n= 16) (n= 17)

Conscientious/Memo Type 50.0%A 47.1%B

Leader/ Memo Type 42.9%A 57.1%B

Hardworking/ Memo Type 81.3%A 70.6%B

Devoted / Memo Type 56.3%A 76.5%B

Note: There was no significant change between the results

Table 2.
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The Distribution of Sex of participant and Employee Characteristics

Percentages for the Sex of participants were given and how they rated the employees with these

characteristics

Practice Conditions

Men Women

(n= 16) (n= 17)

Conscientious/Memo Type 43.8%A 52.9%B

Leader/ Memo Type 37.5%A 88.2%B

Hardworking/ Memo Type 75.0%A 76.5%B

Devoted / Memo Type 68.8%A 64.7%B

Note: 88.2 % of Women participants thought the female employee to be a good leader, while

only 37.5% of men thought the female employee would make a good leader.
EVALUATING EMPLOYEES BASED ON EMPLOYEE 15

Appendix A
May 17, 2015

Sarah Smith
263 Shady Trail Rd.
Concord, NC 32450

Mr. Smith
Supervisor of Billing Department
444 South Blvd.
Charlotte, NC 26532

Dear Supervisor Mr. Smith,

I am writing to request the workplace accommodations for a family bathroom. Due to being a
new mother and just returning to work following six weeks maternity leave.

I feel the addition of a family bathroom will not only add a new, modern bathroom, but it would
also help multiple employees for various reasons, mine being breastfeeding purposes. Our
current bathrooms are small (not Handicap accessible), out dated, we constantly have to wait
long periods for the bathroom to become available, and there is no private place for female
employees to breastfeed or pump during the workday.

After returning to work following six weeks maternity leave, I feel the addition of a family
bathroom will not only add an additional bathroom for employees, cut the wait time in half, be
ungraded, handicap accessible, allow private areas for female employees breastfeeding or with
children, and employees’ can feel comfortable in a family setting.

It is my belief that these reasonable workplace accommodations will assist not only me but other
employees in continuing to be productive, hardworking, and devoted at smith Corporation. I
would like to have a meeting with you to discuss your thoughts and ideas on the accommodation
at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely,

Sarah Smith

May 17, 2015

EVALUATING EMPLOYEES BASED ON EMPLOYEE 16

Sarah Smith
159 Oak Grove Rd.
Lexington, NC 32450

Mr. Smith
Supervisor of Billing Department
444 South Blvd.
Charlotte, NC 26532

Dear Supervisor Mr. Smith,

I am writing to request the workplace accommodations for a family bathroom. Due to being a
loyal employee and just returning to work following six weeks of Family Act Leave to take care
of my elderly mother.

I feel the addition of a family bathroom will not only add a new, modern bathroom, but it would
also help multiple employees for various reasons. Our current bathrooms are small and not
handicap accessible, out dated, we constantly have to wait long periods for the bathroom to
become available.

After returning to work following six weeks of Family Act Leave to take care of my elderly
mother, I feel the addition of a family bathroom will not only add an additional bathroom for
employees, cut the wait time in half, be ungraded, handicap accessible, and employees’ can feel
comfortable in a family bathroom setting.

It is my belief that these reasonable workplace accommodations will assist not only me but other
employees in continuing to be productive, hardworking, and devoted at smith Corporation. I
would like to have a meeting with you to discuss your thoughts and ideas on the accommodation
at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely,

Sarah Smith
EVALUATING EMPLOYEES BASED ON EMPLOYEE 17

Appendix B

Recall Questions:

1. What kind of leave did this employee take?

A. Personal

B. Maternity

C. Family

D. Vacation

2. Is this employee valuable to the company?

A. Yes

B. No

C. I don’t know

D. Maybe

3. What gender are the employees?

A. Male

B. Female

C. I don’t know

D. Maybe

4. What are the employees requesting?

A. New Desk

B. Pay Raise
EVALUATING EMPLOYEES BASED ON EMPLOYEE 18

C. Family Bathroom

D. For additional leave

5. Is this employee devoted to the firm?

A. Yes

B. No

C. I don’t know

D. Maybe

6. Would this employee make a good leader?

A. Yes

B. No

C. I don’t know

D. Maybe

7. Was this employee conscientious?

A. Yes

B. No

C. I don’t know

D. Maybe

8. Is this employee hard-working?

A. Yes

B. No
EVALUATING EMPLOYEES BASED ON EMPLOYEE 19

C. I don’t know

D. Maybe
EVALUATING EMPLOYEES BASED ON EMPLOYEE 20

Appendix C

1. How much did you remember about the memo?

None of it 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 All of it

2. Was the memo hard for you to understand?

None of it 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 All of it

3. Did you find the memo interesting?

None of it 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 All of it

4. Did you complete the reading and recall questions on time?

None of it 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 All of it