A new study conducted by researchers at Penn State found that a workplace intervention designed to reduce work-family conflict gave employed parents more time with their children without reducing their work time.

"These findings may encourage changes in the structure of jobs and culture of work organizations to support families," Kelly Davis, research assistant professor of human development and family studies, said in a statement.

The research is part of the Work, Family and Health Network's evaluation of the effects of a workplace intervention designed to reduce work-family conflict by increasing both employees' control over their schedule and supervisor behaviors that support employees' personal and family lives.

"The results show that we can change the way we work to improve family life," Davis said. "Our study shows that the workplace intervention had an effect on families by increasing parents' time with their children."

For the study, researchers evaluated whether parents who participated in the STAR intervention reported significantly more daily time with their children compared with parents randomly assigned to a control group. They found that parents in the STAR group exhibited a statistically significant increase in parent-child shared time -- an additional 39 minutes per day on average -- between the pre-test and the 12-month follow-up post-test. By contrast, parents in the control group averaged 24 fewer minutes per day with their child at the 12-month follow-up.

"Our study tested ideas from the work-home resource model, which holds that work demands can deplete parents' resources, including their time and energy, with negative effects on their family functioning," Davis said. "By contrast, increasing work resources can increase the resources parents use in their family lives."

Work resources include supervisor support for personal and family life and flexible work schedules; parental resources include time available for children.

STAR affected mothers' and fathers' time with their children differently.

"Among the study's findings was that mothers' time with children increased more than fathers'," Davis said.

The researchers argue that a healthy and satisfied employee can benefit the workplace by improving the business bottom line through more effective and efficient work.

The findings are detailed in the journal Pediatrics.