Work–life balance

About: Work–life balance is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2252 publications have been published within this topic receiving 36240 citations. The topic is also known as: Work Life balance & work-life balance.

Work–life balance and social support: The influence on work engagement in the Sixth European Working Conditions Survey

Abstract: This study examined the influence of work–life balance and social support on work engagement using the big data of the Sixth European Working Conditions Survey. The data included 43,850 respondents from many countries in Europe. In this sample, work–life balance and social support are positively related to work engagement. Findings suggest that organizations should provide a resourceful work environment and consider the balance of their time at work and personal life to achieve high work engagement.

Why improving the work–life balance of pharmacists might benefit employers and the profession

Abstract: Work–life imbalance (also referred to as ‘time bind’), although not peculiar to pharmacy, is one issue which the profession cannot ignore, particularly considering the impact it has on pharmacists and their support staff. This impact is evident when examining, for example, the findings of a recent UK study that show more than one in 10 UK pharmacists having thought about changing profession or quitting their current role because of a poor work–life balance. This article investigates pharmacist work–life balance and at the same time offers suggestions that will benefit employee pharmacists, their support staff and their employers. A ‘time bind’ is said to occur when work and family/personal requirements are perceived to be out of balance due to lack of time to meet both. There is, therefore, a subjective feeling that with work and family/personal demands, each is asking for genuine claims on an individual’s time, but the individual is finding it hard to create a balance between the two. Not too long ago, it was revealed that alternate scheduling (work patterns) was increasing significantly with workers trying to achieve a good work–life balance by working nonstandard shifts (not Monday to Friday or not daytime shifts) and/or flexible job schedules or part-time. There are still reasons to believe that this work pattern is continuing to increase. The shift towards alternate schedules is due largely to the growth of part-time employment. At the same time, it is crucial to note that most individuals working alternate schedules do so not because they want to, but because such a timetable is a precondition set by their employer or the work itself. Yet, it is also possible that employees may have their own motives for preferring one pattern of working time to another. For example, people with responsibility for the care of children, or those who are sick or elderly, may not be able to work certain shifts, weekends or during school holidays. Although working alternate shifts might look attractive, there is also evidence that tends to suggest that working non-standard shifts may have significant negative impact on family life. For example, one such study found that working non-standard shifts was linked with difficulties in planning family activities with less time spent on family roles. In addition, working non-standard shifts increased the level of family–work clashes and reduced the level of marital satisfaction, marital happiness and family satisfaction. These findings are supported by later findings. Despite this, part-time work is not without potential financial costs that could even lead to negative effects on the balance. It has also been suggested that the well-intentioned efforts of organizational researchers and practitioners to support the work–life balance may also be destabilizing peoples’ abilities to live happy and productive lives, owing to the fact that the language and reasoning being used are based on conventional models of bureaucratic organizations. What is the exact situation for healthcare professionals such as community pharmacists, whose professional autonomy has been diminished over the years owing to the involvement of commercially oriented and profitdriven organizations in community pharmacy practice? First, it has been acknowledged that there might be differences between generations in terms of their values and beliefs regarding the work–life balance. While, for example, the ‘baby boomers’ (those born between 1946 and 1964) created the concepts of ‘workaholic’ and ‘superwoman’ and are therefore less likely to be bothered about workplace inflexibility, ‘gen Y’ (those born between 1980 and 1995) expect great workplace flexibility and are likely to change employers if they are unhappy. This has huge implications for pharmacy practice, in terms of staff recruitment and retention. bs_bs_banner

An analysis of the factors affecting employee retention and turnover in the Irish hospitality Industry

Abstract: The purpose of this dissertation is to analyse the factors affecting employee retention and turnover in the hospitality industry. There are many factors in the hospitality industry which affects the employee’s work but there are some major factors which influence them to leave the organisation. Employee retention is one of the major challenge faced by the Hospitality industry due to which the turnover rate of employee increases. Hospitality industry is growing day by day and it need more employees but due to the labour exhausting job and challenging work most of the people leave the industry early and look for better opportunities. The research is focused to find out the major factors which influence the staff to leave and to measure the gender, age and length of service effects the level of satisfaction of retention factors. The researcher use the quantitative method to analyse the collected data. The researcher distributed an online survey through survey money to all the participants and received responses from the employees of different hospitality sectors. There were total 42 responses received for the survey and then transferred to excel sheet and then analysed on SPSS statistical tool. The researcher provided some open ended question to know the viewpoint of the respondents in which the participants gave a mix response for staying and leaving the organisation but from their statement it is clear that they want the industry to improve the training and development process, work life balance and reward and recognition policy. The hospitality organisation lack in providing these factors to the employees due which most of the employees want to leave. This research can be considered by the employers, management and Human resource staff of the hospitality industry.

Telework in Baltic Countries during the Pandemic: Effects on Wellbeing, Job Satisfaction, and Work-Life Balance

Abstract: As a result of the rapid and unplanned adoption of telework by European companies during the pandemic, specific telework characteristics have arisen. Thus, employees’ experience of telework requires further analysis. Based on the “Living, Working, and COVID-19” results for Baltic countries, this paper studies the effect of telework experience on wellbeing, both directly and mediated by Work-Life balance and job satisfaction, through structural equation modelling. After verifying the significant differences in telework preferences, the model is also tested in high versus low telework preference groups. The main findings corroborate the effect of a positive telework experience on perceived wellbeing, but only indirectly via Work-Life balance. Additionally, data from the group with a high telework preference best fits the proposed model, revealing not only the mentioned indirect effect, but also the direct positive effect of telework experience on wellbeing. Thus, employees with a negative experience of telework during the pandemic will be more reluctant to accept telework over more traditional work arrangements. The implications as well as some limitations to be examined in further studies are also presented.

The Roles of Job Autonomy and Self-Efficacy to Improve Academics’ Work-life Balance

Abstract: Discussion on workers’ work-life balance has been ongoing since the 1980s. However, less is known about work-life balance amongst university academics especially on the role of job autonomy and self-efficacy in influencing it. The current paper investigates the influence of job autonomy towards academics’ work-life balance. Also, it examines the role of self-efficacy as a moderator in between this relationship. This study employed a quantitative method using the cross-sectional design using data on 307 responses to test these propositions. Using AMOS 23 and SPSS23, we established evidences on the positive influence of job autonomy towards academics’ work-life balance. That is, high job autonomy linked to higher work-to-family enrichment and lesser work-to-family conflict occurrences. Besides, work-to-family enrichment was found higher when self-efficacy level was high, confirming the moderating role of self-efficacy. This study contributes to a greater understanding on the influence of both job autonomy and self-efficacy towards academics’ work-life balance in terms of enrichment and conflict occurrences. It also affirms the constructive effects of self-efficacy to enhance the relationship between job autonomy and work-to-family enrichment. Findings from this study may be used to assist various human resource practitioners, researchers, and higher education institutions to build relevant policies to further support sustainable work-life balance practices within educational institutions.