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 self-reported health among working adults in Europe: a gender and welfare state regime comparative analysis

Abstract: The pressing demands of work over the years have had a significant constraint on the family and social life of working adults. Moreover, failure to achieve a ‘balance’ between these domains of life may have an adverse effect on their health. This study investigated the relationship between work-life conflict and self-reported health among working adults in contemporary welfare countries in Europe. Data from the 6th European Working Conditions Survey 2015 on 32,275 working adults from 30 countries in Europe were analysed. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to examine the associations between work-life balance and self-reported health among men and women. We further used a 2 stage multi-level logistic regression to assess variations in self-reported health among welfare state regimes by gender. The results showed a strong association between work-life conflict and poor self-reported health among working adults in Europe (aOR = 2.07; 95% CI: 1.93–2.23). However, the magnitude of the effect differed slightly by gender (men: aOR = 1.97; 95% CI: 1.78–2.18 vs women: aOR = 2.23; 95% CI: 2.01–2.47). Furthermore, we found variations in the relationship between work-life conflict and poor self-reported health between welfare states regimes. The association was found to be weaker in the Nordic and Southern welfare states than the Liberal, Conservative, and Central Eastern European welfare states. Although the associations were more consistent among men than women in the Conservative welfare states regime, we found higher associations for women than men in the Southern, Nordic, Liberal, and Central Eastern European welfare states. This study provides evidence of some variations in the association between work-life conflict and poor self-reported health among men and women across welfare states regimes in Europe. The results demonstrate the need for governments, organizations and policymakers to provide conducive working conditions and social policies for working adults to deal with competing demands from work and family activities.

Life Balance in Nurse Educators: A Mixed Methods Study

Abstract: AIM The aim of the study was to explore relationships among nurse educator life balance, quality of life, and lived experience of life balance that may be used to develop strategies to prevent or minimize challenging aspects of the profession that lead to dissatisfaction and/or burnout. BACKGROUND Nurse educator balance is significant to the national nurse faculty shortage crisis. The inability to achieve life balance contributes to job dissatisfaction and burnout, which contribute to the educator shortage. METHOD Convergent parallel mixed-methods design. RESULTS Participants were found to have moderate life balance correlating with greater perceived satisfaction. Four themes emerged from the qualitative data: Support, Demands, Workload, and Personal/Time Attributes. CONCLUSION Findings from this study can be utilized to develop strategies to minimize the nurse educator shortage.

Managing the Family: Productivity, Scheduling and the Male Veto

Abstract: This paper argues that research, analysis and policy innovations focused on how households combine paid work with care responsibilities are driven to too great a degree by preconceptions of "the problem" that do not take sufficient account of how families themselves understand their work and care roles and the choices they are making. The evidence of 246 SOCCARE interviews across five European countries (Finland, France, Italy, Portugal and the UK) is that the variables that are conventionally accepted as having fundamental significance (family-friendly policies and generous care services, flexible working hours, women's work–life preferences, family type, national labour markets, cultural differences) are less important than is often suggested. More important are time pressures and the idiosyncratic factors that constrain the work and care timetables that families are able to construct. We characterize these as "scheduling problems". They occupied a large part of the accounts of their lives provided by our respondents and are a primary dimension within which their combinations of paid work and care responsibilities need to be understood. The difficulties our respondents faced in coordinating the work and care activities of their families bear a striking similarity to the problems described in the operations research literature on small businesses. Within the context of these scheduling problems a second important factor emerged: the preferences and behaviour of men who played a critical, though often passive, part in the construction of work and care timetables of the families. We characterize this effect as the "the male veto".

Assessing the influence of work-life balance dimensions among nurses in the healthcare sector

Abstract: Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of work-related factors, namely work overload and work support on work-life balance (WLB) dimensions and its significant impact on work satisfaction particularly among South Indian nurses in the healthcare sector. Design/methodology/approach The study was carried out in the healthcare sector comprising of 182 nurses employed in various hospitals located in southern parts of India through a structured questionnaire. The study adopted Barron and Kenny’s mediated regression analysis. Findings Work satisfaction showed a significant negative relationship with work overload and a positive relationship with work support. WLB dimensions, namely work to personal life strains, personal life to work strains, work to personal life gains (WPLG) and personal life to work gains mediated the relationships between work support and work satisfaction. However, WPLG mediated the relationships between work overload and work satisfaction. Practical implications The present investigation directed toward the importance of work-personal life balance experienced by the nurses in the healthcare sector imperatively influence both work and personal life domains and the study suggests that support from the organization, superiors and peers can go a long way in helping the incumbents to attain improved organizational outcomes. Originality/value This study focuses on investigating the mediating role of WLB dimensions in the relationship between organizational-related factors and work satisfaction among nurses in the healthcare sector in South India.