Work-life Balance
Lesson Objectives
• At the end of this lecture, you should:
– Know why I/O psychologists and organizations
are interested in the balance between
employees’ work and non-work lives
– Know what happens when individuals
experience a lack of balance
– Understand how psychologists work to improve
balance
Why Is Studying Work-life
Balance Important?
• Work impacts quality of life
& life (e.g., family, leisure)
impacts work
• Technology makes working
from home easier & more
commonplace
• More dual earner couples,
single parent families, need
for elder care
• Balance increases well-being
& imbalance creates conflict
between roles
• Effective balance may have
economic advantages for
organizations
• Effective balance may have
advantages for positive life
experiences, reduction in
stress, “normal” life for
children, all of which have
economic and social
ramifications
Why Is Studying Work-life Balance
Important? (Hidden Slide With
Additional Speaker Notes)
• Work impacts quality of
life & what happens
outside of work (e.g.,
family, leisure) impacts
work
• Technology makes
working from home easier
& more commonplace
• More dual earner couples,
single parent families,
need for elder care
• Balance increases well-being
& imbalance creates conflict
between roles
• Effective balance may have
economic advantages for
organizations
• Effective balance may have
advantages for positive life
experiences, reduction in
stress , “normal” life for
children, all of which have
economic and social
ramifications
Roles and Work-life Balance
• People have formal roles at home and at
work.
– Example: employee, manager, team leader,
union steward, parent, spouse, child.
• Roles may also be informal at home and at
work.
– Example: chair of organization charity drive,
pitcher for office softball team, PTA president,
scout leader, etc.
Roles and Work-life Balance,
Continued
• Each of the roles has responsibilities and
takes up time and energy
• Being active in all roles without feelings of
negative stress or overload is what
constitutes balance
• What happens when there is not balance?
Conflict Between Work and Nonwork Roles
• Consequences of conflict between roles
–
–
–
–
Dissatisfaction with work and with family
Distress at work and at home
Destructive parenting or other behaviors
Withdrawal from work and from family
Occurrence of Conflict
• Does work interfere with family?
– Work family conflict
• Or does family interfere with work?
– Family work conflict
• Or both?
Occurrence of Conflict,
Continued
• Personality differences in conflict
– Do some people experience more conflict than others?
– Do some people interpret conflict differently?
– Do some people react differently to conflict?
• Gender differences in conflict
– Do women or men experience more conflict?
– Do women and men experience different kinds of
conflict?
– Do women and men react differently to conflict?
Occurrence of Conflict,
Continued (Hidden Slide With
Additional Speaker Notes)
• Personality differences in conflict
– Do some people experience more conflict than others?
– Do some people interpret conflict differently?
– Do some people react differently to conflict?
• Gender differences in conflict
– Do women or men experience more conflict?
– Do women and men experience different kinds of
conflict?
– Do women and men react differently to conflict?
Benefits of Multiple Roles
• Holding multiple roles may have more
benefits than drawbacks
– Both women and men show differences in
psychological well-being when involved in
work and family
– Both men and women show greater physical
health when holding multiple roles
– Both men and women report healthier
relationships when they hold multiple roles
How Are Multiple Roles
Beneficial?
• Multiple roles may benefit individuals in
several ways
–
–
–
–
–
Buffering of successes and failures
Income
Social support
Experiences of success
Expanded self-concept
Conflict Vs. Benefit
• Which seems more likely to result from
multiple roles, conflict or benefit?
• Factors influencing conflict vs. benefit:
– Role quality
– Number of roles
– Time demands of roles
How Might I/O Psychologists
Help Organizations and
Employees With Balance?
• Continue to study effects of balance & conflict
• Help organizations to measure work-life balance
• Help organizations to identify and implement
strategies for increasing balance
• Help organizations design work to facilitate balance
• Help workers take advantage of strategies
Class Discussion: What Are Your
Expectations?
• Do you expect to be in a marriage or a committed
relationship?
• Do you expect to have kids?
• Do you expect to work?
– Full-time?
– After you have kids?
• Do you expect to have “free” time?
Work-life Balance Exercise #1
Bob is 45-year old man and an only child whose elderly,
widowed mom has Alzheimer's disease. Bob needs to aid
his mom with personal needs as well as such things as
cooking, housework, buying groceries, etc. Bob is also a
sales representative for an alarm company and must put in
endless hours at the office in order to get a promotion to
district sales manager.
What can Bob do to balance his work and non-work lives?
What can Bob’s organization do to help him balance his
work and non-work lives?
Work-life Balance Exercise #2
Janet is a 26-year old wife and new mother. She has just returned to
work after a 6-week maternity leave and found out that her husband,
Bill, was laid off. Janet and Bill are both paying off student loans,
they just put their new baby into a great daycare facility and bought
a new car after the old one broke down.
How can Janet work toward balancing her work and non-work
lives?
How can Bill help?
How can Janet and Bill work together so that they each have
balance?
Lesson Objectives Review
• At this point, you should now:
– Know why I/O psychologists and organizations
are interested in the balance between work and
non-work lives
– Know what happens when there is a lack of
balance
– Understand how psychologists improve balance
Instructor Resources
The following books, chapters, and articles were used in preparation of this module.
1)
Barnett, R.C. & Hyde, J.S. (2001). Women, men, work, and family. American
Psychologist, 56(10), 781-796.
2)
Biddle, B.J. & Thomas, E.J. (1966). Role Theory: Concepts and Research. New
York: Wiley.
3)
Greenhaus, J.H., & Parasuraman, S. (1999). Research on work, family, and gender. In
G.N. Powell (Ed.), Handbook of Gender and Work. (pp. 391-412). Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage.
4)
Hall, D.T. & Mirvis, P.H. (1995). Careers as lifelong learning. In A. Howard (Ed.)
Changing Nature of Work, New York: Jossey-Bass.
5)
Zedeck, S. (Ed.). (1998). Work, Families, and Organizations. New York: JosseyBass.